Elon Musk is suffering from PTSD
This is real life. Not a soap opera playing out for our entertainment.
Yes, I suffer from PTSD myself so I know of what I speak.
From when I was three until I was twenty-one (when my stepfather died) barely a day went by that I was not subjected to bodily, emotional, spiritual, and psychological harm and/or the threat of it from that man (and at times, some of his friends).
At the time of my adulthood, motherhood, marriage years, I went through all kinds of psychological responses to everyday things. Startle response was huge, sometimes I couldn’t hear, and other times I could hear a pin drop a mile away, tell you who dropped it and why, and have a battle plan made ready.
My head was always on the swivel.
I identified exits from any building.
I found ways to hide my children and shield them from threats when those arrived.
I sat with my back to a wall so I had a complete view of everything in front of me.
I could pick out potential threatening situations and found ways to turn that person’s mindset by appealing to their ego or pretending a big bug was on their back and slapping the bug away. In both cases they thanked me — for the compliment or saving their life. Boom. Either way — threat handled. Their attitude was changed and they’d be smiling.
I had to control all outcomes — whether or not they were my responsibility because, you see, I’d be the one left to clean up the mess. So, I thought, logically no mess to clean up if situation is avoided. Did anybody listen? Not often.
What-if was how I lived. Yet, at the same time, I misused those responses. As all with PTSD will. I’d get mad at friends, husband, strangers when they could not understand the imminent threat in front of us and ignored me.
Were they blind?
Were they stupid?
Were they lazy?
What in the hell was wrong with these people?
Why are they mad or laughing at me?
Why am I so frustrated?
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is exactly what Elon Musk is experiencing.
Think about it. Elon’s childhood planted and watered the seeds of PTSD.
He’s had PTSD his entire life. He may be brilliant, but he’s a control freak, too. It is up to him to control everything so he can get the outcome he wants.
Sure. Yeah. His brilliance and ability to think logically further down the road than most has stood him in good stead as he’s built objects and offered services and gone into space. He can go from Step 1 to 100 before everybody else has finished Step 1.
But, you see, that control does not work when applied to whole populations.
Is Elon wrong about the Big Beautiful Bill? No, not completely. But neither is he completely right. What he doesn’t understand is that sometimes, Steps 1, 2, 3… are actually necessary. And that’s all the BBB is: A few steps in between disaster and a real fix.
What Elon is experiencing right now is a lesson that is very hard to learn for anybody, but more so for those with PTSD. And that lesson has to do with Ego.
Brilliant people who have been abused and misused, use their brain power to control. Often it works. For instance, my stepfather would be whaling on my mama, sister, or brothers. Now, I’d studied that man and found what got his attention. So, in I’d step between them, facing him, then in a caring yet calm and authoritative voice, otherwise known and only identified in my motherhood years, as The Mama Tone, I’d look him the eyes and say, “What’s wrong?”
Boom. He’d stop whaling, he’d turn to me and he’d lay out his issues thus allowing Mama and Siblings to escape. An hour later he’d thank me for listening.
But was this the best solution? No.
The best solution at the time was out of my hands. Mother should’ve left and divorced him. She didn’t. And because leaving was never going to happen, I came to believe that I could solve the problem of the stepfather.
Yet, he kept on abusing me and no psychological trick could take him off me when I was his target. Nobody stepped in on my behalf and I took that to mean that of all the ones in the household, I was the only one who could take his abuse and remain in control because, as long as his attention was on me, it wouldn’t be on them.
Bring it on, big boy. You are in my power and you don’t even know it.
See? I was strong and logical in belief in my godlike powers.
See? I freely admit it now. My ego was out of control and…
I did not know my limits.
This is what Elon is going through now. It’s a difficult thing to admit your ego could be leading you down a rose petal covered path that leads to a canyon hidden behind a wild bramble that you must remove in order to get to a bridge.
But ego without limits burns bridges.
The reason Elon seems to suddenly be mad at the man in whom he thought was his brother from another mother, his twin, his doppleganger, is because he found that Trump wasn’t any of that.
The difference between Trump’s first term and his second is that Trump learned some hard lessons. Those lessons taught him a lot and, furthermore, reined in his ego. Just compare his official portraits from when he was 45 to now, when he is 47.
Two completely different men. The first, ego-driven on his terms. The Man With The Vision. The Fellow Who Was At The Top O’ His Game — but got his butt kicked in his next run for the Oval. Why? Because his ego led him astray and he missed every clue thrown at him thus not fighting the fight in front of him.
The second man? A man who has found how to lead the fight. Who has studied The Art of War and learned how to confuse the enemy and turn fence-sitters into loyal compatriots.
Trump has never had to deal with PTSD.
And because of that, he doesn’t understand what is happening with Elon. This is where Trump needs to have this pointed out to him.
Elon needs to learn that the fate of the entire world for all time does not rest on his shoulders. He needs to understand that logic is not what changes most minds. He needs to not view disagreement as a bridge-burner.
When I saw Elon run emotionally, psychologically, and yes even spiritually, full tilt away from the Democrats and into Trump and MAGA, my very first thought was, “Poor Elon. There’s nothing more sad than the eagerness of a new convert who believes in the perfection of the preacher and fellow congregants.”
Elon needs to learn he himself has limits. He doesn’t have all the answers. He cannot save all mankind. Until he does learn that, will he be petty and petulant and overreact and think everybody is out to get him? Yes, yes, yes, and hell yes.
But it won’t be the first time in the history of mankind that someone with PTSD has gone through this learning curve.
So all you pundits out there who are freaking out about the bromance ending and using Elon’s psychological meltdown as your worry stone (or should I say your ratings-builder?), stop acting like Commie Fascist Socialist Democrat Rino jackasses and start using your savvy to understand what a fellow human is going through.
This is not a damn soap opera, y’all.
This is Elon's biggest learning curve yet. Will he make mistakes? Yes. Will he come out of it better at the other side? Yes.
So don’t pounce on him. Teach him.
Absolutely brilliant, Angela. This from someone else who has been there and done that. Here’s hoping the man gets the message.