Elon Musk is increasingly acting as an influential figure in global politics and domestic affairs.
“And so the slaughter continues… Time for Zelensky to go,” Musk wrote, echoing President Trump’s demand that Ukraine get a new leader capable of striking a deal with Russia, which has returned to good books in MAGA-land. Frustrated by regulatory delays, he first accused unnamed oligarchs of obstructing Starlink to preserve a “monopolistic chokehold” in India. He followed up with a sarcastic message beginning, “Dear Prime Minister Ambani,” mocking what he portrayed as the industrialist’s power over the country’s decision-making.
The intervention came amid a fresh deterioration in US-Ukraine relations after Zelenskyy criticised Washington’s decision to ease sanctions on Russian diesel exports and warned that the move could embolden Moscow. Musk’s confrontation with India over Starlink’s delayed entry into the country provides another illustration of how readily he deploys his platform to advance commercial objectives. He subsequently challenged the influence of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, asking on X: “Is Ambani the real boss of India?
In another provocative post on his platform X, Musk on Thursday called for Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to leave office, delivering the message as Kyiv grappled with restrictions affecting its use of the satellite communications network that has become indispensable to its war effort.
Musk has spent approximately $366 million in the 2026 US midterm election cycle, including $276 million since July, largely to help Republicans retain control of Congress, according to recent estimates. In July 2020, when a critic accused the US government of organising a coup in Bolivia to secure lithium for Tesla, Musk clapped back: “We will coup whoever we want! The exchange followed the removal of Bolivian president Evo Morales in November 2019, an event Morales and his supporters described as a coup.
“Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS,” he wrote, referring to starshield and passing the buck to Trump. US Senator Jeanne Shaheen also demanded an end to restrictions on Ukraine’s access to Starshield, warning: “Lives are at stake.” republican congressman Dan Crenshaw compared the US withholding assistance to watching a friend die while holding the medicine that could save him. ((Musk’s influence is not confined to foreign affairs. The episode captures the extraordinary evolution of Musk from tech whiz entrepreneur into an unelected actor with the capacity to influence elections, shape domestic politics and foreign policy, and potentially affect the military calculations of countries at war. Musk denied starlink’s restrictions, drawing a distinction between his company’s commercial network, and Starshield, its military-grade system controlled by the US government. Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski, whose country pays for Ukrainian starlink subscriptions, challenged Musk directly: “Hey, big man, are you playing politics with your products again? As your European customers, we are watching you. His return as a major republican benefactor after his brief rupture with Trump has made him one of the most consequential individual financiers in American politics. The splurging, particularly if the GOP wins, would give him extraordinary access and influence within a party whose legislative decisions could affect his companies, government contracts and regulatory exposure. Musk’s willingness to use provocative language about political power was on display well before his alliance with Trump. Deal with it. Bolivia gas vast lithium resources, essential for electric-vehicle batteries, making the allegation particularly explosive. Musk later deleted the post, but its significance lay in the apparent nonchalance with which one of the world’s most powerful businessmen treated the prospect of regime change.