I’m biased - I’m not an Elon fan, so honestly whatever it takes to bring him into “the fold” doesn’t particularly bother me. IMO, this was expected after Russia invaded Ukraine and it was clear he was flouting the US Government via Starlink and back-channel negotiations with the russian government. He’s put numerous targets on his back and he has himself to blame. That being said, he is not making his supporters jobs any easier with his frequent non-business-related outbursts and media shenanigans. If he wasn’t literally funding these ventures, he’d be long ousted as a distraction and a poor manager.
It makes you exploitable for foreign intelligence, a la Hunter Biden.
If Elon even denies it (because lets be honest, everything in this story has multiple verification, is repeated from different sources and is consistent with Musk’s own behavior), it creates opportunity for blackmail or worse.
How exactly do you blackmail the one of richest men in the world for drug usage? Isn’t frequent and somewhat cavalier drug usage basically a staple of Silicon Valley culture? Not sure how this is blackmail worthy. His behavior is separate, although they may be related.
This, literally, happens all the time. Did we forget what Epstein was doing?
People are VERY easy to blackmail.
Again, if you deny or lie about it, you essentially self-blackmail.
Read the article:
>"Illegal drug use would likely be a violation of federal policies that could jeopardize SpaceX’s billions of dollars in government contracts. Musk is intrinsic to the value of his companies, potentially putting at risk around $1 trillion in assets held by investors, tens of thousands of jobs and big parts of the U.S. space program...In addition to violating federal contracts, any kind of illegal drug use would break company policies at both SpaceX and Tesla, and would raise questions about Musk’s executive role at the publicly traded Tesla, where the board has a duty to shareholders to oversee management.”
Elon is taking federal contractor funds, a very serious deal, and doing cocaine and more with it.
Drug usage and whatever Epstein was up to are not the same thing. Also, I read the article. Illegal drug usage is a violation of federal law, too, but that doesn’t mean anyone is truly at risk, especially someone like Musk.
Blackmail's a little tricky when the world is already aware of Musk's drug habits.
He doesn't exactly hide this.
The greater issue is he's flaky, whimsical, and readily takes cues from rando's trending on twitter. Not the reliable rock steady rational actor one images national security should rest upon.
I'm not from the US and I'm largely Elon indifferent, that said this is pretty much a US three letter agency problem, especially the DoD.
They've entered in contracts with him, they've had the chance to fully read all that is public about Elon in advance, and now they've got the tiger by the tail.
I doubt a third party (Russia?) threatening to tell on Elon to the DoD about his cocaine | LSD | mushroom | et al. habits would do squat as far as blackmail goes, they very probably already know, if not they're kind of incompetent.
He's delivering private launch facilities and Elon having loose lips is a greater threat than Elon being threatened with being outed about drugs unless he discloses DoD "need to know" secrets he has access to.
Ultimately he has value to DoD and they have bank problem;
if you owe $100 to the bank, you have a problem, if you owe one billion to a bank, the bank has a problem
He's not ANYONE else.
( again, not a fan, not a devoted Elon hater - this is just the pragmatic assessment )
The US government doesn't give a shit about stuff like this when it comes to high profile enough people. As long as you are useful and not a real threat to national security, then they will do what is required.
Elon Musk publicly and falsely accused someone of being a pedophile and skated on it. Donald Trump publicly bragged about being able to sexually assault women, and it got him more votes than he lost. I guarantee you nothing will happen to anyone named on the Epstein list. People at this level of power can't effectively be blackmailed, because social (and most legal) consequences simply don't apply to them. Certainly not over something as banal as drug use.
This isn't the 1940s, everyone already assumes that every rich powerful asshole is doing cocaine every week off the naked back of a new kept boy they rented from Thailand with mafia money. No one cares.
I don't think you know how manipulation works. It isn't a light switch you get to flip the second you learn something. I.E it is NOT that simple, lol.
It sounds like you have a security clearance and either really like the rules or feel really constricted by them and that's why you're so angry about this.
What ultimately matters is the competitiveness of Elon's offering and my understanding is that it's competitive enough that Uncle Sam can't afford to stick to their bullshit ideals and has to compromise.
> How exactly do you blackmail the one of richest men in the world for drug usage?
Exactly like this:
> "Illegal drug use would likely be a violation of federal policies that could jeopardize SpaceX’s billions of dollars in government contracts. Musk is intrinsic to the value of his companies, potentially putting at risk around $1 trillion in assets held by investors, tens of thousands of jobs and big parts of the U.S. space program... In addition to violating federal contracts, any kind of illegal drug use would break company policies at both SpaceX and Tesla, and would raise questions about Musk’s executive role at the publicly traded Tesla, where the board has a duty to shareholders to oversee management.”
That's basically saying- "you have nice companies here... it would be a pity if they were taken from you or went bankrupt".
Elon Musk's drug behaviour (whatever it is) will not change. But people can stop talking about it, if people are happy with what Elon does for them.
I think Spacex is partly a military contractor and drugs are forbidden for that. After Musk was seen with a joint on Rogan the whole company had to do regular drug tests for quite a while.
Neither transport company is in the business of offering free rides. Said "leaders" are actually employees who work for him: they'd better be worried - if they continue to court the media with guy-not-the-game hit pieces, they'll be unemployed. Any senior manager would be in their rights to fire people undermining corporate value and senior management authority.
Agreed. Not sure taking the stage high on ketamine is a good look though. Or tweeting things high the cause an SEC investigation. Or becoming so erratic a director quits.
Seems to speak to the problem more than his use of psychedelics.
His publicly visible behavior by itself should worry them, even setting aside what might be exacerbating it. I don't know if this is them actually being worried about his behavior but needing a business-friendly fig leaf to complain about it, or if they actually believe that his behavior has been just fine and it's just drugs they're worried about.
(The illegality element may only matter from a business standpoint for government contracts.)
My guy, nearly every single tech CEO has done iowaska and stuff like that at this point.
Steve Jobs used to go in front of Stanford business classes, sit at the front table cross-legged, call out a student at the front and ask "have you ever taken LSD?", and if they answered "no", he'd say "then you'll never be successful at business" and proceed to lecture on the benefits of LSD to creativity.
I highly doubt anyone serious gives a shit if Elon tries some molly.
> The world’s wealthiest person has used LSD, cocaine, ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms, often at private parties around the world, where attendees sign nondisclosure agreements or give up their phones to enter, according to people who have witnessed his drug use and others with knowledge of it. Musk has previously smoked marijuana in public and has said he has a prescription for the psychedelic-like ketamine.
Report goes on to say people around him are worried about his ongoing drug use, particularly Ketamine.
A Tesla director stepped down due to his erratic behavior.
He once took the stage at a large company meeting presumably high and slurring his words.
Board members suspected he was on drugs while tweeting about taking the company private. The tweet caused an SEC investigation.
So, a little more than a Steve Jobs rant about his LSD hippy days.
Iowaska, lsd and even ketamine are one thing. These can be used in legitimate therapy and are not necessarily the signs of any problem if occasionally used responsibility.
Cocaine is not, and usually the hallmark of someone with a problem.
> ...Musk, who was nearly an hour late to arrive at the all-hands meeting about the company’s latest rocket.
When he finally took the stage, Musk was strangely incomprehensible at times. He slurred his words and rambled for around 15 minutes...
I don't think anyone cares whether or not he do molly sometimes, but this is really something different. He is after all CEO for the only U.S. company now approved to transport NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
Steve Jobs also refused modern medicine initially and eventually cost him his life. Maybe being good at business by taking drugs for creativity is not a great feature of the business world. I guess business people lack natural creativity so they buy it?
I just cancelled my Wall Street Journal subscription over this article. There’s so much going on in the world right but in the front page of WSJ.com are two hit pieces about Elon. First, this article where “board members are worried”, Second, “Mr. Beast rebuffs Elon” even though Mr. Beast would use X for videos if it was financially feasible.
I’ve never been a hater of “mainstream media”, but they are turning out to be ridiculous right now.
Just compare WSJ tabloid to FT.com now and the difference is huge.
"Mainstream media" isn't a monolith, it's filled with many types of content.
WSJ is going full bore down the path of most other Murdoch News Corp media properties, less neutral news, more click generating emotional rage bait.
( Okay, technically WSJ is directly a Dow Jones & Company, Inc. asset - but Dow Jones is now just another American publishing firm owned by News Corp.)
Give it a few years and they'll have a page three girl.
Dennis Potter on Rupert Murdoch's lasting impact on journalism, democracy and politics
Mainstream Western media is just a tool for few people to covertly control society. Totalitarian society media is a tool for fewer to blatantly control society. Nothing good can come from it.
I really don't understand this instinctive urge people have to grovel and simp for wealthy celebrities.
Musk is the owner and CEO of one of the most important defense contractors in the country. It is a matter of national strategic importance if he is spending his time coked out of his gourd or neck-deep in a k-hole.
Oddly i think he’s less important than you do, but you think I’m simping lol.
If you really think Musk’s drug habit is that important, People.com and NYPost Page Six may be closer to your preference.
There’s a couple of wars, shipping crisis, antisemitism, airplanes grounded, an upcoming election, employment and inflation numbers that are of more consequence than the private behaviour of Musk.
If you read the article, none of their sources are board members but “people with knowledge”. Could be anyone. WSJ has a history of bad reporting on Silicon Valley.
A famous person with a drug problem. This is famously "good" news. Look at any other celebrity and the in depth coverage of their personal problems. Why should he be any different?
Hold on, there's a world of difference between recreational drug "use" and having a drug "problem". It seems like Musk is engaging in the former while being painted as having a "problem". And I say that as someone who dislikes him a lot for his other antics.
Some of those things are legal in certain places and circumstances. Coke isn't really either, ever. Especially for an officer of several public companies, some of which have big government contracts.
If the CEO of Boeing or Raytheon was acting this way, would we be acting differently?
To be clear, the WSJ article linked here states that people are worried he has a problem.
Using before going on stage for work is not recreational, it's a problem.
I would look at the behaviors and decisions made by the CEOs of Boeing and Raytheon. If they meet my expectations I would excuse the substance use.
If it’s a problem, it’s a minor problem, not justifying the attention. Elon has a lot of major problems that this distracts from, and creates the suspicion of a media bias against him, which is harmful.
In my opinion, it should depend on their role. And only look for active intoxication.
(Separately, regarding business and political leaders in particular) I’m not in favor of the “blackmail vulnerability” arguments in this discussion. Substance use should not be stigmatized.
Yea, I’m a downright Elon-hater. I could not care less if business leaders use drugs responsibly. This is the wrong tree to bark up, an utter distraction when Elon’s actual meaningful behaviors and decisions are so objectionable.
It's good that you don't care, but we are a soceity of laws, and we need to apply them equally. If it's ok for business leaders to use responsibility then we need to make it ok for everyone, and free those that have been encarcerated for such. Many people that work for these companies must submit for drug testing. Where is your sense of right?
In my opinion, drug testing should only required for certain roles (like driving or operating machinery). And it should only look for active intoxication.
employee: a person who works for an employer; spec. a person employed for wages or a salary under an employment contract, especially at non-executive level.
Yes. WSJ has around 600k print circulation, which makes it #1 in the US. (For comparison, the NY Times is second place with 300k; the Washington post is 3rd with 140k). WSJ Digital subscribers is 3.4 million or so.
Personally, I have free access through work and I have, in the past, been a subscriber to the dead tree edition.
I'm not an Elon Musk fan by any metric, but frankly, this article, or rather the sentiment behind it, is ridiculous.
It just goes to show, you can revolutionize electric cars and private spaceflight, build a successful business empire, and become the richest man in the world, and people will still claim that your drug use is destroying your life.
The people quoted in the article claim that his drug use may be causing erratic behavior on Twitter and elsewhere. Besides the fact that erratic behavior clearly doesn't require drug use (see Trump), even if we assume that Musk's personality is a result of his drug use, how about the fact that that same personality was the one that made all those concerned people rich in the first place. Or are only negative personality traits allowed to be attributed to drug use?
Unsuccessful person using drugs: "You're unsuccessful because of your drug use."
Successful person using drugs: "You're successful despite your drug use."
It's getting old. The writers Emily Glazer and Kirsten Grind are the same journalists who claimed Elon was having an affair with Sergey Brin's ex-wife, Nicole Shanahan. It's the same modus operandi, quoting "people familiar with the matter".
That story fizzled out after Elon posted a brunch photo with Sergey and asked Nicole to sue WSJ.
Some of those are GREAT like the hallucinogens, but ketamine is potentially more dangerous and addictive.
There are MANY people who have done LSD, ecstacy and Mushrooms have gotten old and found it improved their lives, decision-making and perhaps intellect.
KETAMINE OTOH is newer and highly addictive. Some people can get delusional and unhinged on it especially if done often. Musk should absolutely limit the use of Ketamine to perhaps 1-2X/mo.
I have done interventions with people doing too much Ketamine so i speak from experience.
84 comments
[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 151 ms ] threadIf Elon even denies it (because lets be honest, everything in this story has multiple verification, is repeated from different sources and is consistent with Musk’s own behavior), it creates opportunity for blackmail or worse.
People are VERY easy to blackmail.
Again, if you deny or lie about it, you essentially self-blackmail.
Read the article:
>"Illegal drug use would likely be a violation of federal policies that could jeopardize SpaceX’s billions of dollars in government contracts. Musk is intrinsic to the value of his companies, potentially putting at risk around $1 trillion in assets held by investors, tens of thousands of jobs and big parts of the U.S. space program...In addition to violating federal contracts, any kind of illegal drug use would break company policies at both SpaceX and Tesla, and would raise questions about Musk’s executive role at the publicly traded Tesla, where the board has a duty to shareholders to oversee management.”
Elon is taking federal contractor funds, a very serious deal, and doing cocaine and more with it.
He’s a literal national security threat.
People get security clearances pulled over this.
He doesn't exactly hide this.
The greater issue is he's flaky, whimsical, and readily takes cues from rando's trending on twitter. Not the reliable rock steady rational actor one images national security should rest upon.
again, ANYONE else doesn’t pass security clearances over this.
They've entered in contracts with him, they've had the chance to fully read all that is public about Elon in advance, and now they've got the tiger by the tail.
I doubt a third party (Russia?) threatening to tell on Elon to the DoD about his cocaine | LSD | mushroom | et al. habits would do squat as far as blackmail goes, they very probably already know, if not they're kind of incompetent.
He's delivering private launch facilities and Elon having loose lips is a greater threat than Elon being threatened with being outed about drugs unless he discloses DoD "need to know" secrets he has access to.
Ultimately he has value to DoD and they have bank problem;
if you owe $100 to the bank, you have a problem, if you owe one billion to a bank, the bank has a problem
He's not ANYONE else.
( again, not a fan, not a devoted Elon hater - this is just the pragmatic assessment )
The moment Elon denies doing cocaine, he is then subject to blackmail. Everyone on the board knows he does hard drugs, so now he can be exploited.
It’s that simple.
If I know you’re lying, I can manipulate you.
Elon Musk publicly and falsely accused someone of being a pedophile and skated on it. Donald Trump publicly bragged about being able to sexually assault women, and it got him more votes than he lost. I guarantee you nothing will happen to anyone named on the Epstein list. People at this level of power can't effectively be blackmailed, because social (and most legal) consequences simply don't apply to them. Certainly not over something as banal as drug use.
This isn't the 1940s, everyone already assumes that every rich powerful asshole is doing cocaine every week off the naked back of a new kept boy they rented from Thailand with mafia money. No one cares.
It sounds like you have a security clearance and either really like the rules or feel really constricted by them and that's why you're so angry about this.
Also he aligned with the Saudis over the Twitter deal. They seem to be able to kill who they want with zero repercussions. He has a lot of kids.
Main Street logic and norms do not apply to the super rich.
Exactly like this:
> "Illegal drug use would likely be a violation of federal policies that could jeopardize SpaceX’s billions of dollars in government contracts. Musk is intrinsic to the value of his companies, potentially putting at risk around $1 trillion in assets held by investors, tens of thousands of jobs and big parts of the U.S. space program... In addition to violating federal contracts, any kind of illegal drug use would break company policies at both SpaceX and Tesla, and would raise questions about Musk’s executive role at the publicly traded Tesla, where the board has a duty to shareholders to oversee management.”
That's basically saying- "you have nice companies here... it would be a pity if they were taken from you or went bankrupt".
Elon Musk's drug behaviour (whatever it is) will not change. But people can stop talking about it, if people are happy with what Elon does for them.
The only place where it should remain outlawed is situations where it could lead to accidents like driving heavy machinery, etc.
Seems to speak to the problem more than his use of psychedelics.
(The illegality element may only matter from a business standpoint for government contracts.)
Steve Jobs used to go in front of Stanford business classes, sit at the front table cross-legged, call out a student at the front and ask "have you ever taken LSD?", and if they answered "no", he'd say "then you'll never be successful at business" and proceed to lecture on the benefits of LSD to creativity.
I highly doubt anyone serious gives a shit if Elon tries some molly.
Report goes on to say people around him are worried about his ongoing drug use, particularly Ketamine.
A Tesla director stepped down due to his erratic behavior.
He once took the stage at a large company meeting presumably high and slurring his words.
Board members suspected he was on drugs while tweeting about taking the company private. The tweet caused an SEC investigation.
So, a little more than a Steve Jobs rant about his LSD hippy days.
Cocaine is not, and usually the hallmark of someone with a problem.
I don't think anyone cares whether or not he do molly sometimes, but this is really something different. He is after all CEO for the only U.S. company now approved to transport NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
I’ve never been a hater of “mainstream media”, but they are turning out to be ridiculous right now.
Just compare WSJ tabloid to FT.com now and the difference is huge.
WSJ is going full bore down the path of most other Murdoch News Corp media properties, less neutral news, more click generating emotional rage bait.
( Okay, technically WSJ is directly a Dow Jones & Company, Inc. asset - but Dow Jones is now just another American publishing firm owned by News Corp.)
Give it a few years and they'll have a page three girl.
Dennis Potter on Rupert Murdoch's lasting impact on journalism, democracy and politics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRV835XkraI
Musk is the owner and CEO of one of the most important defense contractors in the country. It is a matter of national strategic importance if he is spending his time coked out of his gourd or neck-deep in a k-hole.
If you really think Musk’s drug habit is that important, People.com and NYPost Page Six may be closer to your preference.
There’s a couple of wars, shipping crisis, antisemitism, airplanes grounded, an upcoming election, employment and inflation numbers that are of more consequence than the private behaviour of Musk.
Did we forget that Jared Kushner couldn’t get a security clearance because of his financial black hole?
And you’re blaming Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper for this? This isn’t Gawker, FYI.
A famous person with a drug problem. This is famously "good" news. Look at any other celebrity and the in depth coverage of their personal problems. Why should he be any different?
If the CEO of Boeing or Raytheon was acting this way, would we be acting differently?
To be clear, the WSJ article linked here states that people are worried he has a problem.
Using before going on stage for work is not recreational, it's a problem.
If it’s a problem, it’s a minor problem, not justifying the attention. Elon has a lot of major problems that this distracts from, and creates the suspicion of a media bias against him, which is harmful.
(Separately, regarding business and political leaders in particular) I’m not in favor of the “blackmail vulnerability” arguments in this discussion. Substance use should not be stigmatized.
In my opinion, drug testing should only required for certain roles (like driving or operating machinery). And it should only look for active intoxication.
Source: Oxford English Dictionary
https://archive.ph/jj8AU
Congress carved out provisions allowing federal contract waivers for virtually every crime you can think of. It includes assault, rape, and murder.
Is it part of cancel culture to cancel things you don't like?
Personally, I have free access through work and I have, in the past, been a subscriber to the dead tree edition.
It just goes to show, you can revolutionize electric cars and private spaceflight, build a successful business empire, and become the richest man in the world, and people will still claim that your drug use is destroying your life.
The people quoted in the article claim that his drug use may be causing erratic behavior on Twitter and elsewhere. Besides the fact that erratic behavior clearly doesn't require drug use (see Trump), even if we assume that Musk's personality is a result of his drug use, how about the fact that that same personality was the one that made all those concerned people rich in the first place. Or are only negative personality traits allowed to be attributed to drug use?
Unsuccessful person using drugs: "You're unsuccessful because of your drug use."
Successful person using drugs: "You're successful despite your drug use."
There are MANY people who have done LSD, ecstacy and Mushrooms have gotten old and found it improved their lives, decision-making and perhaps intellect.
KETAMINE OTOH is newer and highly addictive. Some people can get delusional and unhinged on it especially if done often. Musk should absolutely limit the use of Ketamine to perhaps 1-2X/mo.
I have done interventions with people doing too much Ketamine so i speak from experience.
Cocaine is just dumb and pointless