In this day and age where everyone has their own particularized news feed, it is nearly impossible to discern what the prevailing wisdom is, or even more so what the mass of us are being fed as far as what the prevailing wisdom is. With that caveat, it seems to me at least that Elon Musk has taken a newfound prominence as a founding member of all things Donald Trump, a co-author with Trump himself of his victory in the 2024 Presidential Election. Trump’s victory has catapulted Musk to an even higher perch of self-conceit as the nation’s foremost oligarch-in-chief. How did that happen?
I voted for Trump all three times he ran for President, but I don’t consider myself a typical Trump voter, because I don’t think there is such a thing as a typical Trump voter. In three successive elections in the choice between two candidates, all four of whom had their weaknesses and strengths, I chose Trump over the alternatives. Trump certainly had his weaknesses as a candidate, but I don’t think anyone can say Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris didn’t too. There are things I very much like about Trump and things I don’t. There are also things I like about myself and things I don’t. I think most of us would, or should, if we were honest with ourselves say the same.
As I see it, Trump is neither the savior of all things American his most ardent supporters claim nor the fascist demagogue his political opponents accuse him of being. He certainly does not have the polished messaging political operatives revere and demand, but that doesn’t mean he’s a fool. Hasn’t he proven all the grand masters of the political universe, both Republican and Democrat, absolute fools now twice for counting him out?
If one fact from the last election showed the utter cluelessness of so much of our popular political media is that Trump, and his supporters, were reviled as racist in large part due to comments he’s made about illegal immigrants and the border with Mexico, yet in the last election the most Hispanic county in the country, Starr county in Texas, with a population that is 97.7% self-identifying as Hispanic or Latino, voted for Trump and it wasn’t particularly close, 58% to 42%. They obviously weren’t drinking the same water and had different perspectives from the elites of both parties.
Which brings us to Elon Musk. Does Musk really represent anything that Trump does to Trump voters? If Trump is the ultimate outsider, Musk is the overwhelming favorite of the ultimate insiders, the traders on Wall Street. If Trump is America First, no one in my mind should see Musk as anything but Musk first. Musk’s first, last, and only loyalty is not to any political party or policy or ideology, but to himself. He is the changeling. When it suited his purposes he embraced the Obama Democrats, smoked weed on the Joe Rogan Experience, and now arrives at the Capital with his four-year-old son on his shoulders and tells us how he’s going to save America, with Trump’s help of course. Did anyone vote for Trump so they could see more of the likes of Elon Musk?
If you’re one of the many of Americans concerned about China’s influence in Washington, and I think we all should be, take a long look at Tesla’s latest Annual Report. Few people have more at stake in promoting a cordial relationship between Washington and the Chinese Communist Party than Elon Musk.
A few random quotes:
Internationally, we also have manufacturing facilities in China (Gigafactory Shanghai) and Germany (Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg), which allows us to increase the affordability of our vehicles for customers in local markets by reducing transportation and manufacturing costs and eliminating the impact of unfavorable tariffs.
As we grow our manufacturing operations in additional regions, we are or will be subject to complex environmental, manufacturing, health and safety laws and regulations at numerous jurisdictional levels in the U.S., China, Germany and other locations abroad, including laws relating to the use, handling, storage, recycling, disposal and/or human exposure to hazardous materials, product material inputs and post-consumer products and with respect to constructing, expanding and maintaining our facilities. New, or changes in, environmental and climate change laws, regulations or rules could also lead to increased costs of compliance, including remediations of any discovered issues, and changes to our operations, which may be significant, and any failures to comply could result in significant expenses, delays or fines.
Similarly, our North American operations are subject to complex and changing federal and US state-specific data privacy laws and regulations, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act which imposes certain legal obligations on our use and processing of personal information related to California residents. Finally, additional privacy and cybersecurity laws have come into effect in China.
Tesla’s Annual Report Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, tsla-20231231-gen.pdf
And no one does business in China at the level Musk does without the implicit and explicit consent of the Chinese Communist Party.
When you think of America’s most noted billionaires, Musk stands out. Warren Buffet is best known for his investment fund, Berkshire Hathaway, which has generated superior returns for decades and decades, some of his largest holdings being shares of Bank of America and Coca Cola. Bill Gates’ Microsoft products are incredibly ubiquitous. Same for Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook and Jeff Bezos’s Amazon. All products that millions of American consumers use on a regular, if not daily basis. Then there’s Musk’s electric cars and Cybertrucks. I personally don’t see many of those on the road near me, if any at all, especially when driving in so-called Trump Country. But Tesla’s stock sure is a favorite of Wall Street, and has been heavily promoted for years through successive administrations. If Musk has a keen eye for anything it is which side his bread is buttered on, and self-promotion in the age of Tik Tok.
I may end up regretting being suspicious of the motives of Elon Musk. He may prove to be the magnanimous beneficiary and savior of the nation he portrays himself to be. Maybe the man who manipulates the press with such consummate skill is being surreptitiously maligned himself. No way for me to know. But Musk has all the hallmarks of a man whose only loyalty is to himself. My suspicion is that Trump cuts the coattails Musk is riding on sooner verses later, or most Americans, Trump included, will regret it.