WEBVTT - Episode 1: The Dark Knight 0:00:15.436 --> 0:00:20.316 Pushkin ladies and gentlemen. 0:00:20.916 --> 0:00:25.436 Give it up for the greatest capitalists in the history 0:00:25.876 --> 0:00:27.836 of the United States of America. 0:00:28.596 --> 0:00:29.836 Elon Musk. 0:00:30.996 --> 0:00:34.596 In October twenty twenty four, nine days before the US 0:00:34.716 --> 0:00:39.196 presidential election, Elon Musk, the world's richest man, took to 0:00:39.276 --> 0:00:42.276 the stage at a rally for Donald Trump in New 0:00:42.396 --> 0:00:47.676 York City. He wore black jeans, a black T shirt, 0:00:48.036 --> 0:00:51.716 black blazer, and a black baseball hat. Had red in 0:00:51.876 --> 0:00:54.956 dark gray embroidery Make America great Again. 0:00:55.436 --> 0:01:02.436 I'm not just maga, I'm doc Gothic maga. 0:01:03.236 --> 0:01:07.956 Elon Musk, an American oligarch and entrepreneurial genius, had stood 0:01:08.036 --> 0:01:11.596 on many stages before he sees the podium at Madison 0:01:11.676 --> 0:01:17.916 Square Garden. Ted talks, Tesla product rollouts, SpaceX launch pads. 0:01:18.436 --> 0:01:21.396 He also owns a stage a platform ever since he 0:01:21.436 --> 0:01:24.676 bought Twitter and renamed it x, and he owns a 0:01:24.716 --> 0:01:28.916 sizable portion of the global communications infrastructure through his satellite 0:01:28.996 --> 0:01:33.756 company Starlink. But this Madison Square Garden gig was part 0:01:33.796 --> 0:01:38.196 of a different endeavor. Entirely, Musk spent a staggering amount 0:01:38.236 --> 0:01:42.316 of money to help get Trump and Republicans elected. The 0:01:42.356 --> 0:01:45.396 world's richest man, spent more than a quarter of a 0:01:45.516 --> 0:01:49.116 billion dollars on the return to power of the world's 0:01:49.396 --> 0:01:55.756 most powerful man, like some kind of superman or supervillain. 0:01:59.996 --> 0:02:02.956 Returning to the White House, Trump promised to bring Musk 0:02:02.996 --> 0:02:07.116 with him. You guys are awesome, And once Musk got 0:02:07.116 --> 0:02:09.316 a taste for this kind of thing, he began to 0:02:09.396 --> 0:02:13.196 involve himself in politics of other nations, in Germany, in 0:02:13.276 --> 0:02:16.636 the UK. What does Musk's reinvention of himself as a 0:02:16.756 --> 0:02:20.556 king maker mean for the United States and for the world. 0:02:21.076 --> 0:02:23.676 How long will it last? No one knows what's going 0:02:23.756 --> 0:02:29.676 to happen next, But what happened before in twenty twenty one, 0:02:29.956 --> 0:02:33.436 before Musk joined forces with Trump, before Musk bought Twitter, 0:02:34.036 --> 0:02:37.276 before Musk was in the news every day, He was 0:02:37.276 --> 0:02:40.796 in the news every other day, with headlines that sounded 0:02:41.076 --> 0:02:45.556 ripped from science fiction super fast underground trains, rockets to 0:02:45.636 --> 0:02:50.116 Mars brain control implants. I made a BBC series in 0:02:50.156 --> 0:02:52.516 which I tried to explain Musk by way of the 0:02:52.556 --> 0:02:56.316 science fiction he grew up with, tales of superheroes with 0:02:56.396 --> 0:03:00.476 origin stories that seemed to influence how he understands his 0:03:00.556 --> 0:03:04.236 own life. But so much has happened since then that 0:03:04.316 --> 0:03:07.276 we decided to update that series from four years ago, 0:03:07.756 --> 0:03:12.396 rename it, and add new episodes because Musk keeps changing, 0:03:13.356 --> 0:03:25.236 and so does his origin story. Welcome to X Man, 0:03:25.556 --> 0:03:29.676 The Elon Musk Origin Story. I'm Jill Lapour. I'm a 0:03:29.676 --> 0:03:33.276 professor of history and law at Harvard. I'm interested in 0:03:33.316 --> 0:03:36.796 the past Musk. He's interested in the future. 0:03:37.196 --> 0:03:42.436 The future is gonna be amazing or is he? 0:03:42.916 --> 0:03:46.636 Is Musk really a futurist or is he maybe an 0:03:46.716 --> 0:03:50.836 antique a throwback. I don't mean the retro vibe of 0:03:50.916 --> 0:03:55.636 the amazing extraordinary gadgets, the Tesla cyber trucks and Starlink 0:03:55.676 --> 0:04:00.516 satellites and SpaceX rockets. I mean Musk's ideas about politics 0:04:00.556 --> 0:04:06.796 and economics. I mean Muskism, extravagant extreme capitalism, a political 0:04:06.836 --> 0:04:10.196 economy with origins in the universe of comic books and 0:04:10.276 --> 0:04:14.476 science fiction that has fired Musk's imagination since he was 0:04:14.516 --> 0:04:22.596 a boy. In this series, I'm going to blast off 0:04:23.076 --> 0:04:30.476 not to the future, but to the past. Part of 0:04:30.636 --> 0:04:34.916 Musk's stick is that he's still boyish bit of a lad. 0:04:35.396 --> 0:04:41.156 Plays video games, has smoked pot, watches superhero movies, talks 0:04:41.156 --> 0:04:43.236 about testosterone. 0:04:42.636 --> 0:04:43.156 Word has it. 0:04:43.196 --> 0:04:46.836 Billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg possibly have now formally 0:04:46.876 --> 0:04:48.996 agreed to a cage match face off. 0:04:49.436 --> 0:04:53.596 He once changed his name on X to Kechius Maximus, 0:04:54.076 --> 0:04:56.716 which is a joke about on the one hand, the 0:04:56.796 --> 0:05:00.796 movie Gladiator and on the other hand, a cartoon frog 0:05:01.116 --> 0:05:04.676 named Pepe. Musk does this kind of thing so often 0:05:04.996 --> 0:05:08.796 people barely even notice it anymore. The tech bro va 0:05:09.676 --> 0:05:13.716 men will be boys, Boys will be gladiators. Trump has 0:05:13.716 --> 0:05:17.396 gotten into this too, tweeting during the campaign a picture 0:05:17.436 --> 0:05:20.716 of himself as Superman with J. D. Vance as his 0:05:20.796 --> 0:05:26.236 Batman and Musk as Cyborg. Why in grown men is 0:05:26.316 --> 0:05:30.876 this kind of thing? Okay, honestly, it's a little bewildering. Anyway, 0:05:31.316 --> 0:05:36.396 the stories Musk likes and the characters he identifies with matter. 0:05:37.236 --> 0:05:39.956 He used to talk a lot about The Hitchhiker's Guide 0:05:39.996 --> 0:05:42.836 to the Galaxy. Then he used to think of himself 0:05:42.876 --> 0:05:47.276 as Tony Stark, a do gooding superhero from the Marvel comics. 0:05:48.076 --> 0:05:52.036 Musk has always loved the Dark Night movies, which are awesome. 0:05:52.956 --> 0:05:57.716 About two years ago, he likened himself to Batman, a brooding, angry, 0:05:57.876 --> 0:06:02.916 fabulously wealthy vigilante. After he bought Twitter, he posted a 0:06:03.036 --> 0:06:05.556 drawing of the dark Night standing on top of a 0:06:05.556 --> 0:06:12.916 Gothic church, watching over Gotham, Musk wrote some nights online, 0:06:12.996 --> 0:06:15.316 a lot of people started arguing about whether or not 0:06:15.436 --> 0:06:18.756 Musk is a real life Bruce Wayne, And then two 0:06:18.796 --> 0:06:21.676 when the cyber truck came out, people said, it looked 0:06:21.916 --> 0:06:25.076 like the batmobile. Is that Batman? 0:06:26.476 --> 0:06:28.076 Unless you're trying to be Batman? 0:06:28.956 --> 0:06:33.156 Why isn't that out of my crown? I happen to 0:06:33.196 --> 0:06:36.076 be pretty interested in Batman. I once wrote a book 0:06:36.116 --> 0:06:40.476 called The Secret History of Wonder Woman. So this episode 0:06:40.716 --> 0:06:43.196 I want to look at the original Batman to see 0:06:43.196 --> 0:06:47.396 what he tells us about Elon Musk. Batman made his 0:06:47.476 --> 0:06:51.276 debut in the nineteen thirties, and fairly soon he was 0:06:51.316 --> 0:06:51.916 on the radio. 0:06:52.396 --> 0:06:55.236 The whole masked figure wearing a bright blue hood and 0:06:55.316 --> 0:06:56.796 cape approaches Listen. 0:06:57.836 --> 0:07:00.276 It turns out that a whole lot of Elon Musk's 0:07:00.356 --> 0:07:03.756 vision for the future, his ideas about politics and governments 0:07:03.796 --> 0:07:07.876 and economics, come from the nineteen thirties, nearly a century ago. 0:07:08.636 --> 0:07:11.236 They're old ideas, and a lot of them I think 0:07:11.556 --> 0:07:15.116 are failed ideas, but they're also bound up with Batman. 0:07:15.356 --> 0:07:19.596 That Dark Knight, a guy dark Maga really likes to 0:07:19.636 --> 0:07:20.196 talk about. 0:07:20.836 --> 0:07:23.676 It's like Dark Knight, like the friggant joker is in charge. 0:07:24.036 --> 0:07:27.236 The criminals run free and the citizens are arrested. 0:07:27.556 --> 0:07:31.476 That's Musk on The Joe Rogan Experience, the most popular 0:07:31.516 --> 0:07:35.076 podcast in the US. They're talking about life and Democrat 0:07:35.196 --> 0:07:38.636 run New York City and complaining about how authorities in 0:07:38.676 --> 0:07:43.476 New York had seized and killed some guy's pet squirrel. 0:07:43.996 --> 0:07:46.756 Still pretty suke about the freaking squirrel thing. It's like, meanwhile, 0:07:46.996 --> 0:07:49.076 you know, violent falons are running free? 0:07:49.676 --> 0:07:54.756 Is a joker, It's the Joker, Batman's arch nemesis, a madman, 0:07:55.156 --> 0:08:00.196 a sadist, an anarchist. It's Mayhem? And who can save 0:08:00.396 --> 0:08:08.076 the people of Gotham? If Elon Musk were Batman, what 0:08:08.236 --> 0:08:11.596 would he intend to answer that question? I want to 0:08:11.636 --> 0:08:14.516 go back to that night at Madison Square Garden, smack 0:08:14.596 --> 0:08:17.756 in the middle of Gotham, nine days before the election. 0:08:18.476 --> 0:08:21.636 The arena was sold out. Twenty thousand seats were filled 0:08:21.876 --> 0:08:25.236 with Trump supporters dressed in red, white and blue, caring 0:08:25.276 --> 0:08:29.356 signs that read Fight, Fight, Fight, and Trump can Fix It. 0:08:30.036 --> 0:08:33.436 They had a lot to celebrate Trump was making the 0:08:33.476 --> 0:08:38.276 most impressive comeback in American political history. Critics had been 0:08:38.316 --> 0:08:43.596 calling Trump a fascist Hulk Hogan, the flamboyant former wrestler, 0:08:44.156 --> 0:08:45.236 had an answer to that. 0:08:45.876 --> 0:08:52.636 This is Donald Trump's house, brother Ilesino staking Nazis in here. 0:08:53.356 --> 0:08:58.236 Musk didn't speak for long. Mainly he rallied Trump's troops. 0:08:58.316 --> 0:09:03.236 USA, USA, USA. 0:09:02.556 --> 0:09:05.756 And then Donald Trump. In a preview of his inauguration 0:09:05.956 --> 0:09:10.276 rally promised to usher in a new golden age. 0:09:10.956 --> 0:09:14.876 I'm here today with a message of hope for all Americans. 0:09:15.556 --> 0:09:19.316 Trump spoke for more than an hour. He mocked journalists, 0:09:19.756 --> 0:09:23.556 talked about fake news, made a promise about immigration. 0:09:24.276 --> 0:09:27.916 On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program 0:09:27.996 --> 0:09:29.156 in American history. 0:09:29.276 --> 0:09:32.076 But to get the criminals out, I. 0:09:32.076 --> 0:09:35.236 Will rescue every city in town that has been invaded. 0:09:35.316 --> 0:09:38.276 In concorde, he denounced in doctrination, we. 0:09:38.276 --> 0:09:42.996 Will get critical race theory and transgender insanity the hell out. 0:09:42.796 --> 0:09:43.476 Of our school. 0:09:44.316 --> 0:09:48.116 And he pledged himself to a policy of isolationism. 0:09:48.356 --> 0:09:51.156 It's called America First. 0:09:51.436 --> 0:09:55.836 When Trump finished, a crooner in a black tux sang Sinatra, 0:09:56.516 --> 0:10:08.036 but it was a big, bold, glamy, star studded night 0:10:08.156 --> 0:10:11.156 in Gotham with a lot of talk about crime, and 0:10:11.196 --> 0:10:13.876 Elon Musk dressed as if he were Batman on a 0:10:14.036 --> 0:10:18.436 casual Friday. But it all reminded me of a very 0:10:18.476 --> 0:10:20.596 different night at Madison Square Garden. 0:10:21.756 --> 0:10:27.876 Ladies and gentlemen, fellow American American patriots. I'm sure I 0:10:28.036 --> 0:10:32.356 do not come before you tonight as a complete strange shot. 0:10:33.636 --> 0:10:38.436 You all have heard of me through a Jewish control press. 0:10:39.516 --> 0:10:43.956 In nineteen thirty nine, the German American bund An organization 0:10:44.156 --> 0:10:48.036 of American Nazis held a sold out rally in Madison 0:10:48.076 --> 0:10:53.356 Square Garden. They wore swastikas as armbands, raised their arms 0:10:53.356 --> 0:10:56.476 to Hyle Hitler, and in front of a giant portrait 0:10:56.556 --> 0:11:03.116 of George Washington, celebrated him as America's first fascist. Here's 0:11:03.156 --> 0:11:07.596 Fritz Kuhnn, the bund Feurer, warning about a Jewish conspiracy 0:11:07.916 --> 0:11:09.116 against the United States. 0:11:09.316 --> 0:11:15.196 Unless you Aliens nor the ten Christians wigap and speak 0:11:15.236 --> 0:11:18.356 out to the men that our go women, how be 0:11:18.556 --> 0:11:21.316 returned to the American people who founded it. 0:11:21.956 --> 0:11:25.236 These American Nazis were searching for someone to blame. 0:11:25.596 --> 0:11:29.916 The people far and wide feel that somebody must have 0:11:30.156 --> 0:11:31.116 fallen down. 0:11:30.956 --> 0:11:31.516 On the job. 0:11:32.036 --> 0:11:33.956 They were denouncing the press. 0:11:34.276 --> 0:11:36.836 The whole country now must see that there is no 0:11:37.036 --> 0:11:38.556 free radio for white. 0:11:38.356 --> 0:11:41.876 Men campaigning to cut government spending. 0:11:42.036 --> 0:11:46.716 Who is not familiar with a billion dollar yardstick that 0:11:46.876 --> 0:11:51.716 is required to measure this stupendous total of our national 0:11:51.836 --> 0:11:52.596 public debt. 0:11:53.116 --> 0:11:54.876 They're demonizing immigrants. 0:11:55.156 --> 0:11:58.236 Great bloods of tears were a few hundred thousand job 0:11:58.356 --> 0:12:00.716 taking so called poor Jewish refugees. 0:12:02.076 --> 0:12:06.956 And here's Fritzkun again. They were fighting in doctrination weed 0:12:07.796 --> 0:12:08.836 I see, will. 0:12:08.636 --> 0:12:13.876 Not you when called upon the gate ed will law 0:12:13.996 --> 0:12:17.196 all support in our power in the fire to break 0:12:17.316 --> 0:12:20.676 the trip and the power size ten of Jewish communism 0:12:20.836 --> 0:12:24.956 in our schools, our university is our very homes. 0:12:27.556 --> 0:12:30.916 History often sounds like a broken record, but it would 0:12:30.916 --> 0:12:33.276 be easy to make too much of the echoes between 0:12:33.316 --> 0:12:38.116 these two Madison Square Garden rallies, separated by decades, the 0:12:38.156 --> 0:12:42.076 whole calling people Nazis because you disagree with them. I'm 0:12:42.116 --> 0:12:44.796 sick of it, You're sick of it. So let me 0:12:44.796 --> 0:12:47.636 be clear. The nearly eighty million Americans who voted for 0:12:47.676 --> 0:12:51.276 Trump in twenty twenty four were sick of Democrats, unhappy 0:12:51.276 --> 0:12:55.996 about inflation, annoyed by progressive purity crusades and unimpressed by 0:12:56.036 --> 0:12:59.476 Kamala Harris, I get at Hull Kogan. I don't see 0:12:59.516 --> 0:13:05.716 no stinking Nazis here. Still. Look, I'm a historian, and 0:13:05.796 --> 0:13:10.156 there is history here. Fascism has a history, and it 0:13:10.316 --> 0:13:15.436 casts a very long shadow. And there's another, very particular 0:13:15.476 --> 0:13:18.916 reason to spend a little time thinking about the year 0:13:19.436 --> 0:13:25.916 nineteen thirty nine. Right after that Boone rally, maybe even 0:13:25.956 --> 0:13:29.196 the very next day, in an office building just a 0:13:29.316 --> 0:13:33.236 few blocks away, and out of the same political tensions, 0:13:33.316 --> 0:13:37.276 the rise of fascism, the fear of fascism, some guys 0:13:37.556 --> 0:13:40.836 at a little New York comic book publishing house decided 0:13:40.876 --> 0:13:44.076 to create a new superhero Atman. 0:13:44.596 --> 0:13:45.396 What are you doing here? 0:13:45.676 --> 0:13:53.116 I enter the caped crusader. Superman had only just made 0:13:53.116 --> 0:13:56.436 his debut, a wild success. Pretty soon he was on 0:13:56.476 --> 0:13:56.956 the radio. 0:13:57.236 --> 0:13:59.276 I still on a bullet. 0:14:00.436 --> 0:14:02.236 It took the writers a few weeks to come up 0:14:02.276 --> 0:14:05.676 with a new superhero, but he made his debut that 0:14:05.836 --> 0:14:10.356 spring nineteen thirty nine, and now it is my brand. 0:14:10.396 --> 0:14:12.156 Bruce Wayne of a wide. 0:14:11.956 --> 0:14:16.916 Known as the Batman. Superman comes from another planet. Batman's 0:14:17.036 --> 0:14:19.636 just a guy with a cape, but he does have 0:14:19.716 --> 0:14:23.036 a lot of money. Bruce Wayne is a millionaire head 0:14:23.076 --> 0:14:27.316 of Wayne Enterprises. He's also pretty nifty with a pistol, 0:14:27.796 --> 0:14:32.556 which soon became a problem. At the time, the publishers 0:14:32.596 --> 0:14:35.036 of comic books were taking a lot of heat for 0:14:35.116 --> 0:14:39.156 glorifying violence. The month that Batman made his debut, the 0:14:39.276 --> 0:14:43.916 US Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of two new firearms 0:14:43.996 --> 0:14:48.836 laws that, among other things, outlawed machine guns. Then that 0:14:48.956 --> 0:14:51.556 September Hitler advanced. 0:14:51.876 --> 0:14:53.676 Germany has invaded Poland. 0:14:54.156 --> 0:14:57.236 France has decreed general mobilization and martial law. 0:14:57.716 --> 0:15:01.836 Europe was going to war and Americans were sick of guns. 0:15:02.556 --> 0:15:05.316 The publisher of DC Comics told the guy who wrote 0:15:05.356 --> 0:15:09.996 Batman to lay off the guns. Batman on mister Cannon, 0:15:10.956 --> 0:15:15.476 and I'm afraid we'll never see him again. Well, only 0:15:15.516 --> 0:15:19.156 the original Batman was gone, replaced with a new one. 0:15:19.316 --> 0:15:22.276 This Batman hates guns, and you know what, he also 0:15:22.356 --> 0:15:27.876 hates fascists. Right after Germany invaded Poland, Batman got an 0:15:27.916 --> 0:15:31.516 origin story. As a kid, Bruce Wayne had watched his 0:15:31.636 --> 0:15:34.756 parents get gunned down on the streets, and so now 0:15:34.796 --> 0:15:38.116 here he was in nineteen thirty nine fighting an organization 0:15:38.196 --> 0:15:43.876 of American fascists, a thinly disguised American bund known as 0:15:43.916 --> 0:15:45.036 the Scarlet Horde. 0:15:45.276 --> 0:15:48.916 I must stop the Scarlet Hoard before they become dictators 0:15:49.036 --> 0:15:49.716 of the world. 0:15:50.196 --> 0:15:52.956 At the time and over the next few years, critics 0:15:52.956 --> 0:15:55.876 of the comics would argue that they glorified strong men. 0:15:56.756 --> 0:16:01.676 Time Magazine published a story called are Comics Fascist? To 0:16:01.676 --> 0:16:05.116 defeat the argument that comics were too violent? Batman gave 0:16:05.196 --> 0:16:08.836 up his gun. To defeat the argument that comics were fascist. 0:16:09.476 --> 0:16:12.876 Batman took on this new enemy, the Scarlet Horde. 0:16:13.396 --> 0:16:17.636 American nazis Hi Karl Kruger will be dictatle of the world. 0:16:18.116 --> 0:16:21.836 The Scarlet Hords leader is pretty recognizably Fritz Kuhn, the 0:16:21.916 --> 0:16:24.636 leader of the Bund, America's top Nazi. 0:16:25.156 --> 0:16:29.876 Tell me, is our army ready, two thousand strong, waiting 0:16:29.996 --> 0:16:31.036 for your command. 0:16:31.836 --> 0:16:39.156 Batman defeats him, and without a gun, saves Gotham from fascism. 0:16:39.476 --> 0:16:42.076 During the twenty twenty four election, there was a lot 0:16:42.116 --> 0:16:44.756 of talk about fascism in the United States. 0:16:44.916 --> 0:16:47.196 Let me ask you tonight, do you think Donald Trump 0:16:47.396 --> 0:16:48.036 is a fascist? 0:16:48.076 --> 0:16:48.236 Yes? 0:16:48.276 --> 0:16:49.676 I do, Yes, I do. 0:16:50.116 --> 0:16:54.956 Joe is surrounded by fascists surround the ovalas I've said. 0:16:54.836 --> 0:16:57.996 It before, but I'll say it again. Everyone's tired of 0:16:58.036 --> 0:17:01.996 everyone calling everyone else a fascist. But with everything that's 0:17:02.036 --> 0:17:05.076 going on the rise of far right parties across Europe, 0:17:05.356 --> 0:17:09.516 including one in Germany endorsed by Elon Musk, I can't 0:17:09.516 --> 0:17:13.476 not talk about fascism, and Batman's whole origin story is 0:17:13.556 --> 0:17:17.716 bound up with fascism. Every time Musk is compared to Batman, 0:17:18.316 --> 0:17:23.316 it raises an old question, is Batman fighting fascism? Where 0:17:23.396 --> 0:17:28.796 is Batman somehow himself a fascist? That was actually a 0:17:28.876 --> 0:17:31.676 question in the nineteen thirties, and over the last decades 0:17:31.716 --> 0:17:34.436 it's been a question again ever since a trilogy of 0:17:34.556 --> 0:17:38.756 Dark Night films came out, directed by Christopher Nolan, the 0:17:38.756 --> 0:17:41.156 movies that shaped Musk's view of Batman. 0:17:41.556 --> 0:17:46.436 I did think that there is a strong fascist current, 0:17:46.796 --> 0:17:50.516 certainly in the look and mood and the sort of 0:17:50.596 --> 0:17:53.836 just Wagnerian atmosphere of those movies. 0:17:54.356 --> 0:17:58.236 That's Ao Scott, longtime critic from the New York Times, 0:17:58.596 --> 0:18:02.796 talking about those Nolan films from Warner Brothers Pictures, the 0:18:03.036 --> 0:18:07.556 very very dark Dark Night series. It starts with Batman 0:18:07.676 --> 0:18:09.796 begins in two thousand and five. 0:18:10.676 --> 0:18:11.996 What are you? 0:18:12.596 --> 0:18:13.356 I'm Batman? 0:18:15.476 --> 0:18:18.876 Nolan's films brought forward in time the fascist themes and 0:18:18.916 --> 0:18:21.956 concerns of the original nineteen thirties Batman. 0:18:22.516 --> 0:18:28.836 There is a very not entirely coherent, but strongly kind 0:18:28.876 --> 0:18:35.716 of authoritarian political bent, and one that takes some interesting forms. 0:18:36.036 --> 0:18:38.356 A lot of characters in these movies say a version 0:18:38.396 --> 0:18:43.116 of democracy has failed. We need a strong man. Take 0:18:43.156 --> 0:18:45.876 this scene from the two thousand and eight film The 0:18:45.996 --> 0:18:46.756 Dark Night. 0:18:46.956 --> 0:18:49.476 When their enemies were at the gates, the Romans would 0:18:49.476 --> 0:18:52.476 suspend democracy in a point one man to protect the city, 0:18:52.716 --> 0:18:54.636 and it wasn't considered an honor, it was considered a 0:18:54.636 --> 0:18:55.396 public service. 0:18:55.636 --> 0:18:55.996 Harvey. 0:18:56.116 --> 0:18:58.716 The last man that they appointed to protect the republic 0:18:58.756 --> 0:19:01.356 was named Caesar, and he never gave up his power. 0:19:01.596 --> 0:19:05.516 Okay, fine, you either die a hero or you live 0:19:05.636 --> 0:19:07.236 long enough to see yourself become the villain. 0:19:08.076 --> 0:19:10.316 The people need a he. The people need here that 0:19:10.356 --> 0:19:12.756 the people can't take care of themselves. That in a way, 0:19:12.756 --> 0:19:16.676 the sort of the democratic institutions that might have met 0:19:16.716 --> 0:19:20.556 the people's needs and kept them safe have failed, and 0:19:20.756 --> 0:19:24.076 what they need is a strong figure from outside of 0:19:24.076 --> 0:19:27.196 the political system. There's no sense of any kind of 0:19:27.236 --> 0:19:30.116 democratic participation in the Batman world. 0:19:30.196 --> 0:19:32.396 Oh my god, No, they're all dupes. Everybody's a dupe. 0:19:32.396 --> 0:19:36.396 Every Gothamite is a dupe, right Aoscott has a theory that, 0:19:36.516 --> 0:19:40.916 unlike the Dark Knight films, the Marvel Universe films, Iron Man, 0:19:41.156 --> 0:19:45.596 Captain America, ant Man, the Avengers, a team of do gooders, 0:19:46.356 --> 0:19:49.956 these films represent an Obama Biden view of the world. 0:19:50.036 --> 0:19:53.716 He says, It's just like this kind of weird global 0:19:53.836 --> 0:19:57.916 committee of superheroes who are going to go around solving problems, 0:19:58.396 --> 0:20:02.556 who put their own kind of personal feelings and motives 0:20:02.596 --> 0:20:06.276 and vendettas aside to kind of to work for the 0:20:06.316 --> 0:20:08.916 common good in a way that like a committee of 0:20:08.956 --> 0:20:13.196 the in Brussels might try to solve supply chain issues. 0:20:13.516 --> 0:20:17.236 That's a bureaucratic, technocratic idea of heroism. 0:20:17.596 --> 0:20:20.756 But the Dark Knight films, which come not from Marvel 0:20:20.956 --> 0:20:25.516 but from DC, those movies are about the failure of 0:20:25.596 --> 0:20:30.156 Obama Biden politics, the failure of the liberal democratic state, 0:20:30.556 --> 0:20:34.836 the failure of liberalism itself. And this is true most 0:20:34.876 --> 0:20:36.596 of all of Batman. 0:20:37.316 --> 0:20:43.836 His own personal story, his own kind of grievance and grief, 0:20:44.236 --> 0:20:48.356 gets mapped on to the political situation and becomes kind 0:20:48.396 --> 0:20:51.676 of evidence of just the rottenness and untenability and corruption. 0:20:51.796 --> 0:20:57.316 So he doesn't assume power, but he represents a non democratic, 0:20:57.396 --> 0:21:01.196 non state, extra legal, extra judicial form of power. 0:21:01.556 --> 0:21:09.316 Nolan's Gotham is how the right understands San Francisco, Go 0:21:09.436 --> 0:21:14.716 or Portlands seeah, Right, it's always a nighttime in Gotham, 0:21:15.076 --> 0:21:21.956 people marching to their doom, being beaten up on the streets, homeless, bedraggled. 0:21:23.116 --> 0:21:26.556 Because in all of the DC movies, right, Gotham is America. 0:21:26.716 --> 0:21:29.516 Right, there's predators and prey, and then there are some 0:21:29.556 --> 0:21:33.236 people who might, for their own reasons or motives, you know, 0:21:33.516 --> 0:21:36.596 protect some of the prey from the from the predators. 0:21:37.356 --> 0:21:41.636 But there is strength and there is power, and to 0:21:41.716 --> 0:21:45.076 be a hero, to be kind of righteous, is to 0:21:45.236 --> 0:21:47.316 understand that and to be able to use it. 0:21:47.596 --> 0:21:50.596 For Scott, this view is maybe Musk's view of Twitter, 0:21:51.076 --> 0:21:53.036 of politics of everything. 0:21:53.596 --> 0:21:56.676 So you know, you could see like getting rid of 0:21:57.316 --> 0:22:00.036 content moderate sort of opening up Twitter to what he 0:22:00.156 --> 0:22:02.956 likes to call free speech, is a way of saying, look, 0:22:03.156 --> 0:22:06.436 you know, stop kidding yourself that people are going to 0:22:06.476 --> 0:22:09.596 come here and be nice and behave themselves. Nobody does that. 0:22:09.836 --> 0:22:12.756 Nobody believes that we'd be better off if we got 0:22:12.916 --> 0:22:14.756 rid of the idea that people. 0:22:14.596 --> 0:22:18.156 Would Batman might have given up guns. 0:22:18.196 --> 0:22:19.436 No guns, no killing. 0:22:19.476 --> 0:22:24.396 Where's the fun in that? But deranged Dark Knight fans 0:22:24.556 --> 0:22:28.676 have used guns, and they have killed. In twenty twelve, 0:22:28.876 --> 0:22:31.996 a twenty four year old PhD student named James Holmes 0:22:32.316 --> 0:22:34.516 went to a showing of a Batman movie at a 0:22:34.556 --> 0:22:36.356 theater in Colorado. 0:22:36.196 --> 0:22:38.996 As though re enacting a scene from a Dark Knight comic. 0:22:39.276 --> 0:22:43.076 Witnesses say Holmes fired into the air and then started 0:22:43.076 --> 0:22:44.236 shooting into the crowd. 0:22:44.356 --> 0:22:48.716 He killed twelve people. At his apartment, police found more 0:22:48.756 --> 0:22:51.276 guns and Batman masks. 0:22:51.716 --> 0:22:56.956 Holmes immediately surrendered. Police observed his hair was dyed orange. 0:22:57.156 --> 0:22:59.556 He told them I am the joker. 0:23:00.196 --> 0:23:02.996 The Dark Knight might not have guns. But in twenty 0:23:03.036 --> 0:23:08.236 twenty four, campaigning for Donald Trump, Elon Musk Dark Maga 0:23:08.476 --> 0:23:11.436 became an advocate for an armed citizenry. 0:23:11.676 --> 0:23:14.156 The other side wants to take away your freedom of speech. 0:23:15.196 --> 0:23:17.236 They want to take away your right to bear arms. 0:23:17.596 --> 0:23:21.636 He'd begun defending the Second Amendment of the US Constitution. 0:23:21.916 --> 0:23:27.316 Free speech is the bedrock of democracy. That's why it's 0:23:27.356 --> 0:23:32.916 the first Amendment and the second Amendment is there to 0:23:33.036 --> 0:23:36.636 ensure that we have the First Amendment Free speech. 0:23:37.076 --> 0:23:41.236 Musk seem to be saying must be defended if necessary 0:23:41.516 --> 0:23:46.716 by force. Some people think of Elon Musk as a superhero. 0:23:47.556 --> 0:23:50.636 Some people think of him as a super villain trying 0:23:50.676 --> 0:23:53.756 to take over the whole planet with a style that 0:23:53.916 --> 0:23:55.236 comes from the movies. 0:23:55.716 --> 0:23:58.116 You can have ambition without limits, and you can do 0:23:58.196 --> 0:24:01.316 whatever you want. There's a kind of freedom and glee, 0:24:01.356 --> 0:24:04.156 and like, I'll say anything to anyone, I'll do anything. 0:24:04.236 --> 0:24:06.636 I'll say, you know, we're going to invade Greenland. I'm 0:24:06.676 --> 0:24:10.396 gonna mess with everybody's elections. Just this is the behavior 0:24:10.436 --> 0:24:12.156 that we've seen before in movies. 0:24:12.396 --> 0:24:16.156 Aoscott has another theory, a theory about how, in both 0:24:16.156 --> 0:24:19.716 the movies and in American politics, a lot of people 0:24:19.716 --> 0:24:23.956 have started rooting for politicians of all political stripes who 0:24:23.956 --> 0:24:27.876 seemed to style themselves as the bad guys. You wrote 0:24:27.916 --> 0:24:31.116 this long piece called the Supervillain is the Hero Now 0:24:31.196 --> 0:24:34.436 and it had a tagline how Americans learned to root 0:24:34.476 --> 0:24:37.196 for the dark side from the Joker and Wicked to 0:24:37.276 --> 0:24:40.036 Elon Musk. So how did they? 0:24:40.756 --> 0:24:42.716 I mean, the way the piece came about was sort 0:24:42.716 --> 0:24:46.916 of just noticing that something had shifted, and Musk was 0:24:46.956 --> 0:24:50.596 an important case study that he and Trump, the way 0:24:50.636 --> 0:24:55.996 that they were acting, the sort of transgressive, aggressive energy 0:24:56.076 --> 0:24:58.796 that they were projecting and that their followers seemed to love, 0:24:59.436 --> 0:25:02.636 seemed like a supervillain vibe. You could say, and I 0:25:02.676 --> 0:25:05.556 didn't mean that people who don't like them think of 0:25:05.596 --> 0:25:08.076 them as supervillains, you know, because they're so bad, but 0:25:08.196 --> 0:25:11.276 rather that the people who do like them are kind 0:25:11.356 --> 0:25:15.556 of intrigued and seduced and excited by the villainy. 0:25:15.596 --> 0:25:18.996 This is the logic of the Dark Night movies. Batman 0:25:19.236 --> 0:25:21.996 is the bad man, but you should root for him. 0:25:22.276 --> 0:25:27.796 Don't trust the state, liberalism democracy. You need Batman, the 0:25:27.836 --> 0:25:32.236 brooding vigilante and his batmobile, a character who's so unhinged 0:25:32.276 --> 0:25:36.316 and tormented that he essentially collapses into his arch nemesis, 0:25:36.436 --> 0:25:40.596 the Joker. Late last year, a delusional version of this 0:25:40.676 --> 0:25:44.556 plot took form in the mind of a decorated American serviceman. 0:25:45.316 --> 0:25:48.716 He rented a Tesla cyber truck and texted his girlfriend 0:25:49.036 --> 0:25:53.236 that driving it made him feel like Batman. He parked 0:25:53.236 --> 0:25:55.836 it in front of the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas 0:25:56.276 --> 0:25:59.436