Victor Davis Hanson argued that Elon Musk’s influence across electric vehicles, space, satellite communications, artificial intelligence and social media is expanding despite years of political controversy and predictions that his companies would decline.
Hanson said Musk’s reputation took a hit after the 2024 election as he moved from supporting Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden to backing Donald Trump and publicly weighing in on issues such as illegal immigration, green energy and artificial intelligence.
“There’s a lot of controversy about Elon Musk,” Hanson said.
“His reputation took a big hit, we remember, right after the election, because half the country voted, roughly 48% voted against Donald Trump.”
Hanson said Musk’s political shift fueled protests and attacks against Tesla dealerships and created expectations that Tesla would lose ground as Musk became more closely associated with conservative politics.
“So people were suggesting that the era of Elon Musk was over,” Hanson said.
“He was very controversial, and he was outspoken on his own platform X on conservative issues such as illegal immigration, green energy, AI in ways that infuriated the left.”
Hanson rejected the idea that Musk is in decline.
“So, are we watching the decline of Elon Musk? No, no, no, no. It’s the exact opposite is happening,” Hanson said.
He pointed first to Tesla, saying the company rebounded in 2026 and retained a dominant share of the U.S. electric vehicle market.
Recent industry data also showed Tesla holding roughly half of the U.S. EV market during the second quarter and expanding its share later in the summer. (EVwire)
“In the second quarter of 2026, Tesla had a rebound, and it captured 52% of all the EVs sold in the United States,” Hanson said.
Hanson attributed Tesla’s continued strength to the product itself rather than Musk changing his politics.
“It’s because when you buy a Tesla, and you drive it, and you compare with other brands of the Big Three in terms of distancing, acceleration, safety, appurtenances, it’s not just better, but it keeps getting better geometrically, at a geometric rate, not just an arithmetic,” Hanson said.
He then turned to SpaceX and Starlink, arguing that Musk’s space companies have become central to American technological power.
Starlink had more than 12 million customers across more than 160 countries by mid-2026, while SpaceX operated roughly 10,000 active Starlink satellites.
“If you move to SpaceX, 67% of all the satellites in low orbit in the world around the world today are associated with Elon Musk’s SpaceX company,” Hanson said.
Hanson said SpaceX has helped restore the United States to a leading position in space exploration and has generated technologies with both civilian and military applications.
“SpaceX, with its various rockets, has saved a morbid, calcified, ossified NASA,” Hanson said.
“It alone, with its rocketry and space vehicles, has put the United States not just back into the so-called space race and return to the moon and eventually to Mars, it’s made it preeminent over the Europeans, the Japanese, and the Chinese.”
He also emphasized Starlink’s role in military communications and civilian internet access.
“And remember that his Starlink platform, satellite platform, has captured 97% of all satellite internet usage,” Hanson said.
“There’s 12 million people who have a SpaceX a Starlink receiver and are subscribers, in 160 countries.”
Hanson also cited X as evidence that Musk’s influence in social media has endured.
SpaceX disclosures reported roughly 550 million monthly active users across X and Grok as of March 2026.
“When Elon Musk paid an exorbitant fee for X, people felt that he had made an enormous mistake, that it was overpriced, and yet, and people were saying that people that users would abandon him and go elsewhere,” Hanson said.
“In fact, that has not happened. That has not happened.”
Hanson further pointed to Grok and xAI as part of Musk’s growing footprint in artificial intelligence.
“So let’s just keep that in perspective,” Hanson said.
“The United States is preeminent today in social media, in artificial intelligence, in satellite launches, in the number of rocket launches in general, in electric vehicles, and all of that put together is due to one person, Elon Musk.”
He compared Musk’s impact to several major American inventors and industrialists.
“One man has combined the talents of Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford, all in one person, and he’s an American,” Hanson said.
Hanson concluded that Musk’s influence across multiple industries has become a major part of what he views as a broader American technological revival.
“In other words, much of the success of the United States current Renaissance in digital media, in satellites, in electrical vehicles, in AI, in software, is due to one person,” Hanson said.
“One person can make a difference. In the case of Elon Musk, he made a big difference.”
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