Elon and the Genius Trap

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The Atlantic

Politics, News, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 12 June 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Explaining how Musk tanked his reputation has many ways: First, he alienated environmentalists by teaming up with Trump, and then he alienated Trump fans by insulting their hero. Another way is clear by looking at American culture’s historical relationship with “genius,” and how it tends to go wrong. In this episode, we talk with Helen Lewis, author of The Genius Myth: A Curious History of a Dangerous Idea, about what Musk has in common with Thomas Edison, how psychedelics fit into the archetype, and what the possible paths are for Musk moving forward. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at theAtlantic.com/listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The bromance is over. President Trump and Elon must trading barbs today over Republicans'
0:15.7	big, beautiful bill.
0:17.0	Well, last week, something no one could have expected to happen finally happened.
0:22.6	The president of the United States and the richest man in the world had a spectacular falling out.
0:28.6	A pretty intense back and forth between Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
0:34.2	Musk now claiming he won Trump, the 2024 election to Trump threatening to cancel Musk. Musk now claiming he won Trump, the 2024 election to Trump threatening to cancel
0:41.3	Musk's federal contracts.
0:43.3	Elon Musk tweeting within the past one minute, time to drop the really big bomb at real
0:48.8	Donald Trump is in the Epstein files.
0:51.7	That's the real reason they have not been made public.
0:54.0	Have a nice day, DJT,
0:55.9	exclamation point. The feud between Trump and Musk escalated at a bewildering pace.
1:01.8	Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if it will anymore. I was surprised.
1:08.0	Trump may have been surprised, but to a lot of us watching,
1:11.2	a partnership of two egos this huge
1:13.8	was doomed to break up.
1:15.7	This week, Musk tried to patch things up a bit,
1:18.1	saying he regrets some of what he said
1:19.9	without specifying what exactly.
1:22.1	But Trump is more or less not engaging.
1:25.1	And it looks like, for the moment at least,
1:27.3	Musk's reputation has hit
	...

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