He has despised organized labor, ridiculed political correctness and advocated for a small government – so conservatives may be disappointed that he wants to back out of his deal to buy Twitter.
But smoking marijuana during interviews, wooing Hollywood with movie cameos, and contemplating the atomic bomb on Mars make him an unlikely talisman for political traditionalists.
In polarized America, the 51-year-old triple-divorced man’s opposition to Covid-19 restrictions is often seen as an expression of Republican sympathy, though his disdain for draconian immigration controls suggests the opposite.
The richest man in the world has berated President Joe Biden for proposing a tax credit for electric cars made by unionized workers. He has even called for an end to all US federal subsidies.
Yet he himself has aggressively sought government support, accepting billions in handouts for his own businesses.
James Hickman, founder of the libertarian-leaning newsletter Sovereign Man, sees Musk as controlling “minority tyranny” — a perceived cabal of tech, media, and scientific elites who make decisions for the rest of us and “consistently misunderstand. “
“What makes someone a true libertarian is their total rejection of labels and their total independence of thought,” Hickman told AFP.
“Musk is clearly qualified in that regard.”
Other analysts have suggested that contradictory as his political philosophy appears, Musk rarely deviates from his business interests.
His political donations are also not tied to any party or point of view.
A self-proclaimed “moderate” independent — though he’s also called himself a “socialist” — Musk made a show of moving from ultra-liberal California to deeply conservative Texas in 2020.
He has made donations to both state governors despite criticizing Texas’ anti-abortion laws and a “complacent” business environment in California.
– Freedom of speech or not? –
Other donations went to Democratic grandees Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, right-wing House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and the Republican Party itself.
He’s also not averse to lashing out at Washington establishment figures on social media, from former presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren (“Senator Karen”) to Biden himself.
And then there’s the issue of freedom of speech, which he calls “the foundation of a functioning democracy.”
Musk has complained that Twitter is too censored, while illustrating and undermining his point in a tweet that portrays the company’s CEO, Parag Agrawal, as the brutal Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
Critics say his passion for unhindered conversation has often seemed less profound when it comes to his own interests.
Some media outlets have raised questions about Musk’s reaction to journalists writing stories critical of Tesla.
Accused of unleashing his army of supporters on individual reporters, he once considered creating a website for the profession as a whole called Pravda – presumably in homage to Soviet propaganda.
“I will create a website where the public can rate the core truth of each article and track the credibility of each journalist, editor and publication over time,” he tweeted in 2018. Nothing came of it.
– ‘Pragmatic’ and ‘Self-interested’ –
Former Hillary Clinton campaign aide Judd Legum has pointed to a tweet — also from 2018 — in which Musk appears to have threatened to revoke employees’ stock options at Tesla if workers decide to join a union.
Critics say there’s a pattern to quashing less powerful voices that includes requiring workers to sign restrictive non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).
A Tesla NDA reportedly warned employees that “they may not speak to the media without express written permission” — but the company failed to add that labor laws protect them from reprisals when it comes to working conditions.
Baruch Labunski, an internet marketing expert and CEO of web consultancies, says that given a lot of “conflicting evidence,” it’s safest to describe Musk’s policies as “pragmatic.”
“He’s often referred to as a libertarian, but that label doesn’t accurately describe the man whose businesses have benefited from government tax breaks and business subsidies,” Labunski told AFP.
Musk is a “fundamentally self-interested” celebrity, says Labunski.
“Musk plays in and around politics because he’s rich and outspoken.”
#Elite #smasher #selfish #pragmatist
