Elon Musk continues to be courted by the candidates for the next US elections, Joe Biden and Donald Trump. During an interview on the CNBC channel, Trump himself confirmed that he had met the CEO of Tesla, expressing general appreciation for the entrepreneur: it is not clear, however, whether or not the tycoon managed to obtain support by Musk.
Meeting in Florida. The summit between Trump and Musk was held last week in Palm Beach, Florida, on the sidelines of one of the Republican candidate’s fundraising campaign events. Musk immediately responded to the first press rumors by expressing his intention not to support any of the contenders, nor to be ready to provide financial support: “Just to be clear, I will not donate money to any of the candidates for the presidency of the United States” , wrote the entrepreneur on his X account.
The attack on electricity. Despite his respect for Musk, Trump reiterated that he is against electric cars, considered a “subject of minor importance” for his election campaign. “They don’t go far, they cost too much and they will all be produced in China”, added the candidate for the White House, underlining that a 100% BEV future for American cars must be ruled out due to the “obsolete and disastrous” electricity grid. Not only that: according to Trump, the current administration’s goal (increasing sales of battery-powered cars to at least 60% by 2030) is the result of “very, very stupid” reasoning. The leaders of the United Auto Workers union also ended up under accusation, branded as “blind sheep” for their support for Biden and for their “inability to listen” to the workers who instead intended to vote for him.
The distances. Having said that, distances remain between Trump and Tesla’s number one, not only on the issue of electric vehicles. Musk served on two advisory committees for Trump’s presidency, but left his posts soon after the then-president’s decision to abandon the Paris climate accords. Furthermore, the entrepreneur attributed the former electric property developer’s criticisms to his excessive ties with the oil industry. Musk himself also claimed to have voted for Biden in the 2020 presidential elections (a claim however denied in his latest biography). For his part, Trump did not fail to criticize Musk not only for the issue of electric cars, but also for self-driving vehicles “that crash” and for SpaceX spaceships headed “to nowhere”. In short, if there is a relationship, it is certainly not the most linear.