Elon Musk Receives Well-Meaning Warning About Washington Politics
Is he in danger of overt and covert attacks and should he consider the dangers?
Anthony Scaramucci learned about the meat grinder that politics and the people in Washington are and can be, so he recently passed that knowledge and insight along to what he considers is another outsider, Elon Musk.
While Musk won’t care, maybe he could choose to be humble (no-joke zone) and consider the advice.
Scaramucci was ever so briefly — 11 days on the job — Donald Trump’s White House communications director. His time in Washington, no argument here, was a blip in history.
He had been “an unconventional choice for the role, coming from Wall Street with no prior experience in political communications,” wrote Polina Pompliano in her feature interview with him at The Profile.
Scaramucci, when asked in an interview, communicated a well-intended warning to Musk. “Stick to business. You’ve done great. You’ve made a couple hundred billion dollars since the election,” he answered to CNN reporter Wolf Blitzer.
Musk is going in blind to Washington and he doesn’t know the lay of the land and where the hazards are, Scaramucci said, sounding ominous.
“He’s just got to be very, very careful because he’s making enemies that he doesn‘t realize,” Scaramucci said of Musk. “And the incentives in Washington are totally different than those in business. And so everybody is incentivized in a different and sometimes irrational way.”
Musk may or may not know this yet. Yes, he’s been attacked before, both understandably and not, but he has not been in the dark, deep depths of Washington power. He may recognize his “enemies” yet he may not realize from which direction and angle the retribution may come.
As Scaramucci aid, politics and business aren’t exactly the same and people in power are different in their self interest.
When they feel their self-claimed territory is in danger and boundaries are breached — or will be — the players, so to speak, can react in an “irrational way.” Anyone who has been on the sharp end of the sword of irrational behavior knows first hand the realness of this punitive, entitled behavior.
“Lay off the gas on politics a little bit,” he added, “because these people, these people could hurt you. And it’s no, no need for you to get hurt. You’re doing so well in your life.”
Musk is powerful in his own right and that makes him dangerous too yet the powerful and dangerous in business aren’t the same as the powerful and dangerous in government. He doesn’t yet realize it.
If you are considered a threat, as Musk is, who knows the dangers that could occur. Is this overstated? I’ll give you that yes, it is, possibly. It’s unwise however to assume the presence and reliability of safety when it might not be as assured as one believes.
It’s easy for people to mock or dismiss Scaramucci, for different reasons. What if, however, he’s correct in what he’s saying that if you’re not careful barging into Washington, there are people there who are capable, willing and eager to “hurt you.”
Territorial, entitled people, especially those with any type of power in the context of a dispute or conflict (real or perceived), have dirty secrets: They are repeat-offender punishers with, figuratively speaking, bodies buried of those who challenged them.
“The cynicism in Washington and the protection of people’s power base and turf is like nothing I had ever seen before,” Scaramucci told Pompliano in a brief video.
He has witnessed the business and financial landscape but Washington opened his eyes to a whole new world as to next-level fighting over power bases and turf. It appears that what he saw and heard alarmed him.
Musk has ambitions to do good and earn praise for it. He’s supremely confident, of course. He’s idealistic in a world where that’s often discouraged and rejected.
"I think the problem for Elon Musk though, he’s got a little bit of Potomac fever,” Scaramucci said. “You think you’re going to go to Washington and change Washington, that’s Potomac fever.
“One of the symptoms of Potomac fever is that who has it does not know that he has the Potomac fever. I have had Potomac fever. I am speaking as a former patient.”
Musk is passionate and bold about his idealism. Maybe his work will exceed beyond imagination. Maybe he doesn’t get hurt. That doesn’t mean the landmines don’t exist.
Musk is like a soldier excited to go into hostile, deadly territory to fight for what he thinks is right. He’s excited and courageous. He feels a rush and if he doesn’t feel invincible then he is driven by the allure of the danger. It’s exhilarating.
Maybe Musk doesn’t get physically injured or killed as in a battle and war yet that doesn’t mean nasty, unwanted and painful experiences and outcomes can’t possibly develop and hit him hard and where it hurts.
It’s possible that the risks are small, almost minute. It’s also possible that Scaramucci might know what he’s talking about. He didn’t and doesn’t have Musk-like power. Very few in the world do. That might not make a difference however.
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