Elon Musk fired back at The Economist editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes during a Thursday interview from Tesla’s Gigafactory in Texas after she said people loathed him over his efforts to influence European politics.

“I think a lot more people hate you and the media more than you realize,” Musk told the journalist.

Beddoes confronted the Tesla and SpaceX CEO after challenging his support for right-wing European political parties and arguing that his wealth, ownership of X and following on the platform gave him unusual power to shape politics abroad.

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“Why should you be able to shape European politics? You don’t even live there,” Beddoes said.

“But do you see why this makes people think that this man who has all this power, he’s the world’s richest man, he thinks he has a right to influence our politics?” Beddoes said. “It’s why people loathe you. I mean, some people do loathe you.”

Musk dismissed the criticism by pointing to his roughly 250 million followers on X as evidence that he had more supporters than detractors.

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“Maybe some people do loathe me, and that’s probably true. I don’t care,” Musk said. “But the fact that, as you pointed out, a quarter billion people follow me is that I think a lot more people actually like me than don’t.”

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO argued that distrust of the press was greater than opposition to him and asked Beddoes whether she recognized the media’s standing with the public.

“Do you realize the media is despised?” Musk said. “Do you realize that journalists, the view of journalists is like, it’s like a favorable view of journalists is like 15%?”

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Beddoes acknowledged that trust in American journalism was low but argued that polarization on social media contributed to the problem.

“I think in part there have been mistakes by journalists and journalism. I totally acknowledge that,” Beddoes said. “But I also think that the kind of polarized environment, particularly on social media, fostered by the kinds of things you are pushing on X, actually helps make this worse.”

Musk rejected her argument and insisted the public disliked journalists more than him.

“The shoe is on the other foot. They hate you. They hate you far more than they hate me,” Musk said. “I think you’re the problem. The media.”

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The exchange followed a lengthy disagreement about Musk’s warnings that Britain could face civil war and his backing of European parties Beddoes described as far right. Musk rejected the label and framed his positions around border security, public safety and government spending.

“I literally said, look, I believe in safe cities, secure borders and sensible spending with respect to government,” Musk said. “That doesn’t make me right wing at all in the least.”

Musk urged Germans to vote for the Alternative for Germany party and interviewed its leader, Alice Weidel, on X before Germany’s 2025 federal election. He promoted the party in at least two dozen posts over two months, Reuters reported.

Public confidence in the news media has fallen sharply. A 2025 Gallup poll found that 28% of Americans had a great deal or fair amount of trust in newspapers, television and radio to report the news fully, accurately and fairly, a record low.