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He despises organized labor, scoffs at political correctness and supports small government — so conservatives may be disappointed that he wants to back out of the Twitter deal.
Yet smoking marijuana in interviews, courting Hollywood through movie cameos and musing about a nuclear attack on Mars make Elon Musk an unlikely talisman for political traditionalists.
In a polarized America, the 51-year-old triple divorcee’s opposition to Covid-19 restrictions is often seen as a gesture of sympathy for the Republican Party, although his disdain for tough immigration controls suggests the opposite.
The world’s richest man has rebuked President Joe Biden for proposing a tax credit for electric vehicles made by unionized workers. He even called for an end to all U.S. federal subsidies.
However, he himself has actively sought government support, raising billions of dollars in relief funds for his company.
James Hickman, founder of the liberal-leaning Sovereign Man newsletter, sees Musk as a check on “the tyranny of the few” — a so-called elite bloc of tech, media and academia who The rest of us make decisions and “consistently” get it wrong. “
“What makes a person a true liberal is total rejection of labels and complete independence of mind,” Hickman told AFP.
“Musk is clearly qualified in that regard.”
Other analysts believe that while Musk’s political philosophies may seem inconsistent, he rarely deviates from his business interests.
At the same time, his political contributions are not tied to one political party or point of view.
A self-proclaimed “moderate” independent — though he also describes himself as a “socialist” — Musk has swaggered from ultra-liberal California to ultra-conservative Texas in 2020.
Despite criticizing Texas’ anti-abortion laws and California’s “complacency” business climate, he donated to the governors of both states.
Free speech or not?
Other donations went to Democratic bigwigs Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, right-wing House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and the Republican Party itself.
He’s also not opposed to lashing out at figures in the Washington establishment on social media, from one-time presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren (“Senator Karen”) to Biden himself.
Then there’s the issue of free speech, which he calls “the cornerstone of an effective democracy.”
Musk complained that Twitter was being too critical, while illustrating and undermining his views in a tweet that described company CEO Parag Agrawal as the brutal Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
Critics say his enthusiasm for unbridled conversation tends to appear less profound when his own interests are at stake.
Some media outlets have questioned Musk’s response to reporters writing stories critical of Tesla.
Accused of releasing his army of supporters to individual journalists, he once considered creating a website for the industry called Pravda – presumably a nod to Soviet propaganda channels.
He tweeted in 2018: “To create a website where the public can rate the core truth of any article and track each journalist, editor and publication’s credibility score over time.”
“Pragmatic” and “self-interested”
Former Hillary Clinton campaign staffer Judd Legum pointed to a tweet — also in 2018 — in which Musk appeared to threaten to cancel Tesla if workers decided to unionize Pulled employee stock options.
Critics say there is a model of suppressing less powerful voices that also includes forcing workers to sign restrictive nondisclosure agreements (NDAs).
Tesla’s NDA reportedly warned employees “that they may not speak to the media without express written permission” — but the company neglected to add that labor laws protect them from retaliation for discussing working conditions.
Baruch Labunski, an internet marketing expert and chief executive of an online consulting firm, said that amid a lot of “conflicting evidence,” it was safest to describe Musk’s politics as “pragmatic.”
“He is often described as a libertarian, but that name doesn’t accurately describe someone whose businesses benefit from government tax breaks and business subsidies,” Labonski told AFP.
Labonsky said Musk was a “fundamentally self-interested” celebrity.
“Musk is able to function in politics and politics because he’s rich and outspoken.”
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