At the same time, the White House has continued other campaign strategies. Trump was the first sitting president in history to attend the Super Bowl earlier this month, and last weekend made an appearance at the Daytona 500, where he led drivers on two laps around the track in the heavily armored presidential limousine known as “The Beast.”

Hamas handed over the bodies on Thursday of Israeli infant Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old brother Ariel, the two youngest captives taken by Hamas in their October 7, 2023 attack and among the most potent symbols of the trauma inflicted that day.

These suits will no doubt proceed in the weeks and months ahead, as it falls to the courts to hold Musk accountable for his blatant indifference to the law. But beyond his individual actions, Musk’s role raises more fundamental questions.