Elon Musk’s recent war of words with The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) has taken a sharp turn, with the publication’s editor, Bevan Shields, issuing a blistering critique of the tech mogul’s escalating rhetoric and growing influence.
In an editorial titled Memo to an Increasingly Unhinged Elon Musk: You’re Not in Charge of the World, Shields defended the SMH’s original commentary and aimed at Musk’s broader actions on the global stage.
The response followed Musk’s condemnation of an SMH opinion piece by technology editor David Swan.
The article speculated that Musk might relinquish his leadership of Tesla to join Donald Trump’s incoming administration in a newly created Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk responded by accusing the SMH of “lying to their audience” and predicting its decline in readership.
Bevan Shields, Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald
The SMH calls out Musk’s global meddling
In his editorial, Shields highlighted a series of recent controversies surrounding Musk, particularly his interventions in European politics. These included Musk’s endorsement of Germany’s far-right AfD party, critical remarks about British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and public support for jailed UK activist Tommy Robinson.
Shields described these actions as part of a troubling pattern of “unfiltered mania” that has seen Musk interfering in the democratic processes of other nations.
“Musk has no legitimacy to give the world the benefit of his takes,” Shields wrote, accusing him of using his global platform irresponsibly.
The editorial also noted Musk’s history of controversial claims, including his refusal to remove violent content from X (formerly Twitter) and his personal attacks on individuals such as the diver involved in the 2018 Thai cave rescue.
I predict that the Sydney Morning Herald will continue to lose readership in 2025 for relentlessly lying to their audience and boring them to death
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 29, 2024
A billionaire with political ambitions
Shields went further, warning of the dangers posed by Musk’s rising political ambitions. With Musk reportedly set to head a new U.S. federal department under Trump’s administration, the SMH editorial questioned his capacity to distinguish between fame and the responsibilities of governance.
Drawing on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Rich Boy, Shields offered a stinging literary parallel to Musk’s behaviour, suggesting that his wealth and privilege have left him out of touch with the real world: “They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful.”
Shields concluded with a warning: “In these fraught days, there is no place in US politics for such softness and cynicism.”