Today, November 3, 2026, is voting day in America. Elon Musk is the richest human in the history of the world and he has chosen to tilt the voting scales to the tune of nearly half a billion dollars. None of the candidates or issues he is funding will come close to helping the people of this country or the world. They might, however, make Elon a richer man, and they certainly promise to honor, directly and indirectly, a time-honored-yet-newly-recharged status symbol: lack of accountability.
Musk is a timely and lengthy documentary outlining the critical moments of how Elon Musk rose to become the world’s wealthiest human … and the inhuman results of this rise. I find the man a loathsome piece of shit and, given his ability to tilt scales in directions of inequality and injustice, quite possibly the worst human on the planet (the film agress with me). Unfortunately, there is competition. A lot of it.
The rest of this review was written in mid-October, 2026.
This weekend past (as of this writing), Elon Musk cut off Ukraine’s Starlink capabilities, thus crippling Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russia, the aggressor in a war that dates back to 2022. The war definitely now favors the aggressor, Vladimir Putin. Trump, of course, was a dick about Starlink, too, conspiring, but accepting no responsibility (when has he ever?). Today’s documentary, however, is only tangentially about Trump. He has certainly enabled the dickery of Elon Musk, and yet, as it turns out, Musk can be quite a dick on his own.
The Starlink thing kinda proves on its own how dangerous it is for one person to have all the power Musk has. Musk is the world’s first trillionaire. He can buy entire countries. He can feed the planet indefinitely. He can choose to have 100,000 of his best friends live their best lives ever. What does he do with his trillion? Tilt political races towards fascism.
God, what an asshole. The biggest problem in the world today as I see it is that the men (yes, MEN) who are actually capable of making the world a better place are all narcissistic villains. Musk may not be #1, but given his power and money, he’s certainly top-3. Personally, I would settle for these guys not actively making the world a worse place, but such is a pipe dream.
This documentary is nearly four hours long, and yet I’d say it’s required viewing for anybody who felt helpless while he and his team of underage jackoffs implemented the widespread DOGEry during the first months of Trump II. In a nutshell, Elon Musk was not elected, and DOGE didn’t and shouldn’t exist without congressional approval. Despite these technicalities that have kept our national brand of democracy afloat for a few centuries, Musk and his chimps in 2025 made a mess of whatever they touched, stole a bunch of personal data, and then fucked off. And, when it comes to the raking of evil that is Elon Musk, DOGE might not even merit top-10 status.
This documentary begins in 1998 with Elon “the WIZ KID” … the balding WIZ KID … making his statement in Silicon Valley. And here we see the true genius of Musk: the product he built failed completely, but he was able to sell the idea for $22M. I’d like to “fail” like that. Here, the film tells us, we see the true gift of Elon Musk. He’s a skilled inventor … of his own value. Elon Musk will fail upwards several times in his career. The first half of the film focuses almost entirely on his businesses and his obsession with progeny. The film does deep dives in interviews with two of his exes, Justine Musk and former RW influencer Ashley St. Clair. Elon Musk has fathered at least 14 children that we know about. Ashley’s interview makes it clear that there are almost certainly many more. Elon Musk has a standard NDA providing $15M up front and an allowance of $100k per month for every baby mama. Ashley is likely the only one to turn down the deal.
Gee, I dunno how a guy announcing “I am the alpha in this relationship” on his wedding day manages to get divorced. Who knew?
Writer/director Alex Gibney noted that Elon Musk called him a “douche” when denying him an interview, so Gibney did a very Musk thing – he created an AI animated version of Elon Musk, fed it every bit of Elon Musk he could find, and then interviewed that “person.” The result is a disturbing representation that does indeed capture Elon Musk’s awkwardness and defensive self-assuredness. I can’t say I liked the animated Musk any more than the real thing, which means it probably was spot-on.
Elon Musk didn’t found Tesla. It wasn’t his idea, but, apparently, pronouncements of this nature are legally ethereal. He also isn’t an engineer. Nor, really, is he an inventor. He gets these labels because he affixes them to himself and men this powerful are rarely put in their place. But don’t discount the lies or the behavior. For anybody who has seen You Can See Everything, the main question is: “well, is Elizabeth Holmes really guilty or not?” And yet the lies of Ms. Holmes have relatively small focus. All she did was grift from wealthy investors. What about Musk? His lies have not only skyrocketed his fortunes upwards; they have cost lives. He has platformed groundbreaking ideas that were simply not reality (like switching battery packs in Tesla cars) all to get tax breaks. That’s just money. Given that Musk’s
money comes with undue political influence, well, that’s awful, but I’ll leave it alone in this paragraph. Now what about his lies about self-driving cars? The tech wasn’t there. He knew it. They sold the cars. Several people have died from reliance on this tech that Elon Musk KNEW was not fully functional. Is that not murder … or at least criminal negligence?
Part I of this documentary is “Where did he get the money” and “What’s he like?” Part II focuses on Elon Musk’s politics, and whatever you might have thought about what a dick he is as businessman, husband, and father, believe me, he’s far worse as a political influencer. There’s a very good argument to be made that Musk influences politics simply to dispatch opposition. After all, the offices DOGE downsized were almost all agencies with lawsuits against Musk. That, by the way, is a hallmark of fascism.
What is Musk’s obsession with being an election Grinch? He pours money into key races like he’s on a boss level. Is he trying to earn an “influenced elections negatively” milestone? Is that how he levels up?
I wonder if American have any idea how much happier, how much better, how much richer we would all be if conservatives [read: MAGA] collectively believed that holding ALL PEOPLE accountable was more important than hating people with blue hair? In the short span of time since he became an outwardly public figure, Elon Musk went from somebody I had mildly positive thoughts about to challenging for greatest living asshole on the planet … a planet that includes Trump, Putin, Kim Jong Un, Trump’s cabinet, Trump’s children, and Trump’s cronies, mind you.
The Musk documentary left me angry and satisfied simultaneously. I’m so glad somebody had the balls to document his evil and put it out there for the world to see. And, yet, of course, how long until this troglodyte retaliates? Megalomaniacs don’t really believe in freedom or free speech. Like all megalomaniacs, Elon Musk wants absolution. But he’s going about it by purchasing it, almost literally. His game is never about explaining himself or any small notion of humility. That will almost certainly continue until his death. We shall see how his “legion” (his word) of children take up his legacy. If they’re anything like the Trumps, the world is in big trouble.
There once was a bug dirk named Elon
Whose products matched genius and con
When he made too much dough
He let everybody know
Because, in reality, he wanted masses to fawn
Rated R, 232 Minutes
Director: Alex Gibney
Writer: Alex Gibney. Michael J. Palmer
Genre: Portrait of a dick
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Realists
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Elon Musk
