At the helm of X, bankrolling far-right lawsuits, and parroting white nationalist conspiracy theories to millions, Elon Musk is no longer a tech eccentric with odd politics - he's the one of the public faces of the MAGA counter-revolution. Alongside Trump and the digital culture warriors of the new right, Musk is acting as both financier and foot soldier, reshaping the online public sphere in the image of a paranoid, hypercapitalist backlash. He's not just posting through it on X - he's helping lead it.
In this urgent and razor-sharp essay, award-winning journalist Richard Cooke dissects the political descent of Elon Musk: from self-described moderate to reactionary provocateur, from self-mythologised innovator to conspiracy peddler and chaos agent. With forensic clarity, Cooke exposes the roots of Musk's transformation - the mythology of genius, the libertarian cult of disruption, and the tech elite's growing comfort with authoritarianism. Elon Musk: Dark Star Rising investigates how one of the richest men alive came to dominate what was once the digital town square - and what it means when that square is turned into a plaything of the paranoid elite. As Cooke reveals, Musk's trajectory is not an anomaly but a warning: when billionaires cosplay as rebels and monopolise the means of communication, democracy itself hangs in the balance. Dark Star Rising is searing account of the political devolution of Elon Musk - and what it reveals about the tech elite's descent into far-right reaction.
