Musk took the interview as an opportunity to segue into a more Republican-friendly pitch for going electric.
Tesla $TSLA CEO Elon Musk is going all in on Michael Jordan’s “Republicans buy sneakers, too” strategy of selling electric vehicles by appealing to Donald Trump and his supporters. However, neither seem to be that into giving up their gas-burning vehicles.
During a livestream with the presidential hopeful on X $TWTR on August 12, Trump minimized the threat of global warming and reiterated his support for oil and gas drilling. Musk took this opportunity to segue into a more Republican-friendly pitch for going electric. From Bloomberg:
Vilifying oil and gas is wrong because the economy would collapse without the industry, Musk said on the social media service formerly known as Twitter. At the same time, fossil fuel supply is finite and global warming does pose some risk, he said. That’s where Tesla (TSLA) comes in.
“When you look at our cars, we don’t believe that environmentalism, that caring about the environment, should mean that you have to suffer,” Musk said of Tesla. “So we make sure that our cars are beautiful, that they drive well, that they’re fast, they’re sexy, they’re cool.”
Musk’s pitch to Trump and his devotees comes as Tesla’s sales have been slumping in recent quarters, and as some of the US company’s peers have decried the politicization of plug-in cars. Ford $F Motor Co. (F)’s Executive Chair Bill Ford, for example, has said that states where voters tend to vote Republican view EVs much like they do vaccines: as products the government is forcing on people.
The Inflation Reduction Act that Biden signed into law in August 2022 made Tesla and other car companies eligible for billions of dollars worth of battery manufacturing tax credits, and lined up billions more in EV purchase subsidies for consumers.
The Biden administration also toughened fuel-economy standards that were eased under Trump. Stricter efficiency targets are a boon to Tesla, which has generated more than $10 billion in revenue from selling regulatory credits to car companies that have needed help complying with emissions rules.
Trump is still very much an EV skeptic. However, he has begun to mix in some praise of both Tesla and Musk since the world’s richest man endorsed him in July:
“You know, Elon, remember, I love electric cars, I think your car is great, I love it, but it’s not for everybody,” Trump said last month at an event in Florida. “Some people love them and some people want them. But I think if you’re going to go long distances, it’s a little bit — you’re challenged. You’re challenged.”
While Musk seemed to be making a play on Monday for Republicans to get on board with Tesla’s mission to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy, he also downplayed the urgency of the undertaking.
“I think we want to just move over and if, I don’t know, 50 to 100 years from now we’re mostly sustainable, I think that’ll probably be OK,” he said. “It’s not like the house is on fire immediately.”
“People can still have a steak and they can still drive gasoline cars,” Musk added. “It’s OK.”
There is something deeply gross about these two teaming up. It just makes me feel icky.
Before forming this gruesome twosome, Trump and Musk had exchanged insults in the past. A few years ago, Musk tweeted that Trump would be too old to be president by the end of this term (he’s actually right), and Trump has said he could have made Musk “drop to his knees and beg.” Truly, these two guys deserve each other.
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