Elon Musk at the Crossroads: Right or Left, Big Fella?
By J. Max Robins, August 24, 2022
On the evening of the Wyoming primaries – the night Liz Cheney’s congressional career went down in flames – Tesla czar Elon Musk was speaking at a nearby high-roller GOP fundraiser, with the Grand Tetons as a backdrop. Musk was at the swank affair as the celebrated guest of Cheney’s arch enemy, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Ever at ease talking out of both sides of his mouth, Musk held a fireside chat, where according to Axios, he opined that Republicans would be wise to stay “out of people’s bedrooms” while Democrats should stay “out of people’s wallets.” Expecting blowback for a star turn at a fat cat right wing soiree, the gazillionaire later tweeted, “To be clear, I support the left half of the Republican Party and the right half of the Democratic Party!”
Flirting with Ron and Greg
That tweet drew eye-rolling guffaws from the Left Twitterati. Which is understandable, given Musk’s year-long flirtation with some of the most-Trumpian Republican players in the game. Musk recently implied he’d be all in if Florida Governor Ron DeSantis makes a 2024 White House run. And when Musk made his problematic play last April to take over Twitter, he railed against the platform’s perceived political correctness, and indicated that he’d re-platform Donald Trump, in tweets that brought cheers from the MAGA-aligned media. All of the above followed on the heels of his decision last December to move Tesla’s headquarters from California to Texas, where Musk was lovingly welcomed to the Lone Star State by its Trumpian true believer governor Greg Abbott.
Musk’s media courtship of the Right might seem out of line for someone who, until recently, has supported Democrats, and who has been evangelical about the dangers of climate change. This is, after all, the man who popularized electric vehicles, and EVs are the cars the right wing press loves to hate.
Meanwhile, the drumbeat just gets louder from the GOP-aligned media – often beneficiaries of untold millions of dollars from the fossil fuel industry – that paints Teslas as the auto of choice of coastal elites. Publications such as RealClearPolitics (which has received money from Charles Koch’s foundations), uses its vertical site RealClearEnergy to go after EVs and anything else that might challenge the primacy of the fossil fuel industry.
Feuding with Joe
In stark contrast, the Biden White House has been all in on touting EVs as a solution to rising prices at the gas pump and helping to address climate change. But while Biden has been a loud and proud marketer of EVs, his administration wants tax breaks for vehicles that are union made, which those sleek Teslas definitely are not. In fact, Biden has publicly feuded with Musk, taking him to task last June for making negative assessments about the economic outlook going into the midterms, and laying much of the blame for these inflationary times on the White House doorstep.
In showing his willingness to support GOP candidates, Musk is firing a warning shot across the bow of Democratic lawmakers. Fat checks with the Tesla Supremo’s signature on them written to such influential slush-seeking senators as Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, may help union-friendly provisions head further down the road.
The Potholed Road Ahead
No doubt, Musk has taken note of the Right’s anti-EV assault, and his romancing of DeSantis, McCarthy and other MAGA fellow travelers is a savvy counter offensive. I mean, how do you think he got to be the richest man in the world?
Musk is willing to invest millions for influence over policies affecting Tesla, as well as his burgeoning rocket business, SpaceX, which has already snagged hundreds of millions of dollars in government contracts. Being welcomed by conservative and liberal lawmakers is essential to all parts of Musk’s empire.
Clearly, this 21st Century Henry Ford sees the pothole-heavy political road ahead, and he most certainly has the motivation to go wherever the money is with the speed and agility of a Tesla X P100D. But America’s biggest evangelist for self-driving cars must realize that, even in a lawless place like Washington, you can’t turn left and right at the same time.
J. Max Robins (@jmaxrobins) is executive director of the Center for Communication. The former editor-in-chief of Broadcasting & Cable, he has contributed to publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Columbia Journalism Review and Forbes. Read more from J. Max Robins at www.jmaxrobins.com
Interested in more news about right-wing media curated especially for mainstream audiences? Subscribe to our free daily newsletter.
Musk has taken note of the Right’s anti-EV assault, and his romancing of DeSantis, McCarthy and other MAGA fellow travelers is a savvy counter offensive. Exactly how do you think he got to be the richest man in the world?
