Elon Musk’s quest to make men great again

He is such a Big Time Bro that this past week he tweeted an apparent offer to impregnate America’s Sweetheart, Taylor Swift, and publicly detailed a raunchy joke about male and female anatomy that he wanted to tell on national television.

Before that, there was an X user’s post he amplified suggesting high-testosterone, alpha men were better equipped for parsing information than women and weak men. “That is why a Republic of high status males is best for decision making," the post read, to which Musk added: “Interesting observation."

It is all part of his public embrace of an idea of tough-guy masculinity made popular through social-media memes—white, heterosexual males with money, power, success and female conquests. A public version of Musk has emerged that is warm to strong-man leaders and pushes back against what he describes as runaway political correctness hemming in men and their natural predilections.

At the very least, some would consider his most recent antics as ungentlemanly—even if some of it was obviously in jest, and he does have his history of crude jokes. The risk for the 53-year-old comes in offending not just Karens but all women, which is especially troublesome if you are trying to sell them on your cool electric cars or your free-speech platform or trips to Mars.

Musk’s tough bravado is giving voice to a political undercurrent already present in a nation that sees a younger generation of men and women on opposite political sides. Young Bros are favoring Republican Donald Trump for a second term in the White House amid their worries that they are being treated unfairly for the benefit of others.

With almost 200 million X followers, Musk has publicly embraced the former president in a way that paints Trump as a fellow Big Time Bro.

Musk has said he was inspired by how Trump wasn’t deterred by a would-be assassin’s bullets, standing, bloodied, after being shot at, raising his fist to the sky in defiance.

That scene, according to Musk’s recent telling, was the test that showed Trump’s mettle, sending a clear message to bad actors not to mess with him.

“You have to really think of that in the context of global security," Musk said during an online event with Trump in August. “If the American president is someone that, like, evil dictators are scared of, that makes a huge difference to the security of the world."

His suggestion that good leadership is shown through toughness and action is, in many ways, a natural evolution of the image Musk has cultivated for himself as a business leader running SpaceX and Tesla. He gained fame as a defiant CEO who touted sleeping on the factory floor, who preached punching back when threatened and bet it all on big, unlikely dreams—fighting against entrenched industries trying to hinder his efforts to reach Mars and introduce sexy electric cars.

In 2024, instead of asking which candidate you would rather have a beer with, it is as if Musk is asking which candidate you would want at your side in a bar fight: A Bro who dodges bullets like in the “Matrix" movie or a…“docile puppet"?

This past week’s debate between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris included that strong-man theme as well—with Trump arguing he has the bona fides to be tough.

As a proof point, Trump claimed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whom he noted people call a strongman, says other world leaders were kept in check by him as president. “He said the most respected, most feared person is Donald Trump," the Republican said of himself in the third person.

It is like they have a club for Big Time Bros.

Roughly a year ago, Musk was putting his attention on Orbán, too, and that foreign leader’s efforts to address his country’s birthrates.

Making lots of babies is another hot topic for today’s Bros. Musk, who has 12 children by his count, has been increasingly vocal on the issue as he warns against population collapse and advocates for having more children.

The tech entrepreneur’s fondness for strong men has its limits, though. He recently traded barbs with Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, who challenged him to a fight during a televised speech. “I accept," Musk tweeted. “If I win, he resigns as dictator of Venezuela."

Rather, it seems, Musk prefers a certain kind of government official, those who embrace Musk and his ideas. Earlier this month, Trump announced plans for a government efficiency commission to be headed by Musk, essentially giving him license to go after the regulations and government spending that he dislikes. “He’s a smart guy," Trump said. “He knows what he is doing."

That announcement was followed by Musk’s rocket company SpaceX posting a lengthy blog lamenting government regulations hindering its operations.

Asked during an appearance at the All-In Podcast conference this past week about how he would shrink the government for Trump, Musk demurred on the specifics with an answer that suggested how the task requires a Big Time Bro’s touch.

“Are you trying to get me assassinated before this even happens?" Musk asked. Real leaders, after all, dodge bullets.

Also at the conference, Musk was goaded into telling the story of a rejected skit he proposed to NBC’s “Saturday Night Live" when he hosted in 2021.

The convoluted idea involved him suggesting to the TV audience that he was going to show his manhood on air, putting a small rooster in his pants and a female comedian holding a wet-looking cat along with the use of some double-entendre for each other’s animals.

“I’m going to reach down…into my pants…and then I pull out a baby rooster," Musk said as he cackled with laughter. “This is my tiny cock."

Following Tuesday’s presidential debate, pop star Swift posted her endorsement of Harris on Instagram, signing it “Childless Cat Lady"—a retort to Trump running mate JD Vance’s earlier jab about women without children.

Musk quickly tweeted on his own social-media platform: “Fine Taylor…you win…I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life."

Some thought the joke was in bad taste and offensive to women. “Your little circle jerk of sycophant yes dudes have convinced you that you’re funny," Brooke Hammerling, a communications consultant, posted in response. “When in fact you’re not funny. You’re just a creepy old man. Gross."

But, for Musk these days, he appears undeterred, focused on making being a man great again.