“There are many years the place nothing occurs; and there are weeks the place many years occur.”
Nobody lived that paradox fairly like Elon Musk. For the higher a part of a 12 months, Musk couldn’t cease successful. He helped set up a president, muscled his method into the Cupboard through a meme-laced division referred to as DOGE, purchased Twitter simply to torch it and rebuild it as X, caught rockets from area, and performed geopolitical puppeteer with the type of conceitedness that solely comes from proudly owning rockets, satellites, and factories on a number of continents. He caught boosters, launched DOGE, threatened democratically elected leaders, and made bureaucrats in DC tremble like interns at a SpaceX launchpad. For some time, Musk wasn’t simply shaping markets—he was reprogramming actuality. The truth is, Musk has been so succesful that individuals have even been questioning if he is in fifth or sixth simulation in The Matrix (or excessive on Ketamine).

After which got here this week. Musk’s golden run skidded to a halt. Tesla’s inventory cratered after a dismal earnings report and a botched price-slashing gamble. His favourability plummeted. His $21 million intervention in Wisconsin was a double-digit defeat. His chaotic tenure on the Division of Authorities Effectivity seems to be set to finish in a quiet, undignified exit. And to prime all of it off, Trump’s tariff barrage wiped $11 billion off Musk’s web value in a single day—as a result of what’s one other commerce warfare while you’ve already declared warfare on public goodwill?
It was every week when all the things that after made Musk seem invincible started to appear to be overreach. A correction, maybe. A reckoning, extra seemingly. As a result of if Musk’s rise was the stuff of techno-mythology, this week was the beginning of the hangover—the second the person who as soon as bent governments, platforms, and orbit to his will discovered that even emperors hit turbulence on re-entry.
Tesla: Crashing Shares and Radioactive Branding

Tesla’s inventory didn’t simply dip—it spiralled, shedding billions in market worth like a rocket dropping panels on descent. The set off? A brutal stoop in first-quarter deliveries that no quantity of 0% financing or determined markdowns may disguise. The demand drawback was simple. And the model? Now not bulletproof.
This wasn’t only a business failure—it was a political one too. Musk’s full-throttle dive into right-wing politics, from gutting authorities companies with DOGE to cringeworthy rallies in swing states, has scorched Tesla’s picture. Showrooms have turn out to be protest zones. “De-Musk America” hashtags development on-line. Bumper stickers now apologise for proudly owning a Tesla earlier than the CEO, as some put it, “went rogue.”
As soon as hailed because the iPhone of automobiles, Tesla now feels extra just like the MySpace of EVs—nonetheless round, however fading quick. What as soon as symbolised modern innovation now drags the luggage of Musk’s private crusades. And shoppers are voting with their wallets.
Wall Avenue took notice. Shares plunged. Forecasts have been slashed. Even the trustworthy began whispering: Tesla’s greatest danger is probably not competitors—it might be its CEO. For years, Musk’s antics have been the key sauce. This week, they resembled poisonous waste.
DOGE Is Executed: Musk’s Washington Exit Technique

Musk got here to Washington promising to make authorities environment friendly. As an alternative, he made it chaotic—and now even Trump’s inside circle is slamming on the brakes.
After months of wielding the axe on the Division of Authorities Effectivity, Musk is stepping away. Formally, it’s to refocus on enterprise. Unofficially? The White Home is uninterested in the spectacle. What started as a daring experiment in bureaucracy-slashing grew to become a migraine for the administration.
Cupboard secretaries have been blindsided by Musk’s erratic decrees. Company heads have been whiplashed by weekend e-mail purges. DOGE by chance lower Ebola prevention programmes and have become a rallying cry for Democrats. By the point Musk’s handpicked decide misplaced in Wisconsin, even Trump loyalists have been finished.

His 130-day stint as a particular authorities worker is quietly winding down. Behind closed doorways, the consensus is evident: thanks for the fireworks, Elon—now please cease setting them off below our toes.
Trump nonetheless praises Musk as a “patriot”, however insiders say he’s uninterested in being blindsided by Musk’s unfiltered X posts and Pentagon-level leaks. The exit could also be mushy, but it surely’s nonetheless an exit. And as ever, whereas Musk is superb at breaking issues, another person should all the time clear up the DOGE mess.

Musk’s $21 Million Faceplant in Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Supreme Courtroom race was extra than simply one other contest for Musk—it was an influence play. And it resulted in catastrophe.
Liberal Decide Susan Crawford defeated conservative Brad Schimel in the most costly judicial election in American historical past. Musk, by means of his America PAC, pumped over $21 million into the race to tilt the court docket’s stability. As an alternative, he earned a 10-point drubbing, a liberal majority on the bench, and a state that rejected his model of billionaire overreach.
This wasn’t about jurisprudence—it was about management. Musk wished a conservative court docket to pave the best way for redistricting, voter suppression, and beneficial rulings for Tesla. What he acquired was a backlash.
Crawford’s marketing campaign forged Musk as a cartoon villain: a plutocrat with a federal job attempting to purchase justice with million-dollar cheques. The pitch labored. The voters recoiled. Musk’s gimmicks—cash-for-signatures and seven-figure giveaways—solely infected the opposition.
Contained in the White Home, the tone shifted. Trump nonetheless provides well mannered soundbites, however advisers are already planning Musk’s exit. After Wisconsin, the query isn’t if Musk ought to go—it’s how briskly.
His response to the defeat? A bitter X publish blaming “the lengthy con of the left” whereas greedy for relevance by touting an unrelated voter ID modification. It sounded much less like defiance and extra like harm management. The message from Wisconsin was unmistakable: justice isn’t on the market. Not even to the richest man on Earth.

Tariffquake: A Billionaire’s Brutal Thursday

After which got here the financial gut-punch.
On 3 April, markets convulsed as Trump unveiled sweeping new tariffs. The end result: $208 billion evaporated from the fortunes of the world’s 500 richest individuals—the fourth-largest one-day drop in historical past. Musk alone misplaced $11 billion, pushing his 2025 losses to a brutal $110 billion.
Tesla’s inventory fell 5.5% as buyers weighed the price of new tariffs on batteries and key supplies. Simply days earlier, there had been optimism that Musk would refocus on Tesla after his DOGE detour. That optimism didn’t survive Thursday.
The irony? Musk had lobbied for tariffs to weaken Chinese language EV rivals. However the ones that landed hit Tesla too—elevating prices throughout its international provide chain and welcoming Chinese language retaliation on Tesla’s Shanghai operations. Musk acquired his moat. It simply occurs to be stuffed with crocodiles.

The Week Musk Fell Again to Earth

For a person who as soon as promised to die on Mars—not crash in Madison—this was a humbling re-entry. In seven days, Musk misplaced political capital, investor confidence, billions in web value, and the phantasm that he was untouchable. The techno-myth cracked. The aura of inevitability dimmed.
Wisconsin mentioned no. The markets mentioned no. Even Trump now refers to him prior to now tense. Musk isn’t completed—he nonetheless instructions satellites, factories, and platforms—however momentum, the one factor he all the time had, is now not on his aspect. This wasn’t the tip of Elon Musk. However it might have been the tip of Musk as inevitable. Every week the place the person who wished to bend the long run lastly met gravity. Out of juice. Out of favour. And out of Wisconsin—with a brutal, billion-dollar thud.
And like the home, gravity all the time wins.
However then once more, betting in opposition to Elon Musk has all the time been a idiot’s recreation.
In any case, that is the person whose adolescent sci-fi desires now materialise in metal and hearth. The Starship booster caught by Mechazilla wasn’t only a feat of engineering—it was a press release: the legal guidelines of physics could also be immutable, however prices, constraints, and timelines are negotiable. SpaceX’s absolutely reusable Starship threatens to do to spaceflight what container ships did to international commerce. Launch prices are plummeting. Cargo-to-orbit is scaling. The sci-fi is turning into logistics.
For all of the critics who see Musk as a privileged charlatan using on others’ coattails, his friends beg to vary. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admitted Musk’s xAI achieved in 19 days what would take most corporations over a 12 months. From Zip2 to PayPal, from Tesla to Starlink, from Neuralink to reusable rockets—Musk’s fingerprints are all around the structure of tomorrow.
Gravity might win the day. However historical past tends to aspect with the mad ones who dare to struggle it. As Steve Jobs as soon as mentioned: “People who find themselves loopy sufficient to suppose they’ll change the world are those who do.” In any case, it might be silly to guess in opposition to a person who can catch rockets from area. Metaphorically after all.