--- title: "Elon Musk Says He Only Got Involved in Politics Because He Couldn’t Deal With Having a Transgender Child" description: "Elon Musk says he wouldn't have bought Twitter or stopped Kamala Harris if it weren't for his estranged daughter Vivian Wilson's transition." date: "2026-06-02" modified: "2026-06-02" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/future-society/elon-musk-politics-transgender-child" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" --- # Elon Musk Says He Only Got Involved in Politics Because He Couldn’t Deal With Having a Transgender Child ![Photograph of Elon Musk at Rally for President Donald Trump in October, 2024, shrugging his shoulders and grinning.]() *Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post via Getty Images; Futurism* Dismantling the federal government. Building a "[MechaHitler]()" AI. Waging a war on Woke. Donating [nearly $300 million]() to get Donald Trump reelected as president. What caused Elon Musk, once a liberal hero, to go down this path? According to Musk: his estranged daughter, Vivian Wilson. Doing what he does best — [compulsively doomscrolling his own social media site](), X — Musk responded to a fan's post claiming he wouldn't be the based, [Nazi saluting hero]() that he is today if it weren't for his daughter's transition. "We should never forget that if not for Vivian, Elon Musk never would have gotten involved, never would have purchased Twitter, Kamala Harris would be President and the Left-wing would have total instrumental control over the construction of Skynet," the poster [claimed](). "True," Musk [replied](). Musk might be being a little facetious here, but there's no denying that he has a weird and unhealthy obsession with Wilson, who publicly came out as transgender in 2022, and her gender identity. He has tirelessly [repeated]() the line that the "woke mind virus killed my son," and claims that this is why they're estranged — actually, she disowned *him* — and not because he regularly misgenders her or says she's suffering a "tragic mental illness." Of course, Wilson's perspective is pretty different. In interviews, she's described Musk — who has 14 known children with at least four different women — as an [absent]() and "[cruel]()" father who would constantly demean her for being feminine, including yelling at her for having a high-pitched voice. In spite of that, Wilson says that Musk signed the paperwork giving parental consent for her to start the medical interventions to begin her gender transition. It seems totally out of character for him today, but it wasn't that long ago, we should remind you, that Musk was [proudly boasting]() about how LGBTQ friendly his company Tesla was, even telling bigots, "Don't buy our car if that's a problem." Encapsulating his political about-face, Musk now [claims]() that he was "tricked" into approving Wilson's gender treatments. All that being said, Wilson finds ascribing Musk's villainous turn to her transition somewhat insulting, and implied that his reactionary sympathies were always there. "It's such a convenient narrative, that the reason he turned right is because I'm a f\*\*king tr\*\*ny, and that's just not the case. That's not what that does to people," she said in a 2025 [interview with *Teen Vogue*](). "Him going further on the right, and I'm going to use the word 'further' — make sure you put 'further' in there — is not because of me," she added. "That's insane." **More on industrialists:** [*Trump Shovels $4 Billion Directly to Elon Musk, Who Spent a Fortune Getting Him Elected*]() ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()