The Campaign to Kill Elon

The Democrats are split about what Elon Musk's fate should be for betraying them.

One side wants him dead. The other just wants him stripped of everything he owns and thrown in jail. 

We'll have to ask Gov. Gavin Newsom for his opinion, since he just commuted the sentences of all those murderers in California. Perhaps he will chide his fellow Democrats who are all for firing squads. 

Scott Galloway calls Elon Musk a “traitor to the West” and invokes the Rosenbergs, who were EXECUTED after WWII. GALLOWAY: “We took the Rosenbergs and put them up against a wall and executed them for being traitors.” “And I realize this is an incendiary statement, but I’ll make it and I believe it. I think Elon Musk is a traitor to the West.” “If this had happened in any other age where we were not obsessed with innovators and money, a much different reaction would be playing out to Elon Musk.” These people are absolutely unhinged. CONTEXT: Scott Galloway is not some random but a bestselling author with a top podcast who regularly appears on cable news. His net worth is over $100 million, and he’s openly suggesting Musk deserves death. This is what the Democratic Party has become, and people voted for it.

— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) November 6, 2026

Scott Galloway calls Elon Musk a “traitor to the West” and invokes the Rosenbergs, who were EXECUTED after WWII.

GALLOWAY: “We took the Rosenbergs and put them up against a wall and executed them for being traitors.”

“And I realize this is an incendiary statement, but I’ll make it and I believe it. I think Elon Musk is a traitor to the West.”

“If this had happened in any other age where we were not obsessed with innovators and money, a much different reaction would be playing out to Elon Musk.”

These people are absolutely unhinged.

CONTEXT: Scott Galloway is not some random but a bestselling author with a top podcast who regularly appears on cable news. His net worth is over $100 million, and he’s openly suggesting Musk deserves death.

This is what the Democratic Party has become, and people voted for it.

Scott Galloway is on a roll, calling for Elon Musk's execution. So far, I have found two instances where he shares the stage with the cream of the Establishment over the past week and openly calls for Musk's execution. Once, to great applause in front of an audience there to see Kara Swisher, the editor of New York Magazine, Fareed Zakaria, Clinton, and other luminaries. 

The second time was on his own podcast, discussing the upcoming midterm elections with Zakaria, a very centrist/center-left figure with more than a little cultural weight. 

For those of you unfamiliar, since you don't run in establishment circles for the most part, Galloway is something of a big deal in those circles. He isn't famous because he has a podcast, like Hasan Piker or Jennifer Welch; he has a podcast because he is famous and very embedded in establishment circles. Here's his CV as I put it together:

• Academic / business: Clinical professor of marketing at NYU Stern (there since 2002); UCLA BA, Berkeley Haas MBA; founded Prophet (brand consultancy), RedEnvelope (IPO, later bankruptcy), and L2 Inc, acquired by Gartner in 2017 for $155 million; Pivot was launched in Sept 2018 by Recode / Vox Media, Prof G in Feb 2020.
• Boards / establishment posts: served on the boards of The New York Times Company, Urban Outfitters, Panera Bread, Ledger, and Berkeley Haas. CNN tapped him in 2021 to host a show on CNN+.
• Now a gubernatorial appointee: “Appointed by Governor Newsom effective August 28, 2026 to a term expiring March 1, 2038” — University of California Board of Regents, per UC's own site.
• Media reach / money: Pivot is Vox Media / New York Magazine; his own Prof G Media was reported at ~$20M annual podcast revenue, Pivot another $15-20M. NYT-bestselling author (The Four, The Algebra of Wealth, Notes on Being a Man).

It gets more establishment than that, but not by much. He is very much inside the tent, unlike Piker, who is barging into the garden party. 

What struck me as important about these exchanges wasn't that a guy went off about killing somebody he dislikes; it was the reaction of everyone around him, and the fact that Fareed Zakaria (who pretty obviously thinks more highly of Musk than Galloway) just nods along and doesn't push back at all. He critiques Musk, I think, fairly for thinking his area of competence extends beyond what's proven. You can agree with Musk or not on any particular political point or move, but Zakaria is right that excellence or genius in one area doesn't necessarily translate outside that realm. Zakaria is more enthusiastic about Ukraine than Musk, and it's perfectly legitimate to critique Musk on that point. 

What he never does, at any point: object to the capital analogy, note that the Rosenbergs at least got a trial, distinguish a contractor dispute from espionage, or ask Galloway to walk it back. And remember who this is — CNN's GPS host, Washington Post columnist, the dean of respectable foreign-policy centrism. 

He should have pushed back on the "Kill Elon Musk" talk, but in establishment circles, that is WELL WITHIN THE OVERTON WINDOW. The debate is not whether the full force of the government should be used to destroy Elon Musk. The only question seems to be whether the death penalty is warranted or just life in prison with no opportunity for parole. 

Kara Swisher: "They could just pick a few people. To me, that's the way you go. You pick like a Hegseth, a Musk, and I don't know, Big Balls." "Rather than go for Trump, go for everybody. Make it so broad that it'll exhaust people who just do want to move on." The left is already celebrating, and they're telling us exactly what they plan to do after the midterms. GET OUT AND VOTE!

— Andrew Kolvet (@AndrewKolvet) October 29, 2026

We talk a lot about the Overton Window because it is important. It sets the limits on what people can openly discuss in mixed company, and therefore what will be debated as potential public policy. It also sets the bar for how far people inclined to be extreme will go. The farther the Overton Window shifts left or right, the farther extremists have to go to get outside the normal boundaries. 

In middle-class circles, the Overton Window for Halloween pranks is stringing toilet paper on trees; in South Chicago, it is Devil's Night, when houses get burned down. Transgressives will transgress, and so it matters where "normal" is, too. 

"SpaceX isn’t a tech company. It’s an aerospace and communications company. It is vital to America’s national security and it must be brought to heel and aligned with America’s interests." https://t.co/0CyFiky1bH

— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) November 3, 2026

It is now normal for establishment people to talk about murdering people you dislike. Taylor Lorenz can talk about Luigi Mangione as a moral man; President Obama will sit on Jennifer Welch's podcast; and The Bulwark guys will talk like Marx when Musk's name comes up. 

The cultural immune system seems to be broken, and I don't know how to fix it. There is no punishment within establishment circles for wishing death on opponents; instead, you get a podcast and make millions of dollars, show up with the Clintons or the Obamas, and probably get invited to parties featuring Bill Ayers and David Axelrod. 

Get a Nazi tattoo, and you can run for Senate. 

https://t.co/ziVEfUgBit

— Kangmin Lee | 이강민 (@kangminlee) November 5, 2026

The irony is rich in one respect: Democrats keep complaining about money in politics, and they get more than their share (compare presidential campaign spending since Obama!); but if anything, 2026 showed once again that money doesn't buy elections by itself. 

Elon Musk is now surrounded by a phalanx of security guards because we and everybody else know that he is a legitimate target. If a mid-level healthcare executive is fair game, Elon Musk most certainly is. 

And the people who talk endlessly about how even criticizing a liberal is "stochastic terrorism" also talk endlessly about how funny it is that Charlie Kirk was killed and how Musk should be next.  

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