When Mercy Feels Like a Gamble

Before Elon Musk made his presence felt in politics I started listening to his biography. One thing that struck me was his willingness to take risks. According to the biographer, Musk has been known to do things such as climb to great heights without so much as a safety helmet when visiting a SpaceX facility, eliminate redundant safety mechanisms on Tesla vehicles in order to eliminate expense, or spend $44 billion to buy a troubled Twitter. The people with whom he has surrounded himself often reflect the same philosophy of life.

One night when scientists and other staff had broken into a tiki...