Source: THEWEEK; Translated by: Zhou Ziheng

"Money can buy a lot of things", Alison Morrow said on CNN.com, for example, Elon Musk spent $288 million to help President Trump and other Republican candidates be elected, allowing him to serve as minister of the Department of Efficiency that did not exist before, and has the right to fire 280,000 federal staff and close the entire agency.

But money can't buy everything, as evidenced by the "split of humiliation" Musk suffered in 24 hours last week.

First, Wisconsin voters rejected Musk's $25 million attempt to plant a conservative judge in the state Supreme Court. Hours later, Tesla reported a 13% plunge in sales, its biggest drop ever. Not long after, an anonymous White House insider told Politico that Musk had been in Washington for too long, and President Trump told his inner circle that Musk would soon "quit" DOGE.

Musk refuted the report as "fake news", and Aaron Black wrote in the Washington Post that the White House also issued a "no denial", saying Musk had planned to step down "after DOGE's excellent work was completed." But Republican lawmakers complain privately that they are paying for the high profile and personal unpopularity of Tesla CEO — between 60% and 38% of voters don’t like him — so it’s becoming increasingly difficult to deny that “Musk’s experiment looks like a failure.”

Jonathan Swan wrote in the New York Times that Musk might be a burden, but White House sources said Trump "has no intention to cut ties." For a president who “escapes responsibility at all costs”, the extremely unpopular Musk is a useful “heat shield” that can absorb voters’ anger at Trump’s anti-rape. Coupled with Musk's unlimited resources, his commitment to funding to challenge disloyal Republicans in the primary, and his possession of X-media—"the most important media outlet in the Republican"—for Trump, keeping close ties with Musk and keeping involved "more than disadvantages." "I don't think we're seeing Musk's peak yet." Trump still needs Musk's money and Tesla is in trouble because of Tesla's troubleMusk needs "his influence in the Oval Office" more than ever. Nick Catogio said in the Express that the Democrats want him to stay.

In the last few days of the Wisconsin campaign, Musk wore a "cheese head" hat and presented Wisconsin voters with an oversized, legally questionable $1 million check... As a result, his candidate lost by 10 percentage points more than all poll estimates. In Musk, who has no personal charm, the Democrats may finally find a "Republican monster" who can attract his own voters to the polling stations "while not attracting right-wingers at the same rate."

Joe Lowenge said on Bloomberg that some Republicans still think Musk is a good thing for the Republican Party. Senator Ted Cruz (Republican of Texas) described the chaotic White House tariff debate this week as a "angel-and-devil" battle and claimed that the counter-tariff "Elon is one of the angels." Jeffrey Brehal asked in the comments why he wanted to stay in Washington.

After last week's turmoil, Musk is sure to learn from his failed adventure: "Most geniuses are not transferable", "A truly talented person like him should enter the private sector" to create dazzling and world-changing technology. Richard L. Hasson wrote in Slate magazine that it is certainly good. But the lesson Musk and other billionaires are more likely to learn from Wisconsin is that it may backfire that publicly showing off “turning money into naked power” can be counterproductive, and they can distort and control our more effectively by “retreating behind the scenes.”