In the dark of night, a man, eyes wide and bloodshot, taps on his phone. A few pithy words. Minutes later, 200 million pings are heard around the world. The headlines the next morning tell of “attacks”, a “political storm” as bewildered leaders address the world’s press.

Never before has one (unelected) person had to do so little to exert so much influence. But that’s where we are with Elon Musk, the mercurial tech billionaire who in the past couple of weeks has rattled Britain’s political class after he accused U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer of being “deeply complicit in mass rapes in exchange for votes”, referring to a national scandal centered on child abuse gangs in parts of Britain.