Without commenting on his alleged drug-taking beyond saying many "celebrities" think self-poisoning "clever", I wonder if Elon Musk's days as a Big Someone are fading.
His contract to run the "Department" of Government Efficiency was a short one anyway, so him leaving that employment is not itself significant, but at least he will able to do less damage to the USA's public services now trying to rebuild themselves and recover from his spurious allegations about "fraud"*.
His backers are not very likely to keep throwing money at him for his space-rockets unless and until he can prove them sufficiently reliable and safe for manned use - but that will need a lot more money thrown at him. I would not be surprised if NASA pulls the plug on X and returns to the experienced manufacturers they had always used. I don't know if NASA can partially defray the costs to the tax-payer by inviting commercial customers - that might be a matter of US law and government policy.
Sales of his Tesla cars have been declining; at least outside of the USA.
This is probably more by competition from other manufacturers than to Elon Musk's behaviour, at least in countries where buyers are not influenced by America's internal political divisions. His waywardness is thought a factor; though really, in Europe and elsewhere the vehicles' prices and specifications matter more than his hapless political antics - except where those are his attacks via "X-formerly-Twitter" on his customers' countries. However, his reputation for being very callous towards his own and governmental employees in America may also deter helping him stay rich.
His Cybertruck is unsaleable as built, commercially at least, in many countries, as it does not meet construction and use regulations as other Tesla models do. It does seem a very practical vehicle, but I think it was developed only as a statuts-symbol plaything for wealthy Americans within America. I do not know it in detail but studying the photographs suggest being designed to be made as cheaply as possible, with body-panels that can be formed with a minimum of very costly press-dies.
It would be interesting to know if Tesla sales have plummeted in China, for two reasons. The first and primary of course is competition from the home-grown products - BYD etc. The second might be fear that if you complain about Tesla's quality and safety in China, Tesla's connections will have you prosecuted for slander! Yet that country has world's most active electric-car trade - how much by Government policy I do not know.
Unless Musk can turn Tesla's fortunes round the institutional shareholders could either dismiss or sideline him, or simply cut their losses and invest elsewhere. In his competitors, perhaps.
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Finally, I have wondered for a while if the relationship between Mr Trump and Mr. Musk is akin to that between Mr. Putin and the "oligarchs". Putin and and the wealthy businessmen basically helped each other but it was Vladimir who ensured he emerged on top; and he is not one to be trifled with.
Trump is not going to send hit-squads with Novichok after Musk, and the two might even stay friends (Musk can afford Trump's ridiculous "social-club" fees!).
Yet once Musk has completed whatever Trump wanted him for, he may find himself no longer important. Irrespective of Party ideology, these two men are very alike: both come over as are heartless, attention-seeking narcissists sharing one political and publicity feeding-trough. If not careful Musk might even become an irritant to the President. It will be interesting to see what does happen to their relationship.
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* Social security "fraud".
An item on the BBC Radio Four news yesterday examined the claims around the records showing many people aged 150 or more, so "clearly" fraudulent. These bizarre records arose from legacy systems created when the service was first established, and not put right since.
The big flaw, startlingly, was that at the time (late-1930s) many Americans did not know their year of birth!
So the Social Services people had to give them approximations, then somehow these people stayed on file and became accidental Methuselahs. It was not fraud but a weak system and bureaucratic inertia. That is not ever so surprising; it happens in many ways in many lands, and without any criminal intent.
What is surprising is ignorance of one's own real age. That used to be common in some cultures for whom counting years was not especially important; but is the last thing I would have ever expected in America.
