Futurism⁠88%

Suddenly, as His Empire Crumbles, Elon Musk Admits He Made a Huge Mistake With DOGE ⁠86%

By Victor Tangermann⁠83%

7/23/2026, 6:49:56 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 27 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Self-Serving Bias, and Framing Effect, with Biased Writer Voice as the most egregious example at 56.4% saturation with 338 hits. Analysis detected 1,751 faulty-reasoning hits from 599 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 78.5% and a BS Rank of ⁠86% (3,075 of 21,886 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 86.00% of the article peer group.

Last week, SpaceX’s enormous Starship rocket failed to ignite several of its engines, forcing the company to abort its first test launch since its IPO earlier this summer. 
The scrub served as the perfect metaphor for the space company’s ongoing struggles to convince investors of CEO Elon Musk’s lofty ambitions — ambitions which have little to no chance of turning into a reality without Starship. 
While the almost-trillionaire has promised that SpaceX will one day be worth “more than the rest of the Earth,” its prolonged decline on the stock market suggests otherwise. 
Instead of joining the AI race, SpaceX has resorted to selling compute to its competitors. 
His EV maker Tesla, an early pioneer in the adoption of electric vehicles, has also been flailing. 
Vehicle sales have been plunging as customers are driven away by the richest man in the world’s tasteless behavior and erratic commentary. 
Even recent jumps in revenue were thwarted by major AI-related spending , causing Tesla’s share price to tank this week. 
As a result of it all, Musk’s empire feels more like it’s coming down around him — making it a perfectly convenient moment for him to sit down with The Economist for an attempt at a clean slate. 
(Whether it landed we’ll leave to you to decide.) 
In the interview, published Thursday, Musk lamented that he “got a little too involved in politics” and “got carried away, frankly,” by his efforts to systematically gut the government with the help of his so-called Department of Government Efficiency during the early days of the second Trump administration. 
The scars DOGE leaves behind are as evident now as they’ve ever been. 
Instead of cutting spending, the group forced tens of thousands of government workers out of their jobs, laid waste to foreign aid — with catastrophic consequences — and leaked highly sensitive data . 
It has sparked waves of protests , hollowed out the Social Security Administration , and fundamentally undermined the role of science in the United States. 
Perhaps worst of all to Musk, his disastrous stint as a “ special employee ” in Washington, DC, last year has made him staggeringly unpopular — possibly even one of the most hated men in America. 
“And I got a lot of flack from this, for this obviously,” he conceded in the Economist interview. 
Now that his empire is looking worse for wear, it’s no wonder Musk is looking for an opportunity to tell the public that he’s moved on from helping the Trump administration dismantle the government. 
But whether he actually regrets his actions is unclear at best. 
During the interview, Musk showed “no sign of relinquishing the geopolitical bully pulpit,” per The Economist . 
He doubled down on accusing the media of wrongfully characterizing him as a racist, despite repeatedly making racist comments. 
He even argued that Europe’s far-right extremist leaders were simply misunderstood . 
In an piece accompanying its interview , The Economist acknowledged it sees the centibillionaire’s political views as “plainly bigoted.” 
Musk also promised that AI will make money irrelevant — an “age of amazing abundance,” he enthused — and that governments should simply “issue people checks.” 
Considering his actions at the helm of DOGE last year, it’s clear he sees little role for the government beyond that. 
More on Musk and DOGE: Elon Musk Says He Is So Sorry for His Horrible Behavior 
The post Suddenly, as His Empire Crumbles, Elon Musk Admits He Made a Huge Mistake With DOGE appeared first on Futurism . 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 12.7%Victor Tangermann: 6.3%Futurism: 6.1%Confirmation Bias12.7%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 2.6%Futurism: 1.6%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 8.8%Victor Tangermann: 5.5%Futurism: 6.2%Availability Heuristic8.8%This article: 6.2%Victor Tangermann: 1.4%Futurism: 1.5%Representativeness Heuristic6.2%This article: 8.2%Victor Tangermann: 1.0%Futurism: 0.6%Hindsight Bias8.2%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 2.3%Futurism: 2.7%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 15.7%Victor Tangermann: 11.3%Futurism: 11.3%Framing Effect15.7%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 1.9%Futurism: 1.2%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 0.6%Futurism: 0.7%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 0.5%Futurism: 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 4.3%Victor Tangermann: 2.8%Futurism: 2.2%Optimism Bias4.3%This article: 6.5%Victor Tangermann: 6.1%Futurism: 4.4%Pessimism Bias6.5%This article: 50.6%Victor Tangermann: 23.7%Futurism: 22.5%Negativity Bias50.6%This article: 16.7%Victor Tangermann: 2.1%Futurism: 1.6%Self-Serving Bias16.7%This article: 7.2%Victor Tangermann: 0.7%Futurism: 1.2%Fundamental Attribution Error7.2%This article: 3.7%Victor Tangermann: 0.1%Futurism: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias3.7%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 0.2%Futurism: 0.6%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 0.3%Futurism: 0.3%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 2.8%Victor Tangermann: 0.9%Futurism: 1.1%Halo Effect2.8%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 0.5%Futurism: 0.6%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 0.0%Futurism: 0.1%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 2.3%Futurism: 2.1%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 0.6%Futurism: 0.5%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 0.1%Futurism: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 3.2%Victor Tangermann: 1.9%Futurism: 1.4%Ad Hominem3.2%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 0.6%Futurism: 0.7%Straw Man0.0%This article: 3.2%Victor Tangermann: 7.8%Futurism: 6.8%Appeal to Authority3.2%This article: 4.3%Victor Tangermann: 2.5%Futurism: 2.6%False Dilemma4.3%This article: 4.2%Victor Tangermann: 3.2%Futurism: 2.5%Slippery Slope4.2%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 0.2%Futurism: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 13.5%Victor Tangermann: 10.0%Futurism: 10.5%Hasty Generalization13.5%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 0.9%Futurism: 1.0%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 0.9%Futurism: 1.1%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 5.5%Victor Tangermann: 8.8%Futurism: 9.5%Appeal to Emotion5.5%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 1.7%Futurism: 1.5%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 13.2%Victor Tangermann: 3.9%Futurism: 4.0%Post Hoc (False Cause)13.2%This article: 3.2%Victor Tangermann: 0.2%Futurism: 0.2%Tu Quoque3.2%This article: 9.7%Victor Tangermann: 1.0%Futurism: 1.1%Burden of Proof9.7%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 0.1%Futurism: 0.4%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 0.3%Futurism: 0.3%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 3.7%Victor Tangermann: 3.8%Futurism: 4.4%Anecdotal3.7%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 0.1%Futurism: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 6.3%Victor Tangermann: 3.1%Futurism: 2.7%Ambiguity (Equivocation)6.3%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 0.0%Futurism: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 0.3%Futurism: 0.2%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 0.2%Futurism: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 0.2%Futurism: 0.3%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 0.1%Futurism: 0.3%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 14.0%Victor Tangermann: 4.1%Futurism: 3.9%Unattributed Quote14.0%This article: 4.3%Victor Tangermann: 2.4%Futurism: 2.6%Quote-first Misdirection4.3%This article: 56.4%Victor Tangermann: 21.7%Futurism: 20.7%Biased Writer Voice56.4%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 1.3%Futurism: 2.1%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 2.2%Futurism: 2.3%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Victor Tangermann: 0.5%Futurism: 0.3%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 4.2%Victor Tangermann: 1.2%Futurism: 1.6%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…4.2%

599 words analyzed.

Speakers

2speakers17%attributed speech497writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 15 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 28 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 37 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 28 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 15 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 17 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 22 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 20 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 38 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 9 words • 100.0% coverageElon Musk • 48 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 13 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 33 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 25 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 36 words • 100.0% coverageElon Musk • 18 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 34 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 11 words • 0.0% coverageThe Economist • 17 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 12 words • 0.0% coverageThe Economist • 19 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 26 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 21 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 22 words • 0.0% coverage
Selected voice

The Economist

100%flagged-word coverage
36 attributed words35% of attributed speech90% writer coverage
0%50.0%100.0%Unattributed Quote+100.0 ptsWriter: 0.0%The Economist: 100.0%100.0%Biased Writer Voice-68.0 ptsWriter: 68.0%The Economist: 0.0%0.0%Quote-first Misdirection-5.2 ptsWriter: 5.2%The Economist: 0.0%0.0%Attempt to Sell a Product -5.0 ptsWriter: 5.0%The Economist: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.