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Elon Musk: His grandfather and the failed ideas that drive him

Musk’s views on politics and governance are echoes of the tenets of a 1930s political movement that championed rule by technologists.

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Mr Musk has long presented himself to the world as a futurist.

Mr Musk has long presented himself to the world as a futurist.

PHOTO: ERIC LEE/NYTIMES

Jill Lepore

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US President Donald Trump has reportedly told Cabinet members that Mr Elon Musk may soon leave the administration. If and when he goes, what will he leave behind?

Mr Musk has long presented himself to the world as a futurist. Yet, notwithstanding the gadgets – the rockets and the robots and the Department of Government Efficiency Musketeers, carrying backpacks crammed with laptops, dreaming of replacing federal employees with large language models – few figures in public life are more shackled to the past.

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