How SpaceX became the MyPillow of government contractors

It actually has been one thing to observe Elon Musk flip SpaceX into the MyPillow of rocket firms, hasn’t it?

Christ, I assume I’ve to record off all of the miserable stuff from the previous few months: the Trump rally, the creepy assassination feedback, the even creepier comments about impregnating Taylor Swift, spreading hurricane misinformation on X (and thus hindering aid efforts), claiming his own child was “killed” by the “woke mind virus,” that form of factor. I’ve seen lots of people recommend that is political radicalization, and positive, perhaps it’s. However I can’t assist noticing a sick enterprise logic, too.

I’ve by no means accused Musk of being anything other than self-interested. As I see it, his solely actual politics are: Elon Musk ought to get to do no matter he needs, endlessly. And his newest political outbursts strike me as being clearly linked to his cash. He’s come to the identical conclusion as Donald Trump, which is that it’s notably straightforward to grift Republican voters, and there are many rewards and only a few penalties for doing so. Donny, these males are nihilists. 

On the face of it, it would look silly for a businessman to alienate one of many main US political events. Musk has an extended historical past of taking subsidies from native, state, and federal governments. His enterprise SpaceX is constructed basically on company contracts within the closely regulated aerospace trade. However I’m guessing Musk has found out he can leverage the tradition wars to his benefit.

These of you aware of SpaceX might recall its litany of lawsuits in opposition to the federal government. As an illustration, in 2005, the company alleged that Boeing and Lockheed Martin had engaged in anticompetitive conduct meant to maintain SpaceX from letting its Falcon 9 compete in authorities contracts. (The Falcon 9 didn’t have its first launch till 2010.)  

And in 2014, Musk sued the US Air Power over a $11 billion sole-source contract awarded to the United Launch Alliance. (The Falcon Heavy wouldn’t have its first launch till 2018.) SpaceX got concessions, dropping the swimsuit after the Air Power agreed to hurry up its efforts to certify SpaceX to launch army satellites — and making extra launches out there for SpaceX to compete on.

Now I personally, as a lady aware of the linear idea of time, discover these fits odd. How might SpaceX compete utilizing a rocket it hadn’t but launched? Certain, the “indefinite delivery / indeterminate quantity” contracts existed for the Falcon I, however that wasn’t what SpaceX was suing over. And but, these fits acquired Musk what he wished: extra attainable authorities contracts. In truth, such fits have been as much a hallmark of SpaceX as its rockets.

If you’re the form of one that makes use of lawsuits to get what you need, you could have made observe of the truth that Donald Trump appointed 200 federal judges, together with “practically as many highly effective federal appeals court docket judges in 4 years as Barack Obama appointed in eight,” as Pew Analysis places it. In 2021, greater than 1 / 4 of lively federal judges had been Trump appointees. Let’s not faux that’s insignificant; if it had been, the Federalist Society wouldn’t exist. If Musk helps Republicans, they’ll preserve appointing judges who consider issues that favor Musk — and he would possibly even get fortunate and get some blatantly partisan judges, who’d help him due to his affiliation.

Contemplate Texas, which has taken an actual curiosity in Musk’s affairs. Throughout Musk’s Twitter acquisition, Texas Lawyer Common Ken Paxton introduced an investigation of Twitter bot numbers — an investigation that neatly aligned with the argument Musk was making to attempt to get out of shopping for the social media firm. After all, there’s additionally the Texas judge who owned Tesla stock and greenlit a Musk-backed lawsuit in opposition to Media Issues for America. (The decide in query is thought for his politically conservative rulings.)

However wait! There’s extra. In 2020, SpaceX was awarded nearly $900 million in rural broadband subsidies from the FCC beneath Trump. However in 2022, the Biden-era FCC rescinded that funding since “the applicant had failed to fulfill its burden.” Two Republican FCC commissioners objected, and now a Republican House Oversight Committee chair is probing the FCC’s decision.

Tradition conflict points are supposed to encourage a largely apathetic voter base that doesn’t particularly give a shit about authorities appropriations. They’ve been used historically by Republicans, beginning with Barry Goldwater, with a view to enact particular monetary insurance policies which have largely harm lower-class People. It appears Musk has paid sufficient consideration to this explicit historic quirk to resolve the tradition conflict might help him, too.

Does this sound cynical? I suppose. Honest, coherent political views are largely the province of the bourgeoisie and nerds who paid consideration in authorities class. The Elon Musks of the world are occupied with energy. Not all the things Musk says is essentially calculated or politically useful — his partisan allegiances have additionally prolonged to having pleasant conversations with mask-off white nationalists and reposting theories that women are incapable of thought. Crucially, nevertheless, there aren’t any detrimental penalties for these actions — solely extra consideration, which appears to be his private heroin.

Contemplate the rocket scenario. For NASA, Musk is the one sport on the town moreover Boeing, and he is aware of it. He additionally is aware of that even if he publicly misbehaves — smokes weed, as an illustration — NASA will do nothing punitive. And I do blame the mind geniuses at NASA. As a substitute of getting in-house rockets for launching our spy satellites, we’re now depending on Boeing (lol, lmao), the United Launch Alliance (a three way partnership that features… Boeing), and SpaceX. (Certain, Jeff Bezos’ also-ran Blue Origin exists, I assume, however come on.) By outsourcing its engineering, NASA put the nationwide safety equipment on the whims of contractors gone wild.

And Musk’s gamble seems to be that being a visual Republican will profit him greater than being impartial, presumably as a result of he assumes, most likely appropriately, that Democrats gained’t punish him for this. So with regards to, let’s say, SpaceX’s environmental damage, the safety record of Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving,” and working conditions for his employees, aligning with Republicans lets him recommend any examination of his conduct is politically motivated. Handy, isn’t it?

You may see the ambition even with the social media platform previously generally known as Twitter. By courting the precise, as he has unquestionably done, he has tried to create a price proposition for a company he has largely destroyed. The skew additionally provides him an excuse: if X dies, Musk can declare it wasn’t as a result of it was mismanaged however destroyed by the novel left or no matter. Because of his pleasant judges, he may even take these “radical left” critics to the cleaners in court docket!

Look, Musk’s look on the Trump rally launched a thousand suppose items and the goofy picture that launched a thousand memes. However to speak about Musk’s political convictions, you must speak about the one factor he actually believes in: cash.