Elon Musk and his family flying Air Force One, just like a President would do.

r/popculture - Elon Musk and his family flying Air Force One, just like a President would do.

What To Know

On Sunday evening, Musk’s mother Maye and his son, X Æ A-12, traveled with him on Air Force One, as photos show the family waving at the cameras as they exit the aircraft, images which have sparked significant criticism online.

The plane landed at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland; a base near Washington D.C. where the Presidential Airlift Group, the aircraft that transport the president of the U.S., is located, according to base website basedirectory.com.

A caption on an Associated Press photo showing Musk and his family departing the aircraft refers to it happening “upon President Donald Trump’s arrival at Joint Base Andrews” in Maryland.

More photos taken by the AP showed Trump stepping off Marine One, another aircraft dedicated for presidential travel, which landed on the South Lawn of the White House on Sunday night. Musk, his mother and his son can be seen in the helicopter as the president exits.

There are also photos of Musk and his son entering the White House, with some on social media saying that the Tesla head and his family were chauffeured to the White House and that they were staying there. Elon Musk Elon Musk carries his son X Æ A-Xii as he walks across the Colonnade of the White House after arriving with President Donald Trump on Marine One, on Sunday, March 2, 2025, in Washington D.C. Mark Schiefelbein/AP

What People Are Saying

Chris D. Jackson, a political strategist and former elected official who has more than 115,800 followers on X, wrote in a post: “This is beyond outrageous. Elon Musk, his cranky mother Maye, and one of his young kids were chauffeured in Air Force One and Marine One—straight to the White House, where they’re apparently staying. WTF is going on? It goes without saying, this is not normal.”

Marty Taylor, who has more than 24,000 followers on X and is the executive director of NewBlue USA, a PAC that says it “fights to protect American democracy,” wrote in a post on X: “This is outrageous and possibly illegal. No matter how much Donald Trump and scared complicit Republicans want Elon Musk to be president he is not and Air Force One should not be used for Musk and his family. Musk owns a fleet of jets. Let him pay for his own travel and lodging. And keep his a** out of our White House.”

@ProjectLincoln, the account of The Lincoln Project, a pro-democracy organization in America that has more than 2.8 million followers on X, wrote : “Your tax dollars are paying for the richest man in the world to fly around when he has his own jets. That’s government waste.”

Others on social media, however, saw no cause for concern and did not find a senior adviser traveling on Air Force One to be unusual.

ResethO, who has more than 16,000 followers on the platform, wrote on X: “They’re working, while being green and flying together. There is nothing strange about a president flying with an adviser.”

What’s Next

The Trump administration will likely come under the spotlight over its own spending as the DOGE makes huge cuts to federal agencies.

The recent stock market slump took a sizeable chunk out of the net worth of the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, who doubles as President Donald Trump’s chief of cost-cutting, as shares of Musk’s car company Tesla flounder.

Trump White Hosue Elon Musk at the Oval Office last month.

Key Takeaways

Musk’s net worth fell by $1.5 billion on the day to $353.2 billion by late afternoon Tuesday, according to Forbes’ real-time estimates.
Musk’s fortune is now down $110.8 billion from its end-of-day record of $464 billion set Dec. 17, when Tesla stock closed at a record $480 per share.
But Tesla stock has struggled since then, trading at below $280 on Tuesday, on the cusp of its lowest closing share price since Election Day.
The Tesla slump came as the S&P 500 fell as much as 1.7% to a 2025 low as Trump’s tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico went into effect.

Surprising Fact

To put the $111 billion Musk lost in perspective, the 13th-richest person on the planet, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, has an estimated net worth of $108.1 billion in total. Asia’s richest person, India’s Mukesh Ambani, has an $85.6 billion fortune.

Key Background

Tesla is particularly sensitive to tariffs as China is the second-largest market for its electric vehicles and the company, like other American automakers, relies on imports from Canada to produce its cars. Tariffs “will have an impact on our business and profitability” considering Tesla is “still very reliant on parts from across the world for all our businesses,” Tesla’s chief financial officer Vaibhav Taneja warned in January.

Big Number

11%. That’s how much Tesla shares were up from Election Day to Tuesday, a fraction of the 91% rally they enjoyed through Dec. 17. Tesla’s initial post-election surge came as Wall Street bet Musk’s near $300 million donation toward Trump and GOP election efforts would translate into a big win for Tesla, which would especially benefit from lighter regulation for its self-driving initiatives. Musk is still $83.3 billion wealthier than he was on Election Day, benefiting in part from higher valuations for his private companies SpaceX and xAI.

The world’s wealthiest individuals, including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg, face an uphill battle to recover their losses.

The year 2025 began on a high note for billionaires, with their combined wealth increasing by an astonishing $10 billion per day in January.

However, just a month later, the financial euphoria has turned into a brutal downturn, with some of the world’s richest individuals experiencing staggering losses.

Notably, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, and Mark Zuckerberg have collectively lost $138 billion in a matter of weeks, as mentioned in a report by Fortune.

Musk alone has seen his net worth decline by $90 billion, reflecting the broader market turbulence that has unsettled investors and corporate giants alike.

Billionaires Watch Their Fortunes Disappear

January was a period of immense financial growth for the world’s wealthiest individuals, with their collective net worth swelling by $314 billion—a figure roughly equivalent to the annual salary of 15 million workers.

However, by February, this upward trajectory had reversed dramatically.

Elon Musk’s net worth dropped from $433 billion to $349 billion, marking a significant decline.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, saw his fortune shrink from $243 billion to $232 billion.
Larry Ellison, chairman of Oracle, recorded a personal loss of $9 billion.

The downturn has been particularly severe for technology billionaires, whose fortunes are closely tied to stock market performance and emerging industry trends.

DeepSeek’s Rise Sparks Market Chaos

A major factor behind the rapid loss of wealth is the unexpected success of DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence company that has disrupted the tech industry, as per theFortune magazine’s report.

DeepSeek’s R1 model, a low-cost AI innovation, has sent shockwaves through the market, particularly impacting major players like Meta and Nvidia.
As a result, Nvidia’s market value plunged by $600 billion, marking one of the biggest drops in U.S. stock market history.
Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s CEO, saw his personal fortune decline by $20 billion, falling to $103 billion.

DeepSeek’s rapid ascent has triggered a massive selloff in AI-related stocks, leading to a domino effect across Silicon Valley’s wealthiest executives.

Tech Moguls Bear the Brunt of the Selloff

The impact of DeepSeek’s market disruption has not been limited to just a few individuals. Many of the biggest names in the tech industry have suffered heavy losses:

Larry Ellison lost $27.6 billion, causing him to slip from the third-richest to the fifth-richest person in the world.
Michael Dell, founder of Dell Technologies, saw his fortune shrink by $12.4 billion.
Elon Musk lost $5.3 billion in the selloff, adding to his already steep decline.
Google co-founder Larry Page suffered a $6.3 billion loss, while Google investor Andreas von Bechtolsheim saw $5.4 billion wiped from his net worth.

With DeepSeek’s continued expansion and the AI industry undergoing rapid shifts, financial analysts predict that more volatility could be ahead for billionaires who have built their empires on technology stocks.

FAQs:

Does DeepSeek have a daily limit?

Perplexity AI has announced an increase in the daily query limit for DeepSeek R1 on its platform, raising the cap to 500.

Is DeepSeek better than ChatGPT?

DeepSeek may be preferable to ChatGPT for tasks requiring technical precision, such as coding and information retrieval. However, ChatGPT generally outperforms in creative writing and general conversation.

( Originally published on Mar 02, 2025 )

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