One of the more memorable marketing campaigns of the last 20 years was Dos Equis Beer’s “The Most Interesting Man in the World” concept, which featured actor Jonathan Goldsmith as a stylish silver fox who traversed the globe, bedding beautiful women, freeing angry bears from bear traps, and even giving his own father “the talk” — explaining the birds and the bees to his own Old Man. (According to Goldsmith, he won this role by improvising a story about arm wrestling Fidel Castro during his audition.)
Goldsmith’s character was retired in 2016. His last commercial showed him departing the earth’s surly bonds, destined to be the first man on Mars. The final voice-over: “His only regret is not knowing what regret feels like.”
And from this, we segue to the man most likely to actually land the first manned spaceship on Mars: Elon Musk — who probably really is “The Most Interesting Man in the World” right now. Really, there’s nobody else in our solar system who’s his equal.
First, he revolutionized digital payments with X/PayPal, giving birth to the trillion-dollar online marketplace. Next, he created the electric car industry with Tesla — to the delight of Limousine Liberals and Greenies everywhere. Later, he privatized space travel. (And when he wasn’t doing all that, he cofounded ChatGPT, the world’s leading Artificial Intelligence company… plus the Boring Company… plus running Twitter/X… plus batteries and solar panels… plus half a dozen other projects.)
It doesn’t make a lick of sense. It would be like Mark Zuckerberg being CEO of Facebook — while also running Boeing AND General Motors!
I honestly don’t understand how Musk does it. I’m a small business owner and have represented hundreds of different brands, both large and small; managing employees and running a single business is a full-time job. Running three multibillion-dollar corporate conglomerates simultaneously — Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter — is beyond superhuman. There shouldn’t be enough hours in the day.
But somehow, Musk not only pulls it off — hey, he’s the richest man in the world for a reason, ya know — he even has enough free time to dabble in politics. Yesterday, Musk attended the Butler rally and threw his enthusiastic, boisterous support behind the Trump Train.
“Register to vote, OK?” Musk told the audience. “And get everyone you know to register to vote. There’s only two days left to register to vote in Georgia and Arizona, Forty-eight hours. Text people now. Now. And then make sure they actually do vote. If they don’t, this will be the last election. That’s my prediction.”
With those words, Musk demonstrated his newfound proficiency at political jiu-jitsu, taking the Democrats’ asinine assertion that “Democracy is on the ballot!” and flipping ‘em on their back.
But it will likely cost him dearly.
Twitter/X is now worth less than 25% of the $44 billion Musk paid for it. It’s currently valued at just $9.4 billion. And the bulk (roughly 75%) of Musk’s wealth is tied to Tesla. Well, 71% of Republicans will not consider owning an electric vehicle; 82% of Democrats would.
Yet here’s where he wrests the “Most Interesting Man in the World” crown from Goldsmith: The most powerful private citizen on the planet has decided to pursue a political agenda that’s exactly, 100% antithetical to his profit model!
He’s not doing it to make more money. (I don’t even know if money is a meaningful metric when you’re already worth $250 billion.) That’s not his motivation; if anything, being pro-MAGA will fatally stigmatize the Tesla brand amongst those most likely to buy one — and after becoming a Free Speech haven, Twitter/X has already hemorrhaged a whopping $34+ billion.
With SpaceX largely dependent on government contracts, alienating all the Democrats in DC could jeopardize its solvency, too.
Agree or disagree with Musk’s principles, but his pro-MAGA actions represent the most extraordinary “Profiles in Courage” in American business history. Musk is risking more than anyone else… because even if he “wins,” his businesses will lose.
But he doesn’t care, because he believes he’s right.
Over the past few years, Musk has influenced strategy in the Russia-Ukraine war and told the entire country of Brazil to get bent. Now, he just might be the deciding factor in a razor-close contest between Trump and Harris. With the power and influence he’s earned via his work ethic, vision, and business acumen, he’s less like a private citizen and more like an independent nation-state.
At this stage, he probably has more global influence than the United Nations. And that ain’t hyperbole.
It’s been a remarkable evolution for Elon Musk, truly the Most Interesting Man in the World.
Stay thirsty, my friends.
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