Elon Musk sat down with The Economist's editor-in-chief, Zanny Minton Beddoes, and boy, did she get more than what she was asking for. If she thought she could lob a bunch of accusations against him, and he’d just take it sitting down.
He didn’t.
Instead, Beddoes got schooled, and the internet is still talking about it.
The interview covered plenty of ground, but two exchanges stood out as the moments Musk completely dismantled Beddoes' entire premise.
The first came when she tried to paint Musk as a supporter of Europe's "far right."
"You support not just the populist right, but the far right, in fact, very fringe parties in some countries," Beddoes said.
Musk wasn't having it.
"No, I support the normal people — what do you call the far right, falsely," Musk said.
Beddoes pressed on, asking if Musk really believed those parties represented normal people. Musk's response exposed exactly how the media manufactures its labels.
"Yes, literally, you could go back 10 or 15 years, and these policies were completely normal," Musk said. "One of the tricks that I think is funny is to take a speech from Obama and Hillary, and then go to someone who's sort of on the sort of what I call the lunatic left, and say, ‘What do you think of the speech by Trump?’ They're like, 'Oh wow, he's the worst person ever.' ‘Actually, that was a speech by Obama,’ or ‘Actually, that was a speech by Hillary.’ Literally."
Beddoes tried to pivot, insisting she wasn't talking about the Democrat Party's leftward lurch but about specific figures like Rupert Lowe. Musk shut that down, too, laying out exactly what "far right" actually means to people like Beddoes.
"It's actually just normal people. And here are the principles — tell me which of these sound terrible: That we should have secure borders? That we should have safe cities? That we should have sensible spending?" Musk asked. "Which of those three are far right fringe? I would like to just admonish you and the media for the absurd characterization of the far right. It is false and misleading and nonsense."
Just common sense! pic.twitter.com/GG5jnhgQ8f
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 23, 2026
The second moment came when Beddoes tried a different angle, questioning why an American trillionaire has any business weighing in on European politics at all.
"Why should you be able to shape European politics? You don't even live there," Beddoes said.
Musk explained he views the fight as bigger than any one country's borders. "I think of it as sort of the West collectively," he said.
That answer wasn't good enough for Beddoes, who suggested his wealth and influence are exactly why people "loathe" him.
"Some people do," Musk agreed.
Beddoes pushed further, asking if he understood why people felt that way.
“But do you understand why? Do you think what you're doing is helpful for Western democracy?”
Musk didn't flinch, and he turned the accusation right back around on her and her industry.
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"Maybe some people do loathe me, and that's probably true. I don't care. A quarter billion people follow me. I think a lot more people actually like me than don't," Musk said. "And I think a lot more people hate you and the media more than you realize."
🚨 Elon Musk just NUKED this reporter to her face in a MASTERCLASS
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 23, 2026
"People loathe you!"
ELON: "I don't care. The fact that a quarter billion people follow me means a lot more people like me than don't."
"I think a lot more people hate YOU and the MEDIA than you realize!"
🫳🏻🎤 pic.twitter.com/BOj528BGE8
The legacy media has spent years lecturing Americans about who counts as "normal" and who's "fringe," all while their own credibility craters. Musk turned her framing inside out and handed it right back to her.
She wasn’t the first person who tried to lecture Musk in an interview, I’m sure she won’t be the last, and I look forward to the next one!
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