When The Washington Post documented the $38 billion in government support behind Musk’s empire, it should have settled the debate. Yet Semafor’s recent piece reads like someone analyzing a magic show while refusing to acknowledge the trapdoors.

Turns out, Elon’s empire runs on the kind of government assistance that would make a 1980s welfare queen blush. We’re talking $38 billion in contracts, subsidies, and good old-fashioned corporate welfare. But sure, he’s totally “self-made.”

Tesla’s State-Sponsored Roadtrip

• $1.3 billion from Nevada just to show up (the Gigafactory “incentive package”)
• $2.4 billion in EV tax credits - because nothing says “free market” like Uncle Sam paying your customers
• $6.8 billion from selling imaginary pollution credits to actual car companies

Fun fact: Tesla would’ve gone bankrupt in 2013 without those sweet, sweet government-mandated ZEV credits. But please, tell us more about “disrupting” the auto industry.

SpaceX: Welfare Checks With Rocket Engines

• $11.8 billion in NASA contracts (aka “please don’t let Russia own space”)
• $4.3 billion from the Pentagon (because nothing says “libertarian” like military contracts)
• $1.3 million/year rent on NASA’s launch pad - that’s cheaper than a Brooklyn studio apartment

The Semafor piece somehow forgot to mention that SpaceX’s entire business model is “government pays us to deliver government stuff to government stations.” But hey, details schmetails.

The Cult of Elon

What’s most fascinating isn’t the money - it’s watching otherwise smart people twist themselves into pretzels to pretend:

1. Subsidies don’t count when Elon gets them
2. NASA contracts are “private enterprise”
3. A guy who built his fortune on government programs is somehow anti-government

It’s almost like… the author wants to believe. Like they’ve seen the holy spreadsheet of Starlink profits and achieved enlightenment.

The Bottom Line

Elon Musk didn’t build that. We built that - through taxes, contracts, and policy. The real innovation wasn’t the tech; it was convincing everyone that corporate welfare is “disruption” when your guy does it.

The WaPo exposed the receipts. Semafor chose to admire the emperor’s new clothes.