Elon Musk’s Dark Ideology, with Ben Tarnoff and Quinn Slobodian

Elon Musk isn't just a billionaire eccentric—he's the living embodiment of a new political and economic ideology: Muskism. In their new book *Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed*, historians Ben Tarnoff and Quinn Slobodian argue that Musk’s power stems not from libertarian individualism, but from a radical fusion with the state, which they call 'state symbiosis.' Unlike traditional capitalists who avoid government, Musk has built his empire by becoming indispensable to it—controlling the U.S. orbital launch market, running Pentagon contracts, and now aiming to dominate AI and global communications. The authors reveal how Musk’s vision is less about space travel than about creating a cybernetic, self-sufficient 'Tesla dome' of individual sovereignty, where private tech monopolies replace public institutions. This system thrives on financial fabulism—grand, fantastical promises about Mars colonies and AI utopias that investors swallow because they’ve delivered real returns. Yet beneath the mythmaking lies a deeply racialized, anti-democratic worldview rooted in apartheid South Africa’s fortress futurism and weaponized online culture. The book exposes how Musk uses racism not just as personal prejudice, but as a strategic tool to unify his base and deflect accountability. Crucially, the authors find that Musk’s greatest vulnerability isn’t his ego or his tweets—it’s the very technology he’s betting everything on: AI.