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JSPrice Person of the Year 2024: Elon Musk

Elon Musk and Donald Trump (Image: AP News)

When TIME Magazine picks its 'Person of the Year', it's never because the title's editors 'like' a certain individual or group of people. The 'accolade', if you ever want to call it that, is often chosen based on an influencer who has delivered the greatest impact or had a 'big' year, regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the said person/people's agenda. So when the title picked Donald Trump this time around, it's not because the editors enjoyed how he defeated Kamala Harris to be the next President of the United States. It was because he had one crazy 2024. There were times when we were led to believe he could be behind bars, having appeared in court for at least four different, serious cases. The Politico website has an excellent 'tracker', so we know exactly what he's been accused of.

Despite this, on Monday 20th January 2025, Trump will be sworn in for his second term in the White House hot seat. Oh, and those court battles and talks of him being jailed are swept to one side as case dates are delayed to the twelfth of never or had magically dropped. He got what he wanted and now the United States - and the rest of world - wait nervously to find out what he comes up with in his opening weeks as President. 

Whatever he does, Trump will be joined by some outlandish characters. One being new health secretary Robert F. Kennedy, the nephew of 35th US President John F. Kennedy who spouted a lot of nonsense on Covid-19 and other conspiracy theories. I recollect that Trump was pretty proud of rolling out of the jab as early as his administration did, so it'd be interesting to see how this working relationship unfolds. They're apparently looking into a link between childhood vaccines and autism, which had already been debunked by the World Health Organization. Could they get rid of these inoculations altogether? Globally, these jabs have saved the lives of 150 million children over the last 50 years, so one hopes they think twice, for the sake of the next generation of Americans. 

While Kennedy can have freedom to do what he wants to the US health sector, any disagreement with Trump could mean Kennedy is instantly history. Similar can be said about JD Vance, the soon-to-be US Vice-President. He previously described Trump as an 'idiot' and compared him to Adolf Hitler. Him being chosen as the incoming President's right-hand man was seen as a surprise, yet, judging by profiles I've read about him, such as this one in The New Yorker, he would seem to do anything to stay relevant in the political sphere. If history was to repeat itself, however, Vance will end up being bruised the way his first Vice-President, Mike Pence, was. Pence was completely loyal towards Trump but that fell apart after the 'January 6 riots' when he chose to defend the constitution over his President. That didn't go down well at all.

The third person to look out for is my choice for 'Person of the Year', Elon Musk, the incoming 'efficiency tsar'. Now, I'm not choosing him because he's this amazing figure - in fact, I think he's possibly the most dangerous man in the world. This year, his influence towards the US elections outcome has shown the world exactly what he's capable of. And it has enabled his ambitions of doing similar elsewhere moving forward. Through his unlimited financial resources, he feels he can do whatever he wants, in ways we've not seen by any being for a long, long time.

I'm not being dramatic when I say this. In the 'West', we have always had a clear distinction towards who the 'good guys' and 'bad guys' are, regardless of where they were and how many they bamboozled close to home. We saw it with Hitler - in a short period of time, his propaganda gained widespread support from across Europe. And what did it lead to? A Second World War and the killing of six million Jews. He was someone on our doorstep, telling people that the 'establishment' was not on their side and anyone who he didn't like would be shunned from society. While there are no concentration camps this time around, we cannot have history repeating with people, crazed about power at all costs, running democracies.

Musk has been building on this influence for years, as is poignantly portrayed in the 2022 BBC documentary. With his company Tesla and the $45 billion purchase of Twitter, which he has rebranded as X, he has wooed leaders and influencers. They've been hypnotised by his vision of electric cars, space travelling, 'free speech' and his billions and billions of hard cash, whilst being oblivious to his true ambitions of global domination.

He is no Bill Gates nor Richard Branson - who have loads of money for themselves and their major corporations, but spend the rest of the dollar on philanthropy, investing on finding cures for diseases and providing key resources for the poorest in Africa. They largely stay out of politics, though Gates reportedly donated to Kamala Harris's campaign. Though regardless of is in power, they can do good business with. Because Musk is of a certain political persuasion, he knows he can do better business with some more than others. He was an outspoken critic of outgoing President Joe Biden. Kamala Harris wasn't going to give him the profit he craves.

Buoyant after Trump's victory, Musk isn't stopping there. He has set his sights on the UK, reportedly looking to boost Nigel Farage's political ambitions with a significant donation, and Germany, where he has already endorsed the far-right party, the AfD, in the country's election this February. Undoubtedly, he'll go for France if Marine Le Pen plays her cards right, and Canada, Brazil, Poland and his home nation of South Africa could follow. And how will these impact the Middle East, the Far East and Eastern Europe more specifically? The only winners here appear to be Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un and Xi Jinping who are only laughing at the 'Wests' future calamitous downgrade in the hands of total lunatics. And whether this will benefit Israel's Benyamin Netanyahu or Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei, it may as well be decided by the Russian Roulette version of heads or tails.

Unfortunately, the victims of this ideology are those who Musk and the like are influencing. For so long, they've seen themselves as not being listened to, with the 'rich and powerful liberals' making them worse off. Musk is no rags-to-riches story. Neither is Trump. Neither is Farage. Neither is Le Pen. Neither was Hitler. Neither was Mussolini. They're toying with people's insecurities. Too many people get hurt by their poisonous politics. 'Liberal' folks are far from perfect, but at least you can do normal things without fear.

While it's hard to see a Musk downfall tomorrow, there are scenarios which can make this plausible in the future - an epic fallout with Trump (who is good at shutting allies away if something doesn't go his way), an expose of some kind, or better still, people collectively rising above his tripe and vote against the parties he endorses. We're seeing some signs of people walking away from his belief system - the number of X users has significantly dropped this year, particularly after the US election result. I was one of millions who waved goodbye to my personal account. I miss Twitter, but X puts the x in toxic. The need for his irrelevance hasn't become as urgent as it has today. A future under his watchful eye and magic wand is frightening.

JSPrice Perception 'Person of the Year' - previous 'recipients':

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