How Elon Musk Went from Innovative Car Maker to Racist Demagogue Just Like Henry Ford

Elon Musk, that emblem of Silicon Valley idolatry, who rocketed from PayPal to Martian fantasies and, somewhere in between, managed to manufacture electric cars for the masses, has now revealed himself as a modern-day Henry Ford.

And not for reasons you might think. While Ford revolutionized the auto industry, he was also a bigot of historical proportions. Now, it seems Musk, ever the pioneer, is following in his tire tracks — though one can only assume with better Wi-Fi.

Let’s rewind the tape. In the early 2000s, Musk was hailed as a tech messiah, turning our fossil-fueled nightmares into sleek, battery-powered dreams.

Teslas became the new status symbols, as de rigueur in the driveways of the affluent as artisanal avocado toast on their breakfast tables. Musk’s SpaceX promised interplanetary colonization, aiming to make Homo sapiens a multi-planetary species. The man was heralded as a genius, a visionary — an indomitable force propelling humanity into the future.