The man given free rein by Trump to crusade against the federal government supported Democrats until 2022. But some of Musk’s longstanding positions lead a straight line to his far-right sympathies

Elon Musk is not a people person, as millions around the world will be able to attest after the planet’s richest man cut off food supplies, healthcare and probably even life itself to some of the most vulnerable without so much as a fore- or afterthought.

Musk sees himself as a data man, wielding numbers like a machete to slash and burn his way through government waste and corruption as he leads the rightwing charge to capture the US state.