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SpaceX IPO: Markets, Morals, and What It Means for You

Explore episode Jun 12, 2026

Where this was said

Government Entanglement, Michael Dell, and the New Rules of Capitalism

At 17:10 · chapter starts 13:55

The conversation deepens into the structural question: even if a Democrat wins the White House in 2028, can SpaceX's government entanglement actually be undone? Stephanie Ruhle's tick analogy makes the case it cannot — once government contracts are this deep, they don't extract cleanly. She then offers the Michael Dell playbook as a proof of concept: Dell donated $6 billion to Trump's accounts, Trump publicly talked up the stock, the stock rose, and Dell received a $9.5 billion government contract. Ruhle bets her bottom dollar that contract won't be touched even if Democrats take control. The political implication: Democrats need to stop talking about Epstein and start hammering affordability and accountability in the midterms. Kara notes that Musk's brand has taken real hits — Wisconsin, Tesla sales — but Ruhle counters that once you're embedded in government contracts, brand damage is mostly irrelevant. He's in.

Once you are embedded in the government with these government contracts, it's like a tick biting you, right? Like you don't just get a tick bite and pull it out. The tick bites, all the tentacles pop out and it doesn't come back out. So when people even say, listen, when we have a different administration and they see things differently, a lot of these things are gonna pull back out. Once you're this entangled in the government, it doesn't work that way. He's in.
Stephanie Ruhle
SpaceX IPO: Markets, Morals, and What I…

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