I guess you’ve seen the video clip where Elon Musk visits the Oval Office, with Donald Trump sitting at the presidential table, and Elon’s son (one of the twelve recognized), whom he named X Æ A-12 in honor of X, the unknown variable of mathematics, Artificial Intelligence and the A-12, the spy plane. For short, they call him Lil X, which is something like “Little X”. Little X.
The boy is four years old. And he was with the two most powerful people in the world, in the United States and probably in the entire world. The fact is that, while Elon was explaining something to the media, Little X looks defiantly at Trump and whispers: “You are not the president and you have to go.” And a little while later he says: “Shut your mouth.” Trump says of this boy that “he is a great boy with a high IQ.” A gifted person, in other words.
The incident has been picked up by all the international media, it has spread like wildfire on social networks and has prompted comments ranging from that the child was put there to distract attention to that there is no right to the difference between how a father is perceived taking a child to work versus a mother doing the same. There has also been talk of the instrumentalisation of a minor and there have been those who have praised the spontaneity of children who, unaware of where they are and who they are with, are capable of doing or saying what an adult would not do.
I’ll tell you what I felt.
Fear.
Fear of the child. Neither childish spontaneity nor nonsense. That child has the makings of a future despot, lacking parental limits or education, without manners or sense of otherness. Perhaps, hopefully not, a future abuser of subordinates and partners. The child is truly scary. I don’t know if he has a high IQ (Intelligence Quotient), but he does have a high coefficient of despotism.
Musk apologizes to the media with laughter, rejoicing in his son’s behavior. That’s right, on top of that, let’s feed the beast. The worst thing you can do to a child who exceeds limits is to applaud his lack of education. The school of don’t say “no” to the child, you traumatize him.
Summary of the scene: Trump putting limits on half the planet: Musk putting limits on American public spending. And a child without limits.
“This is X, and he’s a great guy — high IQ,” Trump said at the top of his remarks, chuckling and calling the four-year-old a “high-IQ individual.”
“Sorry for this,” Musk said. “Otherwise, I might enjoy this, but as he’s sticking his fingers in my ears …” he added with a laugh.
The White House shared a video of the three in the Oval Office, highlighting “Little X” sporting a brown coat and a “cool chain,” as described by his father.
At one point, “Lil X” leaned against the historic Resolute Desk, similar to how a young John F. Kennedy Jr. was seen in a famous 1962 photo peering out — from under the very same desk.