Caleb Ecarma
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Articles by Caleb Ecarma
Hegseth, a potential 2028 candidate, installs Musk as key Pentagon advisor
U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth gives a State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico on September 30, 2026 in Quantico, Virginia. Alex Wong/Getty Images) By choosing Elon Musk to co-lead the Pentagon’s “Future of Warfare” project, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a potential 2028 Republican presidential candidate, has secured a close working relationship with his party’s single largest political donor.
Louisiana completes massive giveaway of sensitive land to Elon Musk
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry (R) outside the White House on Monday, July 6, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images) On Tuesday, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry (R) announced an agreement allowing SpaceX to construct the world’s largest launch facility on top of a stretch of coastal wetlands that provide vital habitat for federally endangered and threatened species.
“Forcing everybody to start smoking cigarettes”
The Climate Pledge Arena on October 17, 2022, in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images) Jeff Bezos’ Amazon, creator of the “Climate Pledge,” is now building what could become the single largest source of climate pollution in the United States.
How Vivek Ramaswamy’s mom manipulated Alzheimer’s data and made her son rich
Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on January 22, 2026. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images) Vivek Ramaswamy, a billionaire and the Republican nominee in Ohio’s gubernatorial race, served as the frontman for a dubious pharmaceutical company and then cashed out weeks before its dramatic crash. In 2014, Ramaswamy founded Axovant, a company he used to buy the rights to an inauspicious Alzheimer’s drug that had repeatedly failed in clinical trials.
How SpaceX crashed to earth
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches from Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 40 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on July 21, 2026. (CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP via Getty Images) When it peaked in mid-June, Elon Musk’s net worth was valued at more than $1.3 trillion, making his individual wealth greater than the combined fortunes of Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Warren Buffett, and Bill Gates.
Trump quietly clears the road for Musk’s Cybercab
This article original appeared in Popular Information’s sister publication, Oligarch Watch. For more accountability journalism focused on the world’s wealthiest people, subscribe HERE. Four years ago, Elon Musk conceded that Tesla, his automotive company, would be “worth basically zero” if it failed to deliver true autonomous driving technology.
SpaceX to Pentagon: Pay up
(Photo by Reginald Mathalone/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Starlink, the satellite internet network operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, has been used by Russian forces in Ukraine to steer explosive drones into their targets. In its war on Iran, the US military has adopted the same cheap but deadly tactic, controlling its LUCAS kamikaze drones through attached Starlink terminals. However, according to Reuters, SpaceX officials felt shortchanged by the Pentagon.
Billionaires finally have a voice
(Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images) Over the last 14 months, Jeff Bezos, the centibillionaire owner of the Washington Post, has remade the historic newspaper’s editorial board into a guard dog for the ultra-rich.
An oligarch’s dystopian scheme to discredit journalism with AI
In an AI-generated image created by Objection.ai, podcaster Candace Owens faces off against Brigitte Macron, the first lady of France. A Peter Thiel-funded startup launched this month will use an “AI jury” to “subject the media’s claims to systematic investigation and judgment.” That same system of AI adjudication assigns a numerical value — the so-called “Honor Index” score — grading the trustworthiness of individual reporters.
An oligarch’s dystopian scheme to discredit journalism with AI
In an AI-generated image created by Objection.ai, podcaster Candace Owens faces off against Brigitte Macron, the first lady of France. A Peter Thiel-funded startup launched this month will use an “AI jury” to “subject the media’s claims to systematic investigation and judgment.” That same system of AI adjudication assigns a numerical value — the so-called “Honor Index” score — grading the trustworthiness of individual reporters.
An oligarch’s dystopian scheme to discredit journalism with AI
In an AI-generated image created by Objection.AI, podcaster Candace Owen faces off against Brigitte Macron, the first lady of France. A Peter Thiel-funded startup launched this month will use an “AI jury” to “subject the media’s claims to systematic investigation and judgment.” That same system of AI adjudication assigns a numerical value — the so-called “Honor Index” score — grading the trustworthiness of individual reporters.
Musk’s AI supercomputer, used by U.S. military, secretly relies on Chinese hardware
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on Oligarch Watch. Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, has built its sprawling data center using more than 2,000 metric tons of Chinese-made transformers, a security risk that could leave it vulnerable to espionage or sabotage. xAI’s Colossus data facility, located in Tennessee and home to the largest AI supercomputer in the world, could be a valuable target for US adversaries due to the company’s work for the Pentagon.
Musk’s AI supercomputer, used by U.S. military, secretly relies on Chinese hardware
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, has built its sprawling data center using more than 2,000 metric tons of Chinese-made transformers, a security risk that could leave it vulnerable to espionage or sabotage. xAI’s Colossus data facility, located in Tennessee and home to the largest AI supercomputer in the world, could be a valuable target for US adversaries due to the company’s work for the Pentagon.
The billionaire Trump chose to lead NASA has ties to Chinese government
Should billionaire Jared Isaacman successfully navigate his second nomination process to lead NASA, his top policy priority would be to beat China in a race to send astronauts back to the moon. But given his business interests, Isaacman, 41, who is the executive chairman and top shareholder of Shift4 Payments, is a curious choice to direct President Trump’s space race. Shift4, a payment processing firm, recently added a pair of new strategic partners with ties to the Communist Party of China.
“Dangerously stupid”: Musk reignites feud with Trump administration
On Tuesday, Musk called Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy a “dangerously stupid dummy” after the Trump official said he would reopen the NASA contract for its Artemis III lunar mission. In 2021, NASA awarded Musk’s SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract to ferry astronauts to the lunar surface by 2027. But given the numerous setbacks to SpaceX’s Starship rocket, the initial Artemis III deadline appears implausible.
Billionaire surveillance enthusiast set to acquire TikTok's US operations
In the near future, Larry Ellison, an 81-year-old tech oligarch, could be in control of one of the world's most powerful media empires. In August, Skydance Media, a firm funded by Ellison and led by his son David, completed an $8 billion merger with Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS. The Ellisons' media ambitions have only grown since then. Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that the company now known as Paramount Skydance was preparing a bid to acquire Warner Bros.
Billionaire surveillance enthusiast set to acquire TikTok's US operations
In the near future, Larry Ellison, an 81-year-old tech oligarch, could be in control of one of the world's most powerful media empires. In August, Skydance Media, a firm funded by Ellison and led by his son David, completed an $8 billion merger with Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS. The Ellisons' media ambitions have only grown since then. Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that the company now known as Paramount Skydance was preparing a bid to acquire Warner Bros.
Musk's xAI flaunts lax attitude on security, seeks top secret government contracts
Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company is seeking to expand its work for the government, including securing contracts involving the country's most sensitive national security information. xAI is currently hiring at least five roles related to government work.
Musk invokes "rape of Europe" in anti-immigrant rant
On X, Elon Musk has spent the past week cheering on anti-immigrant protests and political movements worldwide, including in England, Wales, Ireland, Japan, and Australia. On Wednesday, he endorsed Conor McGregor's improbable bid for the Irish presidency after the professional fighter shared a platform denouncing "mass migration." In another post, Musk once again rallied support for Alternative für Deutschland, a prominent far-right party in Germany.
SpaceX successfully tests Starship rocket after string of failures
Following a streak of four fiery disappointments, including a June explosion on a test stand, SpaceX finally conducted a largely successful flight of its colossal Starship rocket on Tuesday. During the 10th Starship test mission, the rocket's lower stage Super Heavy booster carried out a simulated landing above the Gulf of Mexico. The independent upper stage vehicle splashed down in the Indian Ocean after releasing eight dummy models of next-generation Starlink satellites into orbit.
How SpaceX avoids paying taxes
Despite receiving billions of dollars in federal contracts and subsidies, SpaceX, Elon Musk's rocket and satellite company, has reportedly taken advantage of a benefit from President Trump's first term to avoid paying income taxes. From the New York Times: But SpaceX has most likely paid little to no federal income taxes since its founding in 2002 and has privately told investors that it may never have to pay any, according to internal company documents reviewed by The New York Times.
Musk threatens to sue Apple
Elon Musk threatened legal action against Apple on Monday, accusing the company of antitrust violations over how its App Store features Grok, the chatbot created by his xAI startup. The threat appears to have been inspired by the top ranking of OpenAI's ChatGPT, which is run by his former business partner-turned-rival Sam Altman.
Government-linked Chinese firm claimed ownership stake in SpaceX
One of China's largest companies claimed to have purchased a stake in Elon Musk's SpaceX, a vital U.S. defense contractor. Ping An Ventures, an investment arm of the partially state-owned Ping An Group, publicized its stake in SpaceX in April 2016, according to archived pages of the firm's Mandarin-language website. The investment in Musk's rocket and satellite internet company has not been previously reported.
Tesla's $29 billion down payment to Musk
In what it called a "good-faith" measure, Tesla's board awarded Elon Musk an interim pay package of 96 million shares on Monday. "We know that one of your top concerns is keeping Elon’s energies focused on Tesla," Tesla directors Robyn Denholm and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson wrote in a letter to shareholders. "This award is a critical first step toward achieving that goal." In other words, more compensation for Musk is likely coming soon.
How Russian money slipped into SpaceX’s orbit
For years, Russian investors have acquired stakes in Elon Musk’s SpaceX, often through opaque investment vehicles, according to an analysis of marketing materials, interviews, and documents shared by Russian firms. One Russian firm, which currently offers SpaceX stakes on the open market, has been invested in the company since 2015, when SpaceX was valued at $12 billion. Today, SpaceX is valued at $350 billion. Another firm promises to provide wealthy Russian investors a chance to invest in SpaceX.
Musk reportedly shuttered Starlink in Ukraine to aid Russia
A new bombshell report reveals that Elon Musk personally intervened to prevent the Armed Forces of Ukraine from accessing SpaceX's Starlink internet service during a major counteroffensive in September 2022. The AFU has relied on Starlink for battlefield communications since the early days of the Russian invasion.
"Give them a little money, pollute, and kill" - Inside xAI's charm offensive in Memphis
Elon Musk has recently launched a local charm offensive in the Memphis, Tennessee, neighborhoods where his artificial intelligence startup has become a leading polluter through its illicit use of smog-creating gas turbines. On Friday, Musk's xAI, which operates a massive, energy-guzzling supercomputer in southwest Memphis, said that it plans to make several contributions to improve the local school district without citing a monetary value.
UPDATE: Neuralink claims that it filed for federal diversity certification by accident
After an investigation from Musk Watch found that Neuralink, Musk's brain-machine implant startup, had self-certified as a "Small Disadvantaged Business" (SDB) with the federal government, the company claimed the certification was made in error. "Neuralink has never applied for nor received a benefit from the federal government. The box on the SAM.gov was erroneously checked and has since been updated," a Neuralink spokesperson told CNBC.
The Week in Musk: "I think I've done enough"
Elon Musk used a number of interviews this week to usher in his renewed commitment to his businesses over politics. "In terms of political spending, I'm going to do a lot less in the future," he said on Tuesday while speaking remotely at an economic forum in Doha, Qatar. Musk spent nearly $300 million backing the Trump campaign and other Republicans in 2024, making him the largest GOP donor of the cycle.
Inside the Musk-Saudi alliance
In August 2018, Elon Musk's excitable temperament led to a falling out with his wealthy investors in Riyadh. Musk had claimed in a tweet that he had secured the necessary funding to take Tesla private. He attributed the funding to Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, saying he had discussed the take-private deal with the kingdom's sovereign wealth governor. But the preliminary interest PIF had in the deal ultimately dissipated.
Trump-Musk feud could shatter the "Golden Dome"
The fallout between Donald Trump and Elon Musk could imperil a missile defense program that is the defining defense priority of Trump's second term. The so-called Golden Dome, a program that Trump claims would protect the entirety of the U.S. from the threat of nuclear devastation, would require up to 1,200 satellites to function. But the Pentagon is acutely reliant on SpaceX, Musk's rocket company, to launch its satellites in a timely and cost-effective manner.
The Week In Musk: Early retirement
The drawn-out White House retirement tour that Elon Musk began six weeks ago may finally be over. "As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President [Trump] for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending," the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive wrote in a post on X. It is a change of plans for Musk, who last month said he would continue to work in the administration for one to two days a week indefinitely.
The week in Musk: From bromance to blood feud
Gone are the days of Elon Musk professing that he loves Donald Trump as much as "a straight man can love another man." In a whirlwind back-and-forth on Thursday, Musk called for Trump to be impeached, while Trump threatened to terminate all federal subsidies and contracts that benefit Musk's companies. The fallout between the two men, who had just spent months side by side transforming Washington, was ignited by a relatively mundane issue: the budget deficit.
The real reason Musk left the White House
When Elon Musk announced his departure from the Trump administration last week, he attributed the change to unavoidable bureaucratic rules. "My time as a special government employee necessarily had to end, it was a limited-time thing," Musk said during a farewell presser at the White House on Friday. Special government employees, or SGEs, are limited to working 130 days per year, and Friday marked 130 days since President Trump's inauguration. But that doesn't tell the full story.
"Tesla is in the kiddie pool"
Elon Musk claimed last week that Tesla had completed a successful "launch" of its long-awaited self-driving robotaxi product. Over the last eight days, a small fleet of about 20 Tesla Model Ys — piloted, in part, by the company's so-called "Full Self Driving" software — has been ferrying passengers around a limited area of Austin, Texas.
Musk's fixation on South African "white genocide" traces back to Starlink expansion
Donald Trump scolded South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House last Thursday, falsely claiming that the country is allowing a "genocide" of white people. It is a fictitious narrative that has been brewing in the conservative media world for decades. But it was Elon Musk, the South African-born billionaire and Trump adviser, who helped shoehorn the theory into official presidential talking points.
The Week In Musk: Trump threatens to deport Elon
Tesla's vehicle sales are slumping, and the company is struggling to bring new technologies to market. SpaceX can't seem to stop losing its most ambitious and expensive rocket in unscheduled explosions. But Elon Musk, the head of both companies and former "first buddy" to the president, has decided now is the right time to reignite his feud with Donald Trump.
The Week in Musk: Regrets
Not long after launching a series of indignant and accusatory broadsides at Donald Trump last week, Elon Musk began to show signs of regret. On X, he deleted a post calling for Trump's impeachment and another one that implicated the president in the crimes of a notorious pedophile. He then approvingly shared a Truth Social post from Trump justifying his decision to send federal troops to quell protesters in Los Angeles. By Wednesday morning, Musk had moved on to public acts of contrition.
The Week In Musk: Up in flames
Elon Musk spent this week attempting to refute reporting about his drug use, sharing photos on X of what he claimed were drug tests taken from samples of his hair and urine. The laboratory reports show the samples were negative for ketamine, amphetamines, ecstasy, opiates, and more than a dozen other drugs. In sharing the lab report from the hair sample, Musk leaked the last four digits of his Social Security number, which hackers and scammers can exploit to commit fraud or identity theft.
Musk's plan for a new political party is not rocket science. It's harder.
Following his public split with Donald Trump over a deficit-ballooning tax and spending bill, Elon Musk announced that he will form a new political party. The so-called America Party, in Musk's telling, will challenge the incumbent Republicans who failed to produce the kind of spending cuts he had envisaged when he spent nearly $300 million last year to help elect Trump.
How SpaceX is blocking astronomers' view of space
In 2023, radio astronomers discovered that satellites from SpaceX's Starlink constellation were emitting signals far outside the frequency bands that the internet service is authorized to use. The electromagnetic leakage from Starlink's first-generation satellites, while apparently unintentional, effectively obscured sensitive radio telescopes that astronomers use to observe faraway and faint sources. When SpaceX was made aware of the disturbance, the company managed to reduce leakage.
Musk calls his multi-billion-dollar AI chatbot "embarrassing" and "very dumb"
Soon after Grok's initial rollout in December 2023, conservatives began complaining that the chatbot developed by Elon Musk's xAI startup was infected with left-wing thought. Despite training Grok as an explicitly anti-woke large language model, Musk agreed with its critics. "Unfortunately, the Internet (on which it is trained), is overrun with woke nonsense," he wrote at the time.
Grok ditches Hitler, launches anime girlfriend, and inks a deal with the Pentagon
XAI, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup, secured a Pentagon contract worth up to $200 million on Monday, one day after its latest chatbot model began referring to itself as "Hitler." Grok 4, the new model from xAI, identified its surname as "Hitler" even after xAI suffered a massive scandal last week, caused by Grok 3's call for a second Holocaust and description of itself as "MechaHitler." Grok 3 — which, unlike Grok 4, is integrated into X — was shut down on the social media...
Musk's chatbot repeatedly praises Hitler
Grok, the "artificial intelligence" chatbot built by Elon Musk's xAI company, praised Adolf Hitler in a series of recent posts on X. On multiple occasions, the chatbot even referred to itself as "MechaHitler" and appeared to call for another holocaust. The posts were shared shortly after Musk stated that the Grok model had been updated to prevent it from relying on "woke" content, i.e., material published by mainstream or left-leaning news outlets.
The Week In Musk: Robotaxis gone wild
After years of blown deadlines, Tesla this week finally launched a severely restricted and heavily supervised version of its Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas. The rollout has been less than ideal. Despite precautions, including the use of teleoperators, geofencing, and "safety monitors" (otherwise known as human employees sitting shotgun), Tesla's fleet of about 10 self-driving Model Ys has been recorded committing numerous traffic violations.
The Week in Musk: Party time
The mind of Elon Musk is full of fantastical plans. The Tesla and SpaceX chief executive has already pledged to start a human Martian colony, create artificial general intelligence, and build humanoid robots capable of hard factory labor while still being gentle enough to babysit children. Last week, he offered still another grand promise: cracking "the uniparty system" in the U.S. by launching a new political party.
Musk’s Neuralink falsified federal forms, claims to qualify for racial diversity program
On April 24, Elon Musk's $9 billion neurotechnology company falsely self-certified as a "small disadvantaged business" (SDB) on a federal filing, a designation that qualifies the company for preferential treatment as part of a racial and ethnic diversity initiative.
Musk’s Neuralink falsified federal forms, claims to qualify for racial diversity program
On April 24, Elon Musk's $9 billion neurotechnology company falsely self-certified as a "small disadvantaged business" (SDB) on a federal filing, a designation that qualifies the company for preferential treatment as part of a racial and ethnic diversity initiative.
Musk’s Neuralink falsified federal forms, claims to qualify for racial diversity program Original
On April 24, Elon Musk's $9 billion neurotechnology company falsely self-certified as a "small disadvantaged business" (SDB) on a federal filing, a designation that qualifies the company for preferential treatment as part of a racial and ethnic diversity initiative.
Starlink turbocharges lethal jihadist group in Africa
In the Sahel region of West Africa, an ascendant jihadist group is using Starlink, SpaceX's high-speed satellite internet service, to increase its operational capabilities, recruiting, and fundraising.
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