Authenticity

The hardest thing in life is to see the world as it really is. We suffer through filters and biases and narrow vision that only sees thing in small slices... it's hard to grasp the whole.

In politics, authenticity is the coin of the realm. People believe in those they perceive to be authentic. Authenticity is created by consistency. But the moment you begin to break consistency, the faster people will peel away from you. They can't believe you any more.

Therein lies Elon Musk's core problem. He's inconsistent. One day, he's the darling of the environmental left. The next he is helping President Trump. Today, he envisions a new political party.

Inconsistency is the problem.

Plus, X - the Musk product the world touches most - is plagued with weird algorithmic problems. More inconsistency. Grok is unreliable for its inability to discern truth, spitting out garbage from bad news sources. More inconsistency.

For Musk, inconsistency is not a bug, it's a feature. Genius thrives in chaos and surprise. It's why when his rockets fail, he's excited to learn from the failure. Those lessons make future rockets stronger. Not many people do well with failure or inconsistency. They seek stability and predictability.

Political leaders have to showcase a consistency that will lead to perceived authenticity. Musk can't. It's not his nature. He solves problems by looking at things from different angles and employing rapid prototypes. That's successful for the entrepreneur inventor, but not for a society that needs steady rules for the road.

It's why his new party initiative will fail. It will attract the wrong people and opportunists who share no consistency other than a desire to profit from chaos and change.

A party platform needs consistency. It requires some semblance of principles, and unity around those principles. The opportunists will voice their support for whatever the party might hold true, but mean none of it.

Musk should focus on Mars. It requires less psychology. That's his passion anyway.

But how did we get here? Bluntly, it's because the Republican Party has no consistency either. Does it limit spending? No. Trim government? No. Put America first? Occasionally. (I have yet to meet the person who trust Brooke Rollins and her handling of US Ag.)

The Republican Party, by abandoning principles that were initially its branding, left a vacuum. People might be interested in Musk's new party, not because of its great platform (it doesn't have one) but because they no longer believe the Republicans will do what they once promised. Anyone leaning toward Musk's party does so out of protest and not out of embrace for its consistent principles.

We have to limit government. We're not. But if we do, it won't come because we believe in Elon Musk. It will only come because we choose to organize and take our fate into our own hands. Any party can be a party of the people. It depends on whether the people will work to shape the party to the will of the people by electing the right people.

Organization requires authenticity. No one wins in politics without perceived authenticity. I'll stay in the Republican Party. I'll drive organization. More authentic people to be found there in the grassroots than anywhere else.

4 Comments

Joette humphrey (Jul 6, 2025 3:01 PM):

Thank you for making some sense of this!

Kim Spain (Jul 6, 2025 3:16 PM):

Good analysis. I believe this is a reason why Trump is good on some things and not good on others. He's a businessman, not a constitutionalist or a conservative Republican.

Daniel Hunt (Jul 6, 2025 5:29 PM):

Spot on!

Randy Reeves (Jul 7, 2025 8:41 AM):

If some in your audience are not old enough to remember, a third party, or third candidate in this example, creates opportunity for the dims.
I present to you, Ross Perot. Who in turn gave us 8 years of Willie boy and co-president Hillary.
Had it not been for Newt Gingrich and his Contract With America the old hag would have shoved communist manifesto garbage onto America.
Remember the old dating saying, "twos company, there's a crowd".