Elon Musk is a “billionaire in freefall” as President Donald Trump is “reportedly refusing to take his calls,” according to an analysis from Salon Weekend EditorCK Smith.
His belief comes after SpaceX’s Starship rocket exploded for the fourth time in six months.
The company reported the huge fireball explosion was caused by fuel leaks, before Starship 36 was able to take off. SpaceX said no one was injured in the explosion. SpaceX also said "there are no hazards to residents in surrounding communities,” as a result of the explosion. Some experts have called the explosion a setback.
The tests are allegedly to bring NASA astronauts back to the moon.
“While the smoke clears on the launchpad, another crisis is burning,” Smith said, “xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence venture, is reportedly on track to lose $13 billion in 2025. He later said, “Musk moved GPUs from Tesla to prop it up and is now pitching a $9 billion raise to investors. But that’s not innovation — it’s triage.”
To make matters worse, “Musk has been frozen out by Trump himself, who reportedly isn’t taking Musk’s calls.”
Smith said the trio of issues has made Musk, “Just a guy with exploding rockets, a hemorrhaging AI startup, and a dying social media platform full of trolls yelling into the void.”
The Weekend Editor noted if you look at Musk’s X account, you won't see the setbacks. “Just a scratch” Musk said of the exploding rocket. He has also been bolstering Tesla’s updated Model S and X.
“Once the architect of disruption and chainsaw-wielding White House Senior Adviser, it now feels like he's a brand built on fire and fumes.” Smith added, “Musk promised moon landings, AI revolutions, and free speech utopia. What we got instead? A billionaire in free fall — and the receipts are everywhere.”