Much has been made about Elon Musk "wasting" $44 billion on Twitter, given that the firm's revenue and usage continued its steady decline. It could be missing a critical point of Musk's thinking-and the value that the platform actually provides for himself, and his companies.

Because even as Musk would dearly love to think that he is the greatest business operator in the world, and that he can take any concept and turn it into a viable business, his rationale for the purchase - really - is more sown in the realm of political influence, not in running X itself. And that could still prove far more valuable to him than the $44 billion price tag.
Musk has since deleted that tweet, but this post, published two years before Elon started buying up Twitter stock, which eventually led to his purchasing the app, points towards the logic in why he feels such value in the company.

Above is a tweet referring to the political coup in Bolivia-the ousting of then Bolivian President Evo Morales. There have long been rumors that the U.S. was involved in the coup, with American authorities purportedly seeking control over the nation's lithium resources and keep it out of the hands of Russia and China.

Bolivia possesses the world's largest reserves of lithium, and demand for that commodity has exploded in recent years, following the explosion in the production of electric vehicles. Which, one might point out, ties directly to Tesla, and Musk's statement can pretty much be said to point to the fact that his companies were more favourably able to access Bolivian lithium following the coup.

And how was this coup organized and amplified?

The Morning Star reports:

A new study now suggests tens of thousands of fake Twitter accounts were created to support the military coup against Bolivia's elected president, Evo Morales. With more than 68,000 false accounts set up to try and legitimize the army's overthrow of Mr Morales following his re-election last month and to justify massacres of protesters against the coup that followed, Twitter appears to be the preferred social media platform for forces opposing democracy.

Apparently, U.S. operatives were using the medium of Twitter as if it was a cannon to feed dissent and compel the overthrow of the nation's elected leader.

And with his vested interest, Elon had front-row seats.

It's this power that woke Musk up to the chance that Twitter could have on voters and enormous political influence. It's this kind of drive that pushed him to buy the platform and reset its moderation guidelines under the banner of "free speech," as he saw a chance to swing the political sentiment in his interest and ultimately win for his projects.
It's about nothing remotely related to any of the sillier ideas like protecting humanity or freedom of speech or any of the other philosophical virtues that Musk has suggested in his various comments about the app. That said, Musk views Twitter, now X, as a way to exert pressure on governments to give his companies more favorable treatment. And that's becoming more evident in his various dealings.

For example, Elon recently condemned a court ruling in Brazil ordering the suspension of users whose continued posting of assertions that the 2022 Brazilian election was "stolen" led to the ouster of former President Jair Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro was a Musk ally, and was eager to organize favorable lithium deals for Tesla, and his election loss meant that Musk lost that opportunity. So Musk is opposed to the current Brazilian government, who are less inclined to agree to the same deals and conditions.

So in the tradition of replacing whoever doesn't play ball with his schemes, Musk has made a display of showing how corrupt Brazil's leadership is as part of a ploy to swell dissent, and ideally get them voted out at the next election.

Again, it is the same playbook which Musk saw in Bolivia, but now he tries to lead by himself to derive optimal benefit for his interests.

However, Elon said that his opposition against the Brazilian order was about upholding the law and protecting free speech, right?

Well interestingly, he wasn't as keen to make a stand against similar requests from authorities in Turkey, India or Germany, which each has its own role to play in Musk's expanded business empire.

Tesla is now building new distribution deals in India, making it a very valuable new market to the company; Musk has a personal connection with Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, and has therefore discussed opportunities for both Tesla and Starlink to make use of these while Tesla's key European factory is being built in Berlin.

Ironically, Musk hasn't objected to any removal orders from these countries that have been presented to X, despite them being pretty much in line with those filed by Brazilian officials.
Musk has, however criticized Australian authorities. Tesla has repeatedly pointed to Australian Government red tape as a key impediment to its development in the nation.

He's also been going straight after the U.K. Government. Tesla has been pushing for higher taxes on petrol and diesel cars as it seeks to be rewarded with an even more generous subsidy regime.
 
The trend is quite evident; Musk desires to use his presence on X, and his wider control over the algorithm, as a means of creating dissent against governments he believes are in his way.

That, naturally, also extends to the politics of the United States.

Honestly, I don't think that Elon Musk believes even half the things he posts about U.S. political issues or feels passionately one way or another. But if Trump's re-elected in November, it's guaranteed that Musk will get a direct line to the White House. That'll enable him to shake off regulatory restrictions, secure government subsidies, sway favorable policies and more.

A Trump win would essentially seal the political weight of Musk, and you know he'll be selling that very same influence to every opposition party in each region where he fancies he can gain some traction with similar input.

You want to win at the polls, you assent to rolling back regulations on Musk's projects, and he'll hand you the full weight of his influence on X.

Musk has his hand on all the algorithms, all the systems; he can amplify and suppress whatever he likes. And that's powerful, even if X does now have fewer users.

So while Elon seems to be losing money on X, and may even appear to be "burning" the first $44 billion investment, it may actually be worth much more to Musk, and his companies, if he does have as much influence as he believes.

Such changes in government policies may well outweigh the initial outlay to Tesla, SpaceX, and his other enterprises; while it seems that Musk is running X into the ground, the ends well might justify the means.