Elon Musk and the Asperger’s syndrome

What to expect from him in politics?

In September, US presidential candidate Donald Trump announced that Elon Musk would lead the government Efficiency Commission if elected. Although the election is on 5 November, it is time to assess what to expect from the owner of Tesla, SpaceX and other high-tech corporations in politics. In this exercise, his character features would play key roles, including his Asperger’s syndrome which he revealed in 2021 during an episode of the Saturday Night Live show. As a rule of thumb, anyone who publicly brags about a mental health condition does not understand the severity of the problems implied by the diagnosis. Therefore, Murphy’s law will kick in to predict his future in politics: anything problematic that can happen will happen.

Musk’s possible role in politics is in line with other comprehensive trends, namely, the support for social fairness and meritocracy, the development of artificial intelligence, and finally, the shadow aspects of fair social competition that may lead to social Darwinism (the survival of the fittest, or the richest?). In an interview by Jordan Peterson Musk highlighted the positive aspects of meritocracy. In the interview, it is also clear that his appeal to meritocracy emerged as an opposition to the diversity, equity and inclusiveness (DEI) principles imposed on his enterprise SpaceX by the Biden administration.

The DEI principles are questioned by others in world politics. The criticism against DEI was growing especially during the Paris Olympics when two boxers who had ‘y’ chromosomes in their genomic tests were allowed to compete against biological women. Then, as the president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), Sebastian Coe criticised the International Olympic Committee (IOC) because the rules in female boxing were not clear. Rumour has it that Sebastian Coe has the ambition to become the next president of the IOC. Before the Paris Olympics, it was Coe who urged individual sports regulating bodies to address the issues of gender eligibility in competing to create clear rules.

Because the next Olympics will be held in 2028, the eligibility rules for competing are likely to be clarified by the middle of 2026. During the clarification process, the subject will be present in public discourses and those who are critical of the DEI principles will likely raise their views. It is difficult to see that DEI principles will remain strong after the decisions of the IOC and the clarified eligibility rules will create room to establish more meritocratic conditions in sports. This will have thorough effects on social life, too.

Although many people understand the promotion of meritocracy as positive, there is a shadow side to this trend. It may lead to the tyranny of an elite who might have proven already the “best” in social and political life because they are the ones who could become wealthy and influential. Elon Musk is one of the wealthiest people in the world. So, when he promotes meritocracy, it already mirrors the possible shadow side of a meritocratic society: the wealthiest define politics. Unfortunately, this shadow is exceptionally strong when we analyse Musk’s personal characteristics from a psychological perspective.

Asperger’s syndrome as part of the autism spectrum

In 2023, the conditions of Asperger’s syndrome became listed as part of the autism spectrum. The symptoms of Asperger’s (lack of capacity to understand social life that leads to awkward behaviour) are indeed very similar to autism. What I would emphasize here is that these people do not feel loved, they do not have the capacity to follow and understand the emotional dynamics of their environment. This leads to redirecting their attention to intellectual exercises. Because they do not feel loved, they also lack the feeling of emotional expansion in their life. To compensate for this discomfort, they put tremendous effort into their intellectual endeavours that consequently amplify everything they do.

This amplification of intellectual efforts is the first relevant feature of people with Asperger’s (autism). There are other characteristics: the lack of compassion (inability for meaningful love) caused by traumas and general distrust for people, and when facing opposition, the resentment can trigger uncontrollable anger. These problems are all present in Elon Musk’s life. Additionally, maybe because everything he does is amplified, I can identify the symptoms of escapism (the tendency to avoid difficult situations and engage the brain with easier problems) which is the similarity between Jacinda Ardern and Christopher Luxon.

Oddly enough, the amplification of everything Musk does extends to his family life. He has 12 children from two wives! It is unsure how much time he can spend with his children, but in a Western family, 12 children are way too much to pay attention to. It is likely that he is not the best father (me being generous).

The amplification of things refers to all aspects of escapism too! People with escapism have an enormous intellectual capacity. Now, when it is amplified, that is when we get Elon Musk! There are many examples of this tendency. According to his father, Musk was interested in the deep questions of life early in his life, already. When Musk was attending university, he earned two bachelor’s degrees, one in physics and one in science (economics). After he started his working career, he held multiple management positions at the same time. He is likely to have a good sense for the future, this is why he could make his fortune, despite, he did not invent anything new. (The electric engine was invented in the 19th century, for space travel he is exploring rocket technology instead of researching the field of anti-gravity etc.)

The negative aspects of escapism (glorifying things, tendency to be pushy and provide help, unclear religious views) are present in his life too. Regarding glorifying things (creating deception about a positive outcome), he was often criticised for promising many developments of the Tesla models, however, these were often delayed or never eventuated. We need to remember that both his flagship companies, Tesla( first in 2010 by a $465 million loan) and SpaceX (first in 2008 by $1.6 billion through NASA contracts) were bailed out by the US government! Practically, it is fair to say that Elon Musk is a myth of a successful entrepreneur.

Because people with escapism tend not to have healthy self-esteem and they feel useful only when they can help people out, Musk also shows this – again, on a large scale! The electric car company, Tesla officially has the promise to assist humanity with the transition to green private transport. SpaceX also has the aim to help humanity with moving to another planet “if anything wrong happens to Earth.” We can also mention the case when Musk offered an electric submarine for rescue in a flooded cave in Thailand in 2018. Although the divers at the cave emphasized that the submarine could not navigate through the channels effectively, Musk kept on pushing his offer. Eventually, the divers called Musk’s attempts a mere publicity stunt. Musk’s pushy character to provide help for society is apparent in his ownership of X, formerly Twitter. He emphasized that his buyout was intended to establish a platform for free speech. Besides, if someone’s account was suspended before his takeover, members should send messages directly to him to re-establish the suspended accounts. This practice is both unnecessary and simply just showing off his influence (and “helpful attitude”).

Finally, we can mention the unclear religious views. Musk is no exception, he claims to be “culturally Christian” which means he does not believe all the aspects of Christianity (for example the miracles performed by Jesus), however, he considers this religion socially desirable. Practically, he rendered his religious views under his political aims.

Lack of capacity for compassion

The parents of autistic children have difficulties that stem from their children’s inability to express love for them. This emotional imbalance makes it especially hard for these parents to raise their children. This tragedy is also present in Musk’s life. After the divorce of his parents, Musk continued to live in South Africa with his father. He moved to Canada where his mother had citizenship after a family conflict. This move made it easier for Musk to achieve US citizenship too. However, questions arise about how it was possible for Musk to miss living with his mother for many years, and, how he could leave his father after a family conflict. The answers lie in the psychological background of his mental health condition.

Unfortunately, his lack of compassion for people has been apparent in his leadership style. His employees often complained that Musk lacked basic human understanding. Musk expects long working hours from his employees (often 80 hours per week), and those who criticise him might face being yelled at and even fired.

The lack of compassion for people is caused by traumas and general distrust. Those who work closely with Musk describe his leadership as focusing on micromanagement. Musk himself calls his leadership nano-management. The New York Times regarded him as absolutist, despite that he does not make business plans. Composing a business plan would require a deep understanding of issues and this is what a person with escapism cannot perform. More importantly, Musk’s focus on micromanagement is related to his general mistrust: he intends to control every move of his employees, and he does not trust them by delegating duties.

Uncontrollable anger outbursts

The yelling with employees is already a sign of this problem. Nevertheless, Musk showed anger outbursts on other occasions in public. In November 2023, at the DealBook Summit, Musk explained his decision to remove advertisers from X (Twitter). The decision came after Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that he would no longer advertise on X owing to some messages by Musk. Musk then expressed his wish that advertisers would stop coming. He was quite blatant: "If somebody is going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go f… yourself. Go f… yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is."

The wording of this comment is rather problematic. Obviously, with such uncontrollable emotions, Musk should stay away from politics because, with this behaviour, he can easily destroy the results of many years of constructive engagement, for example, with trade unions or with international allies. Nevertheless, he intends to take part in politics. What can we expect from him with such a problematic psyche?

Musk’s organic step into politics: unfinished business everywhere

Some may view Musk’s intentions to enter politics as unnecessary because he cannot continue his business projects. However, we must understand that Musk’s unfulfilled promises and emerging new ideas show his personal traits and these also point to an “organic way” into politics. Because he cannot fulfil main promises (mass-electrification of private transport, affordable space travel etc.) he needs to find new endeavours where he might feel accomplished. This is the driver behind his steps into politics. Eventually, this possible role will be disappointing for most of us, and it may even lead to the spread of elitism, a tyrannical leadership of a selected few.

Musk strongly believes in free market capitalism and intends to limit the role of the state to a minimum. Although he received substantial government subsidies, in principle, he does not agree with this practice. However, this contradiction is not the largest problem of his possible leadership of a committee that intends to promote government efficiency. The elephant in the room is that his leadership style of micromanagement is not efficient in the first place. His incapacity to delegate tasks will prove catastrophic in reorganising the operation of the US government.

Also, the question arises whether he would demand central and personal control over government issues and decisions. To what extent is it possible that his personal attitude results in the centralisation of decision-making and facilitating tyrannical control? Those who might think it is not possible should consider Musk’s recent past at X (Twitter).

He claimed to be a free-speech absolutist. However, after criticism over his position on the Israeli-Palestine conflict, he announced a policy change on X (Twitter) in November 2023. From then on, the accounts that mention “decolonization,” or the verse of “from the river to the sea,” or anything that may cause violence against Jewish people, will be suspended from X. So, what a self-proclaimed free speech absolutist does is actually “free speech” that is regulated by an absolutist monarch, by Musk personally.

Certainly, this is not the political role people would want one of the most influential persons in the world to play.