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Elon Musk. Picture: REUTERS/LUKASZ GLOWALA
Elon Musk. Picture: REUTERS/LUKASZ GLOWALA

There was a time we could be justly proud that one of SA’s sons, however remote, had reached the pinnacle of the American corporate ladder. But with the recent pronouncements of Tesla CEO Elon Musk one is more inclined to disown him — not that he would care much. 

Ever since his support for president-elect Donald Trump and his appointment as head of the department of government efficiency alongside entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, the multibillionaire Musk has abused his powerful social media platform X to interfere in the politics of the UK and Germany.

In the former case, he has attacked Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer over what he sees as government inaction over grooming gangs and last year attacked UK authorities for arresting and charging suspects for taking part in far-right riots against Muslims and immigrants. In the case of Germany Musk has given his support to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party ahead of Germany's federal election in February. The AfD supports the mass deportation of migrants. 

Both interventions are a case of overreach and interference in the democratic processes of sovereign nation states. Musk has about 210-million followers on X so his influence is not negligible. 

This foreign interference is matched by Trump’s own imperial ambitions to take over the Panama Canal, buy Greenland and take over Canada, fuelling international tensions and lending implicit legitimacy to Russia’s invasion of a sovereign nation, Ukraine.

However much this is bombast and bluster on Trump’s part as some suggest, it is an indication that both he and Musk will be disruptive forces on the international stage.

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