There is probably no contemporary figure more baffling—and polarizing—than Elon Musk. Alongside his outsize entrepreneurial ventures—Tesla and SpaceX, among them—there is his public persona: charming, puckish, combative, mercurial. He has aroused admiration and scorn in about equal measure. What are we to make of him?
Caption
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Japan’s Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi inspect a guard of honor on October 29, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan. (Getty Images)