Can Elon Musk Rule the World? charts the rise of Trump’s ‘first buddy’ — TV

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Earlier this week, Elon Musk was officially confirmed as a “special government employee” by the White House — a designation that, according to Reuters, would potentially allow the richest man in the world to “avoid disclosure rules about conflicts of interest and finances that apply to regular government employees”.

Musk has previously — and nauseatingly — referred to his role in the second Trump administration as “first buddy”. But the ambiguous nature and scope of his influence as head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency has already caused much fear and consternation in federal agencies and beyond. To his many critics, his campaign to overhaul the architecture of government by dissolving departments and slashing national spending is a clear first step towards a play for even greater power.

Now Channel 4 documentary Can Elon Musk Rule the World? asks how far he might go. Presented by journalist Matt Frei, the film tackles this as well as slightly less sensationalist questions that loom over the 53-year-old’s foray into politics.

While an hour-long slot means there is little time for in-depth analysis, the film provides a succinct survey of Musk’s alliance with Donald Trump, as well as his recent attempts to influence politics in the UK and beyond as part of his crusade against the “woke mind virus”. It also cuts through the chaos and controversy that engulfs Musk — or has been engineered by him. We are reminded, for instance, that while the debate surrounding his fascist salute/awkward wave at a post-inauguration rally was still raging, Musk gave a speech (remotely) at an event for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Supplementing Frei’s summary are insights and opinions from an array of critics, commentators and ex-colleagues. Jim Cantrell, a former VP at SpaceX, tries to reassure us that Musk is no power-hungry super-villain but simply uses politics and capital for his raison d’être of pushing humankind further. Elsewhere, Trump’s onetime chief strategist and convicted felon Steve Bannon posits that Musk’s wealth (an estimated $420bn) and social media following (215mn) are “two tactical nuclear weapons” that could take out any “centrist or centre-left government” in Europe.

If Bannon speculates with glee, many other contributors — journalists, Democrats and British politicians both Labour and Conservative such as Emily Thornberry and Michael Gove — voice concerns about the domestic and geopolitical threats posed by a capricious, unelected man who could potentially use the state as a tool to further his business interests. For others, his increasingly radical rhetoric is as much a cause for alarm. “Whatever damage Trump does to democracy we could recover from; whatever damage Musk does to how we think we may not recover from,” says ever-incisive satirist Armando Iannucci. “The sooner [he] goes to Mars, the better.”

★★★☆☆

Channel 4 on February 6 at 9pm and streaming thereafter