Dear Jon,
You’ve got Elon Musk in the hot seat. Good. Because we need real answers — not spin, not memes, not another distraction — but real accountability. So, if you’re looking for the right questions to ask, here are a few that cut through the noise and demand actual answers.
Recently, news broke that Elon Musk has agreed to appear on The Daily Show for an interview. This is a rare opportunity — not just another PR stunt where he controls the narrative, but a chance to ask him real, hard-hitting questions that he can’t evade with a joke or a meme. This is a plea for you to channel the Crossfire Jon Stewart and take it to him. Musk has used his wealth and influence to reshape government, social media, and even democracy itself. Now, it’s time for him to answer for it.
1. What is your real endgame?
Musk loves to say he’s streamlining government and eliminating inefficiencies. But let’s be real — this isn’t efficiency, it’s a deliberate dismantling of government itself.
QUESTION: “You’re gutting the very institutions that keep society functioning. You’re making life harder for working people while billionaires get even richer. What’s the actual goal here? What’s your endgame?”
How he’ll dodge: “Government is too slow and bloated. I’m making it run like a well-oiled machine.”
How to push back: “You’re not fixing it — you’re burning it to the ground. ‘Inefficiency’ is what keeps food safe, protects veterans, and ensures people have housing. Do you think a functioning society should run like a private company, where only the most profitable people matter?”
2. Why are you making the world worse?
Musk presents himself as a visionary, but look at the wreckage in his wake: Twitter (X) has become a cesspool of disinformation, Tesla’s environmental promises are in shambles, and now he’s dismantling public institutions.
QUESTION: “You call yourself a problem-solver, but your policies are making life measurably worse for regular Americans. The climate crisis? You’re helping accelerate it. Fair housing? You’re gutting it. Worker protections? Gone. What is your actual vision — other than making it easier for billionaires to do whatever they want?”
How he’ll dodge: “I created Tesla to fight climate change! SpaceX is advancing humanity!”
How to push back: “Yet under your leadership, Tesla has walked away from environmental goals, Twitter is a haven for hate speech, and you’re gutting government protections for everyday people. Your actions contradict your words — so which should we believe?”
3. How is slashing ‘red tape’ anything but an attack on the public good?
Regulations exist for a reason. Musk claims to be cutting “bureaucracy” — but what he’s actually cutting are worker rights, environmental protections, and safety measures.
QUESTION: “You call it cutting red tape, but regulations exist to keep people safe. Should we trust billionaires to self-regulate? Should we eliminate food safety laws? Housing standards? Worker protections?”
How he’ll dodge: “Regulations slow everything down. The FAA is holding back SpaceX, for example.”
How to push back: “You ignored regulations and your rockets literally exploded. Now you want to apply that same reckless model to housing, healthcare, and food safety?”
4. What do you say to the people suffering because of you?
Government is not an abstract concept — it’s real people, real jobs, real families. Musk’s policies have already cost thousands of federal workers their livelihoods. But the impact goes far beyond them. When you gut agencies like HUD, veterans lose housing assistance, working-class families struggle to keep a roof over their heads, and communities lose critical disaster relief and fair housing protections.
QUESTION: “People are losing their jobs, their healthcare, their homes — directly because of your decisions. You could use your influence to improve lives, but instead, you’re stripping away protections and making survival harder. Why should anyone believe you care about the public when everything you do makes life worse for them?”
How he’ll dodge: “The real problem is government inefficiency and people not wanting to work.”
How to push back: “Hard work? Like the thousands of HUD employees you just fired? Like the veterans losing access to care? Like the single parents struggling to afford housing after you gutted affordable housing programs? How exactly does making people poorer and more vulnerable lead to a stronger country?”
5. What in Holy Hell Was That Nazi Salute About?
We need to talk about that image. Musk can claim it was just a trick of the camera, but we know better.
QUESTION: “Let’s talk about that Nazi salute. What was going through your mind? And spare us the ‘optical illusion’ excuse — because if someone like me can make it through life without ‘accidentally’ doing one, you sure as hell can too. What’s your actual agenda here?”
How he’ll dodge: “It was just a bad angle. I’ve said I oppose extremism.”
How to push back: “It’s not just the salute. It’s the people you amplify, the conspiracy theories you push, and the authoritarian policies you support. If it’s all just a coincidence, why does it keep happening?”
6. Are you actually just a villain?
For years, Musk cultivated an image as a visionary entrepreneur — but now, he’s being called something else.
QUESTION: “You’ve been called a genius, an innovator — but lately, the word people are using is villain. You control vast amounts of power and influence, and instead of making things better, you’re actively making them worse. Why shouldn’t we see you as a straight-up Bond villain at this point?”
How he’ll dodge: “People hated Edison too. History will judge.”
How to push back: “‘Moving humanity forward’ doesn’t mean stepping on its neck. Right now, you’re not Edison — you’re the Robber Barons and every other billionaire who put profit over people. You’re dismantling the public good and calling it ‘efficiency.’ That’s not progress — that’s just greed.”
———
Jon, Musk is a master of deflection, misdirection, and manipulating the narrative. He thrives when the conversation stays abstract — “big ideas,” “progress,” “efficiency” — but his actions tell a different story.
So here’s the key: Don’t let him dodge. Don’t let him reframe. Don’t let him pull the conversation back into billionaire techno-utopian nonsense.
Make him answer for what he’s actually doing.
No pressure, BUT — we’re all counting on you.
