Elon Musk is pouring record-breaking money into the midterms, and the panic itself is the story — this is bad news for anyone worried about billionaires buying political protection.

• Musk has spent over $445 million this cycle, the most any donor has ever given in a non-presidential election, with huge sums funneled into the Texas Senate race backing Attorney General Ken Paxton.
• The spending looks like an attempt to keep a friendly, corruption-tolerant official in place just as Musk pushes to merge Tesla and SpaceX into a roughly $3.5 trillion company, a move that critics say could let him claim the combined firm is "too big to fail" if trouble hits.
• Musk is lashing out at critics like journalist Kara Swisher and his Senate opponent James Talarico, accusing them of being controlled by unnamed puppet-masters, which read more as projection than substance.
• Even some Republicans reportedly want investigations into Musk's companies but are too afraid to act publicly, while Democrats could pursue probes into Starlink and other federal contracts if they retake the House.

Outlook: If Democrats win the House, expect investigations into Musk's businesses to ramp up, while his money keeps flowing to shield allies like Paxton in the meantime.