The Oligarch with a Rocket and a God Complex: Elon Musk’s Global Threat to Democracy

By Cliff Potts, Editor-in-chief, WPS News

JULY 31, 2025 — MANILA, PHILIPPINES

While Elon Musk captures headlines with electric cars, rocket launches, and meme-laced provocations, a more sinister truth hides in plain sight: Musk is no longer merely a tech mogul. He is now a political actor operating transnationally—an unelected oligarch with media control, massive capital reserves, and authoritarian leanings. And as democratic institutions wobble in the United States, Musk has positioned himself as a kingmaker in a crumbling republic.

In early July 2025, Musk unveiled the America Party, a so-called “centrist” political initiative designed to court disaffected voters. But analysts quickly noted that the party had no official infrastructure, no filing status in any state, and no apparent mission beyond undermining faith in existing political processes (Axelrod, 2025). Far from building anything new, Musk’s America Party appears to be a disruption campaign wrapped in patriotic branding.

Musk’s long-term influence, however, runs deeper. As the primary funder of America PAC, Musk helped fuel Trump’s 2024 campaign with more than $250 million in dark-money-aligned contributions (Richards, 2025). He also briefly served as a deregulation czar under the ironically named Department of Government Efficiency, overseeing efforts to dismantle environmental and workplace protections under the guise of innovation (Lee, 2025).

Internationally, Musk has aligned with far-right political parties across Europe. In Germany, he openly endorsed Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), a party with neo-Nazi ties. He recorded a video message praising AfD’s “bravery in the face of woke imperialism”—a message that aired at an AfD rally in Dresden and prompted condemnation from the German parliament (Schmidt, 2025). In Spain, he signaled support for the ultranationalist Vox party, just days after Tesla secured battery contracts in the Basque region (Martinez, 2025).

These endorsements are not cultural slip-ups—they’re part of a growing pattern. Musk’s public messaging regularly blurs the line between libertarian techno-optimism and authoritarian grievance politics. His social media platform, X (formerly Twitter), has become a safe haven for conspiracy theorists, fascist influencers, and paramilitary propaganda. While claiming to support free speech, Musk has reinstated far-right accounts banned for inciting violence and suspended critics under vague “disruption” policies (Klein, 2025).

To the international community: this is not an American eccentric with too much money. This is a planetary actor, using the tools of private capital, global influence, and digital reach to destabilize governments and weaken trust in democratic norms. He plays both sides of every issue: promoting innovation while gutting labor protections, joking about governance while bankrolling political actors hostile to human rights.

And he is no longer alone. As governments weaken and climate crises escalate, Musk represents a new archetype: the transnational autocrat-in-waiting, accountable to no nation but capable of shaping many.

The future he is selling is not democratic. It is branded, subscription-based authoritarianism—with broadband.

APA References:
Axelrod, J. (2025, July 12). Elon Musk announces America Party amid rising political chaos. Axios. https://www.axios.com/2025/07/30/elon-musk-america-party
Richards, T. (2025, June 9). Billionaire cash and the reshaping of PAC politics in the post-Citizens United era. The Hill.
Lee, M. (2025, May 1). Regulatory rollback: Inside Musk’s brief reign over government efficiency. Politico.
Schmidt, A. (2025, March 18). Germany condemns Elon Musk after AfD endorsement sparks outrage. Der Spiegel.
Martinez, R. (2025, April 10). Vox and Tesla: Unholy alliance or strategic deal? El País.
Klein, N. (2025, February 7). Platform decay and the rise of digital fascism. The Intercept.

Closing Line:
For those watching from abroad: this isn’t just America’s problem anymore. It’s yours too.
https://endfascism.xyz