This Is the Way to Stop Elon Musk
Elon Musk speaks with Donald Trump and reporters in the White House Oval Office on Feb 11, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images With the backing of President Donald Trump, Elon Musk has embarked on an unconstitutional rampage against the federal government. The world's wealthiest man is trying to shut down key agencies and programs that protect the health, welfare, and prosperity of millions of Americans. He has pushed mass layoffs, silenced federal agencies, and accessed massive amounts of confidential government data.
Of course, Musk has significant personal interests on the table. His two major companies, SpaceX and Tesla, have both benefited heavily from U.S. government funding and policies. And through his ties to Trump, Musk's wealth has ballooned dramatically. According to Bloomberg, his net worth increased by $200 billion in just the last year alone, due in significant part to market expectations that his companies will earn vastly more money during the Trump presidency.
If Musk's government contracts and policies were credibly threatened, his recent paper gains would shrink or vanish.
But with all of this government-generated wealth comes a significant vulnerability. If Musk's government contracts and policies were credibly threatened, his recent paper gains would shrink or vanish. Musk, of course, would remain incredibly wealthy and powerful. But if his actions in Washington are materially hurting his companies, pressure from shareholders and his own bottom line might force him to limit his slash-and-burn campaign against the federal government. And just as importantly, a campaign targeting Musk would breathe life into the Democratic Party at a time when it is flailing.
How can all of this be accomplished? The first step is for members of Congress to take a strong public stand against any government contracts awarded to Musk's companies. From there, elected officials should begin turning their stated opposition into actual votes. The most powerful tool for this is in the hands of the U.S. Senate: the filibuster. Forty-one U.S. senators could use the filibuster to block most legislation that enables the funding of Musk's companies. With 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats, and two independents in the Senate, such a push is numerically possible, though politically difficult.
Normally, I support the abolition of the filibuster because it has long been used to undermine the enactment of popular progressive policies. But with a billionaire oligarch running roughshod over the entire U.S. government, we must use whatever tools we can to prevent massive and lasting damage.
Right now, the market is rewarding Musk and his companies for their close association with Trump. SpaceX's valuation increased from $210 billion to $350 billion in December 2024, one month after Trump's reelection. Tesla stock rose briefly last week following a report that the State Department could spend $400 million on armored electric vehicles" from Tesla. But if the market sees that a public backlash to Musk's politics is becoming a substantive threat to his companies' revenues, Tesla and SpaceX will lose value. This in turn would generate new headlines, controversy, and perhaps most importantly, financial costs for Musk and his investors. Musk's companies would be hurting because of his toxic involvement in politics, and he would face pressure to retreat.
Related Trump's Election Is Also a Win for Tech's Right-Wing Warrior Class" It is worth taking a moment to acknowledge just how much money the U.S. government pours into Musk's companies. SpaceX has received nearly $20 billion in government contracts, and the privately held company is now the most valuable startup in the world. Musk reportedly owns 42 percent of SpaceX.
Then there's Tesla, which has benefited significantly from government incentives for people to buy electric vehicles. Those incentives gave car-buyers thousands of dollars when purchasing a Tesla, which made it easier for Musk to charge more than the market would normally allow. This was essentially free money for his company at a time when he desperately needed the cash to keep Tesla afloat. Now it is expected that Trump will do away with the incentives created under Biden's Inflation Reduction Act that make it easier for people to buy electric vehicles. This actually helps Tesla further, because it would make it harder for other car manufacturers to catch up by promoting the purchase of their own electric vehicles.
Related Crypto Sweep Puts Congress on Notice: Vote With Us or We'll Come After You With Millions Despite the political potency of a filibuster of Musk's wealth, many U.S. senators are likely to resist the strategy of voting to block Musk's contracts. First and foremost, politicians aren't in the habit of picking fights with billionaires. Musk spent a quarter of a billion dollars helping Trump get elected, and it is easy to imagine him seeking vengeance against elected officials who oppose him. That's unlikely to deter senators like Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders, but it could impact the thinking of those with closer races in purple states. Indeed, many Republicans and Democrats have actually taken money from SpaceX's political action committee.
There is also the reality that harming Musk's wealth would trigger a backlash from others who would also be negatively impacted. The more powerful among these would likely include SpaceX investors, Tesla shareholders, and even certain sectors of the crypto community that invest in the Musk-favored Doge meme coin. And if federal contracts for SpaceX or Tesla dried up - or if investors feared that they might - there would be job losses at these companies. Of course, it is worth remembering that a hypothetical blow to Tesla or SpaceX would open up market space - and the jobs that come with it - via rival companies that also want to sell rockets or electric cars.
But the biggest reason that elected officials would resist challenging Musk using this strategy is that the authorization and appropriations bills that enable the funding of his companies also fund many, many other interests and programs. Funding for SpaceX and Tesla contracts comes through multiple federal appropriations - including for the Department of Defense, the State Department, and NASA. Filibustering these bills would mean delaying the distribution and expenditure of vast amounts of money, potentially sparking the kind of chaos brought on by government shutdowns or by Trump's moves to freeze foreign aid. And that chaos creates an opportunity for a political rival to launch a criticism or attack.
Despite these difficulties, what makes pushing for a legislative attack on Musk's wealth such a powerful opportunity is that Musk himself is deeply unpopular among Democratic voters. Two Economist/YouGov polls conducted in November 2024 and earlier this month show that the percentage of Democrats who view Musk unfavorably has consistently remained very high at 79 percent and 82 percent, respectively.
Related Elon Musk Reveals Jaw-Dropping Ignorance About Social Security Musk's support among Republican voters is shifting as well. The same polls reveal that 80 percent of Republicans view Musk favorably. But the percentage of Republicans who want Musk to have a lot" of influence in the Trump administration has fallen dramatically over the last 3 months, from 47 percent to 26 percent. For independents, that number has dropped from 26 percent to 6 percent. And for Democrats, the number has gone from a mere 15 percent to 6 percent. The bottom line is that pushing legislative strategies to attack or block Musk's wealth isn't just healthy for our democracy, it also makes for smart politics.
Pushing legislative strategies to attack or block Musk's wealth isn't just healthy for our democracy, it also makes for smart politics.
In recent years, the Democratic Party has struggled among working-class voters. In large part, that's because it has suffered from a fundamental inability to define who the opponents of the American working class are. This failure to punch up" by naming and criticizing the holders of concentrated wealth has created a vacuum in which Trump and other Republicans are able to punch down, telling the story that working-class Americans are suffering because of undocumented immigrants, transgender people, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Targeting Musk with a campaign to cut off his access to U.S. government contracts offers a unique opportunity for redemption - and the rebuilding of political power.
But even with Trump and Musk on the offense, some Democratic Party leaders continue to operate from a strangely passive and outdated playbook. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries demonstrated this both in his recent interview with Jon Stewart and in his reported criticisms of progressive organizations like MoveOn and Indivisible, which have lit up Democratic congressional offices' switchboards with demands to fight harder. Fortunately, advocacy organizations and grassroots networks aren't letting up. An array of community demands, protests, and lawsuits have been launched to energize elected officials and block Musk's many secretive and illegal actions.
Progressive organizations are often at their best when resisting right-wing attacks. But we have long needed an offensive strategy that directly targets the interests of those who have set out to destroy the social welfare state. Musk is the perfect target for advocacy and activist networks, and his dependence on U.S. government funding creates a clear argument for why listless Democrats should start taking action.
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