He was born into a wealthy family, and thus he found himself surrounded by yes men. He never heard the word “no”; not even, or especially if it was uttered in his presence.

So he developed a completely distorted view of how things worked.

I no longer remember when I first heard his name, but very early on I realized he was a total idiot.

And yet so many folks, especially in the media, seem to think he is brilliant.

Even Ezra Klein, a pundit whom I used to respect. I see now that that respect was misplaced.

Klein referred to his “tendency toward manias, obsessions, grudges, union-busting and vindictiveness. Extreme personalities are rarely on the edge of the bell curve only because of benevolence.” 

Really, Ezra? You mean like the time he called the fellow who helped rescue the Thai children who were stuck in a flooded cavern a “pedo guy”? Sadly, the jurors were stupidly deferential to a rich guy, so they let him off the hook for that.

Or all the times he’s tweeted nonsense or outright lies about his company? Including impossible claims about the imaginary self-driving capabilities that will be here real soon now.

Oh, and what about his whackadoodle idea to construct tunnels to replace transit systems?

And then there’s the $250,000 he paid to a woman who filed a sexual misconduct charge against him. If there was one, there are probably more.

As I said, I’ve known he was an idiot for years. But Wall Street seemingly didn’t, and the stock of his electric car company has zoomed into the stratosphere, way beyond its actual worth.

But perhaps, just perhaps, some people are wising up to him with his latest on-again off-again claim to be buying Twitter. The stock has lost nearly half its value, and if there is any sense at all on Wall Street, it’s going to continue to fall.

At least I know that I’m not the only one who has long held him in contempt, as this Twitter thread from E.W. Niedermeyer demonstrates.

When I think of that rich jerk, I think of much sound and fury, signifying, as they say, nothing.