Musk gave a big interview: it showed infantilism, rudeness and attacks on a journalist
Billionaire, businessman and head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Elon Musk gave a large and emotional interview to Bloomberg News, during which he demonstrated strange behavior, abruptly interrupting the moderator, evading answers to uncomfortable questions and openly distorting known facts. As UNN reports, Gizmodo analyzed the conversation with the billionaire and called Musk's interview the most infantile of all that he has given as a public figure.
Elon Musk on Tuesday, appearing remotely before an audience at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha, spoke online with British TV presenter Mishal Hussein. And although the billionaire oligarch has given many "whiny and childish" interviews over the years, his latest conversation with a journalist is one of the most infantile.
Musk repeatedly insulted the moderator for asking perfectly reasonable questions about his business, such as Tesla and SpaceX. And took a strictly defensive position when asked about his role in President Donald Trump's government as head of DOGE, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. The billionaire oligarch even called the interviewer "NPC", referring to a non-player character in a video game (NPC is a character in a game that is not controlled by the player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games, where it is applied to characters controlled by the game master (or referee), rather than another player - ed.).
Musk began the interview by complaining that Hussein asked him what he was doing to "recover" Tesla's success after the automaker's global sales fell. Musk replied: "already recovered" and fell silent, as if that was enough of an answer. Tesla's profits fell 71% last quarter, but Musk continued to insist that everything was fine because the stock price had recovered.
While Musk continued to argue that Tesla's sales were fine, Hussein pointed out that the company's EV brand was suffering. She didn't mention Musk's Nazi salutes on January 20, but that, along with his role in the reshuffle in the federal government, led many people to put bumper stickers on their Tesla cars that read: "I bought the car before we knew Elon was crazy."
There are also people who buy it (cars - ed.) because Elon is crazy, or so they think. So, yes, we may have lost some sales on the left, but we gained them on the right. Sales figures are strong right now. And we don't see any demand problems
Musk then went on to insist that Tesla's stock trading at record highs meant his company was in good shape and that sales figures were very good, ending with, "They're fine. Don't worry about it."
It's hard to convey how immature Musk's behavior was during the interview to someone who hasn't seen the video, which is fully available on YouTube. The billionaire sarcastically spoke about the judge who ruled against him, calling him "an activist judge cosplaying as a judge in a Halloween costume," and complained about "activist investors" who won't let him run his company the way he wants to, moving on to how he's building "millions, if not billions, of humanoid robots."
Musk also complained that he didn't like the questions Hussein was asking, twice quickly saying "now let's move on" as the moderator was only formulating the question.
The billionaire often gave one-word answers to questions he most likely didn't like, and made strangely long pauses after some questions, as if staring into space, as he sometimes does. There was a particularly long pause when Musk was asked if he regretted going into politics. He called the outrage over his destructive role in reshaping the government a "fierce antibody reaction," terminology he has used before.
I'm not one to ever commit violence. And yet, there has been massive violence committed against my companies. I have been threatened with massive violence. Who are these people? What are they doing this for? How wrong can they be? They're on the wrong side of history - Musk said.
The publication recalled that Musk is "that guy" who kicked off Trump's second term by twice making Nazi-style greetings, so he has no real footing when it comes to the "right side of history." But the billionaire said that not only those who attacked Tesla dealerships should be afraid. He said they belong in prison, and that anyone who "funded and organized them will also go to prison."
When the conversation turned to Musk's work in government, including the ways his companies receive lucrative options from the government, he took an even more defensive position. Access to the inner workings of the federal government hypothetically gave Musk unique access to highly confidential information. The businessman is now privy to such secret data that it is specifically excluded from the possibility of granting access under the Freedom of Information Act. Because if a government contractor knows exactly what the government and its competitors know, he has a huge advantage.
Musk, however, insisted that DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) was simply an advisor to the government, unable to make important decisions or dictate to federal agencies what they should do.
"We are not dictators, we are advisors," Musk said. This contradicts countless things Musk has publicly stated on his X page and at government meetings. For example, in late February, Musk stood up to talk about what he intended to cancel, suggesting that he himself would decide what would be funded with public funds. The billionaire spoke about his cuts in the context of all the mistakes made, admitting that he had made mistakes, but they had been corrected.
Yes, for example, on the issue of USAID, one of the things we accidentally cancelled very briefly was Ebola prevention. I think we all want Ebola prevention. So we immediately reinstated Ebola prevention. And there were no interruptions. But we need to act quickly if we want to achieve a deficit reduction of $1 trillion in fiscal year 2026
The problem is that Musk is not the one to make such decisions. Congress allocates funds for programs, and Musk and his DOGE team have no right to unilaterally cancel anything. The oligarch clearly knows that this way of thinking has gotten him into trouble. And now he's just manipulating the terms of how things work behind closed doors.
The moderator also asked Musk about regulating the development of artificial intelligence. The billionaire quite scandalously called for increased AI regulation and a complete pause in all research in 2023, while he was secretly working on his own AI technologies behind the scenes. And this time, Musk said that too much regulation "is a natural consequence of prosperity," saying that "this has been going on throughout history."
When you have a long period of prosperity without an existential war, there is no cleansing function - from unnecessary laws and regulations
It is worth noting that this is the position of the richest man in the world and a major defense contractor.
Musk was also asked about USAID and recent comments by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who criticized the billionaire for effectively dismantling the agency. Gates said the cuts would cost millions of lives, which is backed up by research. Musk called Gates a "liar" and then said something about the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that's hard to decipher and understand.
Who does Bill Gates think he is to comment on the well-being of children, given that he [unintelligible] Jeffrey Epstein? I wouldn't trust that guy to babysit my kids
Musk said that all "useful" USAID functions were transferred to the State Department, which is - again - "not his choice." The billionaire went on to insist that HIV/AIDS programs that were cut would actually continue. And that's not actually true.
Musk was also asked about his conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and he insisted that he does not talk to him. When asked about this, Musk replied: "I spoke to him via video link about five years ago, although in late 2024 the Wall Street Journal reported that he had been "regularly communicating" with the Russian leader since 2022. Musk was outraged in the interview that his interviewer believed something published in the Wall Street Journal, calling the publication "the worst newspaper in the world."
Elon Musk, who spent about $300 million to support Donald Trump's presidential campaign and other Republicans last year, said on Tuesday that he plans to significantly reduce his political spending in the future.
