“HAD Moreau had any intelligible object; I could have sympathised at least a little with him. I am not so squeamish about pain as that. I could have forgiven him a little even, had his motive been only hate. But he was so irresponsible, so utterly careless! His curiosity, his mad, aimless investigations, drove him on; and the Things were thrown out to live a year or so, to struggle and blunder and suffer, and at last to die painfully.” — HG Wells, The Island of Dr Moreau.

The few scant weeks since the inauguration of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States for the second time have seen an escalation in the attempts of DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency) jefe Elon Musk and titular employer Trump to shape the politics of Britain, and it must be said, the world at large.

A giant petri dish, if you will, for the bizarre mind games, financial chicanery and performative antics of the pair. Of course, Musk in particular was weighing in on British politics months before Trump’s election victory on November 5 2024 — an appropriate date for the bonfire of the so-called guard-rails that were supposed to hold the MAGA cult in check.

‘Only AfD can save Germany, end of story’ — Elon Musk

Musk was busy stirring the pot regarding the far right-wing riots of the summer and agitating for the release of Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, better known as nationalist provocateur Tommy Robinson.

Musk’s stance grew even more extreme (and ill-informed) as he proclaimed his support of Germany’s AfD and backed a call for the King to dissolve Parliament, fresh elections to be held and Keir Starmer to be ousted. Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips was singled out for especial ire, with Musk tweeting she was a “rape genocide apologist” and should be jailed.

‘Not to go on all-Fours; that is the Law. Are we not Men?’ — The Island of Dr Moreau by HG Wells

Shamefully, but predictably, many Tories refused to condemn Musk; their “Taking Back Control” slogan presumably meaning the freedom to slavishly abase themselves before Trump and his eminence grise.

Kemi Badenoch commented that Phillips can “fight her own battles” while odious Martin-Bormann-lookalike Robert Jenrick went so far as to declare (in relation to the Chagos Islands): “Quisling Keir cares more about his reputation amongst the international legal fraternity than what's good for Britain.”

Quisling was the enthusiastic Nazi collaborator Vidkun Quisling, who served as Norway’s minister president from 1942-45, while Hitler’s Germany occupied the country. Quisling was convicted of treason, embezzlement and murder against the Norwegian state and executed by firing squad at Akershus Fortress in Oslo, on October 24 1945.

Pretty rich from Jenrick, a character so obviously eager to play the fawning sycophant to the Trump/Musk Axis.

The experiments of Musk in splicing extreme-right DNA into the British Isles have appeared to up the ante for right-wing nuttery,  the Tories now competing with Reform in their desire to echo, ape and even amplify MAGA bullshit.

“You ask me if I have a God complex. Let me tell you something: I am God.” – Malice (1993) Alec Baldwin as Dr Jed Hill

Returning to the inspiration for this piece, HG Wells’s Dr Moreau was relatively benign in some respects, when compared to Musk. The doctor’s warped genetic experiments were designed partly to help humanity as whole, with the aim of erasing disease and hereditary conditions.

But this can’t excuse his cruel experimentation on animals and willingness to assume the role of the creatures God made flesh.

Musk, in comparison, seems primarily concerned with accumulating power, wealth and the freedom to tinker with science for schemes including the colonisation of Mars.

All to benefit himself and super-rich fellow-travellers, political stooges and favoured offspring. Akin to Mark Rylance’s manipulative BASH tech billionaire Peter Isherwell in Don’t Look Up (2021). Those who saw the movie know how that ended.

This makes the previous propaganda and slightly less overt political finagling by the likes of Rupert Murdoch pale in comparison — to an extent. Another literary allusion may be to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; with Musk as Victor and Trump as the resurrected patchwork cadaver – but as neither were essentially malicious in the novel, comparisons can only go so far.

Looking back less than a decade, Fox News and RT stopped short of advocating toppling the British government of the day but were taken off air for their industrial-scale falsehoods. One wonders why, to quote Wells again, “intelligences greater, intellects vast and cool,” may find a way of preventing at least some of the more egregious fabrications belched out by the minute via the X-Factory.

For those not entranced by Musk, his journey to the desolate wastes of Mars can’t come soon enough. Bon voyage, Elon! And don’t forget to take Trump with you.