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Elon Musk says he 'got carried away' with politics in Economist interview

techJul 24, 2026561,517

In a 90-minute Economist interview recorded at a Tesla factory in Texas, Elon Musk said "I got carried away, frankly" about his close alliance with Donald Trump and his brief leadership of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Musk acknowledged he helped elect Trump in 2024 with $200m in backing and oversaw roughly $150bn in budget cuts that forced tens of thousands from federal jobs, but he also said he still stands by DOGE's work while admitting he might have been better off "working on my companies." The interview came after SpaceX’s flotation briefly made Musk the world’s first trillionaire, with personal wealth peaking near $1.25tn before falling back to about $750bn. Musk used the conversation to make sweeping AI and labor predictions, saying AI could surpass the sum of human intelligence within five years and that robots will make money "meaningless" within a decade, and describing plans to power his AI venture with datacenters in space that experts warn would be catastrophic for Earth. He also warned the UK could be engulfed in civil war within 20 years. Separately, outlets including RawStory published fact-checks of Musk’s recent posts on X, and the interview drew sharp public responses from filmmakers and commentators attacking his cultural and political claims.

Lora Kolodny
@lorak.bsky.social

The Economist interview of Elon Musk is astounding in all the ways you'd expect. Musk is unapologetic, combative and unwilling to accept or consider facts stated by the Editor in Chief who interviews him including about her own country. www.economist.com/leaders/2026...

23112h ago
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