Does Elon Musk Stutter?

Note: The quotations in this article are not intended to mock or make fun of stuttering. They are included solely to illustrate moments when he stuttered.

Elon Musk has never publicly stated that he stutters, but many have pointed to recent interviews suggesting he exhibits several characteristics of a covert stutterer, or someone who develops strategies to hide their dysfluent speech. The stuttering community is generally very good at recognizing these traits, so I analyzed his infamous appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where he wielded the “chainsaw of bureaucracy” on stage before giving his speech.

Aside from the absurd content of this clip, it does seem that Elon has multiple whole-word repetitions. Of course, it’s not unusual for fluent speakers to stutter when they’re nervous, speaking too quickly, or unprepared. What stands out to me, though, is the interjection or filler phrase he uses to escape the repetitions: “the-the-the, sort of the-the left want to…” This is a classic avoidance strategy often used by covert stutterers. After successfully escaping the moment of stuttering, he speaks with complete fluency for the rest of the utterance, another common phenomenon experienced by many stutterers.

It’s clear in this clip that he’s experiencing a block. You can tell because his lips are quivering, but his voice doesn’t start. He begins to say, “It was essentially to… to uh, by freedom of… expression…” but struggles to complete the sentence. Recognizing the block, Elon tries to rephrase his thought in an attempt to find an easier path forward. However, he never actually finishes his sentence, as the host steps in, interpreting what he was trying to say: “Once that’s gone, it’s all over—all over. Tyranny comes really quickly after that.”

In this clip, Elon completely changes the word he initially intended to say in order to avoid stuttering. It’s unclear exactly what the original word was, but it clearly began with an /f/ sound. “F-f- the femis… the, the sort of whatever, deep state bureaucrats…” Replacing entire words mid-sentence is not something fluent speakers typically do when they momentarily stumble, providing further evidence that Elon may be a covert stutterer.

The Final Verdict

I believe it’s possible that Elon Musk stutters. However, diagnosing someone based on a single interview video is difficult. That said, the golden rule when it comes to stuttering still applies: what matters is the content of the message, not how it’s delivered. This is especially relevant here, given that many of Musk’s ideas are harmful to the American public. Excusing his rhetoric because he may stutter would ultimately be a form of infantilizing the stuttering community.