#elon-musk

#elon-musk

Unlike much of the second-term cast, Musk was not a creature of Trump's influence: He had his own fame, power base and funding. The social network formerly known as Twitter gave him a unique influence over the national conversation. His embrace of anti-wokeness gave him credibility on the grass-roots right that most rich Republicans do not enjoy. This leverage seemed as if it could be brought to bear on the territory Musk knew best: space travel, technology policy, overregulation and its discontents.

The company writes that Musk is the “driving force behind our growth, innovation, and operational success” and that the loss of him, “whether due to death, disability, or otherwise, or his inability or unwillingness to continue in his current roles, could significantly disrupt our management structure.”

His name is Antonio Gracias, a handsome private equity investor from Detroit. The two met through the Silicon Valley web at the turn of the century, and soon Gracias-at 55, just one year older than Musk-lent Musk $1 million in his early days at Tesla, when the company was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. The two have been best friends ever since. Gracias was a groomsman at Kimbal Musk's wedding, the families have vacationed together, spent the holidays together, and even traveled to David Copperfield's private island in the Bahamas.

Late last year he agreed to settle with former Twitter executives and thousands of former employees of the social platform, which he has renamed X, after fighting for years to pay them nothing. Then in March, he lost a case brought against him by investors of Twitter, who claimed they were misled by public statements he made during the takeover. In May, another judge reversed certain actions by DOGE, the government cost-cutting department Musk helped create and led last year, finding cuts to some grants were "a textbook example of unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination."

The account, which WaPo traced to a man in India, constantly lavishes the site's owner with praise: boosting his business ventures, attacking his enemies, and sharing inane memes that Musk invariably loves. Two years ago, XFreeze's following was nonexistent, but today the account boasts over 200,000 followers, after assiduously courting the billionaire's attention.

“I am not going to rubber-stamp this settlement, and I cannot rubber-stamp this settlement,” the judge said, Bloomberg reported. “Is Mr. Musk getting some kind of special treatment in this case?” Sooknanan was also quoted as saying.