Elon Musk broke Twitter but probably won’t have to buy it

Plus: BoJo's toxic legacy. [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, an elaborate prank of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - Elon Musk’s [shenanigans have consequences](. - Boris Johnson’s [shenanigans have consequences](. - Russia still has [weapons to use on Europe](. - Red states have [gone electric](. … And You Will Know Musk By the Trail of Dead A very good TV show is “The Boys” on Amazon Prime (trigger warning for hyper-violence and strong sexual content, to name a few things, sometimes all at once). The premise is that superheroes are dangerous because they’re too powerful to control and oblivious to the vast collateral damage they cause when killing bad guys or even merely sneezing.   The show just wrapped up its third season, fittingly right about the time Elon Musk wrapped up another blockbuster season of Good Lord, What Is Elon Musk On About Now? The climax of the Musk show came this weekend, when he got his lawyers to gin up some excuses to try and get him out of his legally binding contract to pay $44 billion for Twitter. As Matt Levine writes, [Musk never really seemed to want to buy Twitter]( from the start. And he really extra-super didn’t want to buy it after its value was decimated in a market meltdown that has also drained some of Musk’s wealth and the value of the Tesla stock he is using as currency. Matt speculates Musk’s bid for Twitter was another of his elaborate pranks, like the time he pretended he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private. Given the undercurrent of hostility that has marked this whole ludicrous affair, I wonder if there wasn’t also a trace of malice at work. Whatever. The “funding secured” prank cost him millions. This one will likely cost him some extra zeroes. In a second column, Matt Levine writes he’ll either have to [pay the $1 billion breakup fee or be forced to pay $44 billion]( to buy Twitter. There is also an outside chance he and Twitter could cut a deal somewhere in between. Musk’s reputation has been damaged by this debacle, as has that of Tesla, the company for which Musk ostensibly does his day job. The costs of his compulsion to commit “comedy” on the internet keep escalating. And Liam Denning points out [Musk has a deep roster of wealthy enablers]( for this addiction — and not just the [employees]( who awkwardly yuk at his jokes — who bear some responsibility for his trail of value destruction.    Whatever the number on the check Musk ultimately writes, he will still be comically wealthy. Twitter, on the other hand, will either be left a pocked shell of its former (already damaged) self, for which $1 billion or even $10 billion will be scant compensation, or it will be owned by a surly Elon Musk. There seem to be no good outcomes for what is still a critical social-media platform, hobbled for the amusement or whatever other mysterious itch motivates the world’s richest man, who will blithely move on to his next act. Bonus Twitter Reading: [We built a Twitter bot]( to see what would happen. — Tim Culpan Wake Me Up Before You BoJo Speaking of destructive powerful people: Boris Johnson. Though his tenure as prime minister was nearly as brief as Neville Chamberlain’s or Theresa May’s, the economic fallout of the Brexit he midwifed will affect Britain for many years to come, writes Max Hastings. Worse, [Johnson stocked his government with lightweights]( whose primary qualification was loyalty to Boris Johnson. That means the pickings are slim for a Tory replacement to pull the country out of the mess Johnson made. Between Johnson’s defenestration and Donald Trump’s long disintegration, it may feel as if the populism both men personified is at long last dying. But Adrian Wooldridge warns these are [merely temporary setbacks for the frothing nationalist set](. Stephen Mihm points out the [splintering of globalization is fueling inflation](, which history suggests leads to even more, and more dangerous, populism. Rinse, repeat, maybe relive the 1930s. On the plus side, at least Johnson didn’t command the Proud Blokes to storm Parliament and reinstate him. Yet. Though we all laugh at its maces and [Petition Bags]( and whatnot, [Britain’s political system is far superior to the US system]( when it comes to quickly ditching leaders who are past their primes, writes Matt Yglesias.  Europe’s Energy Shock Could Be More Shocking One populist who recently seemed on the ropes but then got a second wind is Vladimir Putin. His Ukraine invasion has recently been upgraded from embarrassment to stalemate. And he keeps finding new ways to make Europe pay for opposing him. Julian Lee points out a recent Russian court order to temporarily [shut down an export terminal carrying oil from Kazakhstan]( was likely a flex to let Europe know it has a nice economy there, shame if anything should happen to it. And Javier Blas notes markets have [jacked up natural gas prices for the foreseeable future](, to better reflect the reality that Russia can still squeeze supply. He also warns said supply could disappear altogether by winter. Bonus New-Cold-War Reading: The US is the key to [preventing a new nuclear arms race](. — Hal Brands Telltale Charts Electrification is [hardly the province of blue states](, writes Justin Fox. [Junk bonds yield so much now]( it might be hard to actually lose money on them, writes Jonathan Levin. Further Reading Japan’s current leader shouldn’t just [blindly continue all of Shinzo Abe’s policies](. — Bloomberg’s editorial board President Joe Biden has [a chance to unite Middle East allies](. — Hussein Ibish If you’ve flown lately, you know it’s time [passengers had a bill of rights](. — Brooke Sutherland Big Tech has a responsibility to [help us fight phone addiction](. — Parmy Olson China’s vaccine mandate [broke the limits of its authoritarian power](. — Adam Minter If you haven’t had Covid yet, it’s [probably just because you’re lucky](, in either genetics or circumstances. — Faye Flam Why stop with ditching the LSAT? [The bar exam should go](, too. — Stephen Carter ICYMI The White House will [extend the Covid emergency](. Home-sale [cancellations jumped in June](. Texas’ [shaky power grid]( is [shutting down Bitcoin miners](. Kickers [New T. rex-like dinosaur]( just dropped. Scientists are figuring out [why T. rex had tiny arms](. Area chef turns McDonald’s [fries and chicken nuggets into pasta](. (h/t Scott Kominers for the first three kickers) Area man [keeps Blockbuster alive](. Notes: Please send pasta and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Instagram](, [TikTok](, [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Opinion Today newsletter. 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