I officially nominate Elon Musk for the title of “Most Interesting Man in the World,” a moniker made famous by the hysterical Dos Equis beer commercials of years past.
The Tesla CEO and Twitter/X owner appeared on the Lex Fridman Podcast posted Friday to talk about the incredible advances in brain-computer interfacing his company Neuralink is achieving—they hope to have devices in at least 10 people in the near future, he says—but he also weighed in on the presidential election and how the assassination attempt on GOP nominee Donald Trump was a truly iconic moment.
He broke down his reasons for supporting Trump in the former president’s battle to re-take the Oval Office:
FRIDMAN: What’s your philosophy behind that endorsement? What do you hope Donald Trump does for the future, this country, and for the future of humanity?
MUSK: You know, people tend to take like, say, an endorsement as well, I agree with everything that person has ever done their entire life 100 percent wholeheartedly. And that’s not going to be true of anyone. But we have to pick; we’ve got two choices really for… president, and it’s not just for president, but the entire administrative structure changes over.
And I thought Trump displayed courage under fire. Objectively. You know, he just got shot. He’s got blood streaming down his face, and he’s, like, fist-pumping, saying, “Fight!” You know, like, that’s impressive.
You can’t feign bravery in a situation like that. Most people would have been ducking. Because there could be a second shooter, you know?
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The multi-billionaire continued, pointing out that just because Donald Trump is not perfect—who is, after all?—that doesn’t mean that he can’t be an effective leader:
That’s not to say that he is without flaws. We all have flaws, but on balance, and certainly at the time, it was a choice of, you know Biden, poor guy, you know has trouble climbing a flight of stairs, the other one is fist pumping after getting shot.
There is no comparison.
Then he got specific: why do we need new leadership in this country? His answer: the porous border, crime, and out-of-control spending:
I think we want a secure border; we don’t have a secure border. We want safe and clean cities. I think we want to reduce the amount of spending, at least slow down the spending, because we’re currently spending at a rate that is bankrupting the country. The interest payments on U.S. debt this year exceeded the entire Defense Department spent. If this continues, all of the federal government taxes will simply be paying the interest.
And then you keep going down that road, you end up, you know, in the tragic situation that Argentina had back in the day.
Musk had remained on the political sidelines for much of his business career, but he has firmly chosen a side in this election. I can’t speak for him, but it certainly seems as if he’s awakened to what so many of us see: that progressive policies are tearing down this country.
Meanwhile, Fridman went on a deep dive on his podcast—an eight-hour deep dive—where he interviewed multiple people, and it was focused mainly on Neuralink and the incredible advances being made. We obviously can’t dissect every moment of the herculean effort, but if you have some free time—lots of free time–you can take a listen here:
