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Podcast Episode

Elon Musk Tried to Stop This Film. Alex Gibney Explains Why He’s so Scared.

The Lincoln Project··14 October 2026·49 min

About this episode

Rick sits down with Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney about MUSK, his four-hour film that started as a business profile and turned into something much bigger once Elon hitched his wagon to Trump. Gibney says Musk's fortune was built less on engineering genius than on MYTH-MAKING, a confidence-man playbook of gaslighting and bravado that let him buy his way into American politics. They trace the whole arc: the COVID-era fury, the move to Texas, the Twitter takeover, DOGE, the Epstein-files blowup, and the quick patch-up with Trump. Gibney even built an uncanny AI of  Elon Musk from his own recorded words to interrogate him in a way no real interview ever could. They close on the legal threats, the rejected ad buys, and just how dangerous Musk is now that he controls a megaphone AND the future of AI. • • • • • Alex Gibney is on X @alexgibneyfilm and on Bluesky @alexgibneyfilm.bsky.social. His new film ‘MUSK’ is out now in select theaters, and nationwide on October 16th. Rick Wilson is on X @TheRickWilson, Bluesky @TheRickWilson.bsky.social, and Substack at therickwilson.substack.com. More from LP at www.lincolnproject.us and on X @ProjectLincoln.