Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, has enormous resources at his disposal to help those struggling around the world. So when Musk saw how the good people of Los Angeles were enduring the fires that destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least 24 people, he jumped into action. Well, he made the billionaire oligarch version jump into action.
Musk sent eight Cybertrucks with some Red Vines, bottled water and oranges to local police stations. Cybertrucks has switched on Starlink internet to provide some services to people in the immediate vicinity. And the billionaire shared a video on Xu of how he allegedly saved “thousands of lives” from wildfires. Seriously.
“Apologies to those expecting a Cybertruck delivery in California over the next few days,” Musk tweeted on Sunday. “We have to use these trucks as mobile base stations to power Starlink Internet terminals in unconnected areas of LA. The new truck will be delivered at the end of the week.”
Tesla gave the inventory Cybertrucks on X, with three in the sheriff’s departments in Altadena, two in Pasadena and three each in Zuma Beach and Malibu. Those Cybertrucks may not be of much help to the general population as they only contain a few groceries that sit in police station parking lots. But Tesla also provides electricity in some locations through its Megapack portable energy storage system.
Musk retweeted people praising his incredible generosity over the weekend, including an account called @DesireeAmerica4, which claimed Musk “went up a notch” by providing some Starlink internet. “Say what you will about the guy, but who else makes moves like this when it counts?” account asked.
The video itself even says that Musk “saved thousands of lives” with his actions, in a video that appears to include an AI-generated voice with b-roll of Musk posing in front of burning buildings. It’s obviously pretty nasty to watch, even if it’s not a tragedy where dozens have been killed.
The threat hasn’t passed, as winds have picked up again, and the Palisades Fire is only 14% contained with 23,713 acres burned, according to Watch Duty. The Eaton Fire is burning at 14,117 acres with only 33% containment.
Elon Musk went big by donating Starlink to help Los Angeles firefighters and people stay connected during the chaos. Say what you will about the guy, but who else makes moves like this when it counts? pic.twitter.com/TlKozxKVjs
— Desiree (@DesireeAmerica4) January 12, 2025
“Elon Musk made an incredible decision after the wildfires in Los Angeles,” said the video’s likely robotic narrator.
“Saving thousands of lives, the traditional communication towers in Los Angeles have already been reduced to ashes in the fire, and the disaster zone has lost all signal,” the narrator continued nonsensically. “However, people were still able to watch live coverage of the fire. All this is because at this critical moment Musk generously donated Starlink terminals to Los Angeles, establishing communication.”
The video has been seen by more than 1.5 million people at the time of writing, likely thanks to Musk’s retweet. It’s not entirely clear who “Desiree” is, although there is a blue tick on the bill that anyone can buy for $8.
Musk, who is currently worth $412 billion according to Forbes, has long touted his own charitable giving in times of crisis, while actually contributing very little. Perhaps the most infamous moment was when a children’s soccer team got stuck in a Thai cave during the summer of 2018. The event garnered international attention, so naturally Musk wanted some of that attention for himself, showing up in Thailand with his own “mini-sub” design for saving children. Not surprisingly, critics called Musk’s presence a publicity stunt.
When one expert criticized the mini-sub as unusable, Musk the guy called “pedo” and even hired a private investigator to destroy his reputation. That man sued for defamation, but lost after Musk insisted he didn’t mean “pedo” in the literal sense.
Whenever people point out that Musk isn’t really contributing much to these rescue efforts and is instead using them for his own publicity purposes, the billionaire’s defenders will inevitably ask “what are you doing to help?” because they fail to understand how anything works. Musk benefits enormously from these relatively inexpensive stunts. And while it’s nice that Musk gave some cops a few groceries and internet access, it’s a pretty lame effort in the grand scheme of things.
Take, for example, the title from WGN9 on Monday: “Elon Musk donates Cybertrucks to bring power, internet to LA community amid fire devastation.” If the average person on the street temporarily moved their car into a parking lot for a few days in order to have limited internet access and a few bananas, would anyone characterize that as “donating” a car? Of course not. But Musk gets such generous coverage, even though he’ll take those Cybertrucks and sell them to whatever guy with a midlife crisis comes along next.
Musk knows how to manage the media ecosystem, no matter how much he whines that the mainstream media is biased against him. And the billionaire is preparing to use that knowledge to his advantage in terrifying new ways as chief adviser to the incoming Trump administration. The The New York Times had new reporting over the weekend about how DOGE, his slash-and-burn commission, will likely be used when Trump takes office on January 20. And it sounds like it’s going to be a screw-up of phenomenal proportions as unqualified buffoons try to make decisions about how public money is spent while almost certainly enriching themselves.
Musk has been critical of California’s wildfire management strategy, even traveling to the state over the weekend to live-stream with a member of the LA Fire Department to find some sort of loophole to pin on local leaders. Musk was very transparently trying to get an answer that confirmed his preconceived notions about why there are fire hydrants runs drya very real problem faced by firefighters.
“Was water available? I understand that wasn’t an issue in Malibu, is that correct?” Musk said during the live broadcast.
“There was water, we have water tanks,” answered the unidentified firefighter.
The firefighter went on to explain that water supplies were simply depleted due to historic fires. And there’s not much you can do to produce enough water when tens of thousands of acres are burning under such horrendously dry and windy conditions.
“As much water as we flow, there really isn’t a water system that can keep up with that pace. So we have to bring water tenders, which are these big water tanks, you know, 2,500 to 3,000 gallon trucks, and they’re going to come, and that’s what we have to do to compensate for that,” the firefighter continued.
Musk was not satisfied with the answer, stammering, “as I understand it, with…correct me if I’m wrong, with…there was no shortage of water in Malibu along the coast. At one point in the Palisades, there was a water shortage. Or is that not true?”
The fireman calmly explained: “We had an amount of water leaking that the system could not accommodate. It was overwhelming, just because of how much water these firefighters used.”
“Okay,” Musk said, sounding defeated, “sounds good.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom shared a video clip from Musk’s meeting on Sunday, saying the billionaire was “exposed by his own lies to the firefighters.”
.@ElonMusk exposed by the firemen for his own lies. pic.twitter.com/3Q8xFZaQ3S
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) January 13, 2025
No, Musk didn’t save thousands of lives while the LA wildfires continue to rage. But he will no doubt continue to spread misinformation to serve the MAGA agenda. And it will almost certainly get a lot worse after January 20th.