Can Elon Musk Buy His Way Out of a Reckoning?

With less than a week to go until Election Day, Elon Musk is once again at the center of American politics. The world's richest man has poured nearly half a billion dollars (washingtonpost.com/elections/interactive/2026/…) into the midterms to stave off Democratic gains. Meanwhile, Republican and Democratic lawmakers have called for an investigation (wsj.com/politics/policy/lawmakers-call-for-mus…) following revelations that Musk restricted Ukraine’s access to Starlink. And last week, Musk threatened Kara (nymag.com/intelligencer/article/pivot-kara-swi…) with jail time on X after she said he could face investigations if Democrats return to power.

Kara brings together a panel of experts to unpack the business interests behind Musk’s political bets: why he's spending big on the Texas Senate race, what’s driving a potential Tesla–SpaceX merger and whether a post-election reckoning could bring accountability and check his power.

Kirsten Grind (nytimes.com/by/kirsten-grind) is an investigative business reporter at The New York Times covering Silicon Valley and tech executives, including Elon Musk. Catherine Rampell (x.com/crampell?lang=en) is the Economics Editor for The Bulwark and an MSNOW contributor. Faiz Siddiqui (washingtonpost.com/people/faiz-siddiqui) is a tech reporter at The Washington Post and author of the book Hubris Maximus: The Shattering of Elon Musk.

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