Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Friday blasted the Biden administration and Democrats on Twitter, because the world’s richest man doubled down on his vow to vote for Republicans.
Musk in a tweet accused the Biden administration of doing “every thing it could actually to sideline” and ignore Tesla, regardless of its dominance within the electrical car trade.
Musk, who’s making an more and more fraught try to purchase Twitter for $44 billion, steered Thursday that Democrats would goal him with a smear marketing campaign after he introduced that he would vote for GOP candidates.
“Prior to now I voted Democrat, as a result of they had been (principally) the kindness celebration. However they’ve develop into the celebration of division & hate, so I can not assist them and can vote Republican,” Musk tweeted Thursday.
“Now, watch their soiled methods marketing campaign towards me unfold …,” he wrote, ending the tweet with a “popcorn” emoji.
Hours later Thursday, Business Insider published a bombshell report detailing allegations that Musk uncovered his genitals to a non-public jet flight attendant as he requested her for a full physique therapeutic massage on a SpaceX flight to London. The report stated he provided to purchase her a horse for her acquiescence to his purported sexual requests.
Musk denied the woman’s claims. Insider reported that they had been detailed in a written declaration from a pal of hers, submitted to bolster a criticism the girl made to SpaceX’s human assets division.
However neither Musk nor SpaceX have denied Enterprise Insider’s report that the aerospace agency he based and runs paid the girl $250,000 in severance in alternate for her silence after she complained about his alleged conduct.
Musk in a tweet wrote, “The assaults towards me ought to be considered by way of a political lens – that is their commonplace (despicable) playbook – however nothing will deter me from preventing for a great future and your proper to free speech.”
On Thursday, after Musk tweeted that he anticipated a “soiled methods marketing campaign towards me” following his announcement that he would vote Republican, the Democratic podcaster Jon Favreau fired again at Musk.
“Hey man, if you wish to assist a bunch of electrical vehicle-hating local weather deniers, that is on you,” tweeted Favreau, who was a speechwriter to President Barack Obama.
“Unsure that it helps the trigger that you just and your workforce have devoted a lot of your lives to, however I assume you will get some consideration on Twitter, so there’s that!” Favreau wrote.
Musk replied Friday, writing, “Hello Jon! You are a good dude, however obv die-hard Dem, so should assist the celebration, however this Adminstration has achieved every thing it could actually to sideline & ignore Tesla, although we now have made twice as many EVs as remainder of US trade mixed.”
Earlier this week on the All In Summit in Miami, Musk stated he would classify himself “as a reasonable, neither Republican or Democrat,” who “overwhelmingly” voted for Democrats prior to now.
“I’d by no means have voted Republican. Now, this election? I’ll,” Musk stated on the occasion.
“The Democratic Get together is overly managed by the unions and the trial attorneys, notably the class-action attorneys,” he stated.
Musk’s beef with the Biden administration goes again to August of final yr. He was not invited to President Joe Biden’s signing ceremony for an govt order that known as on automakers to promote extra electrical automobiles — however executives from General Motors, Ford and Chrysler had been.
“Yeah, appears odd that Tesla wasn’t invited,” Musk tweeted.
It was reported in February that Biden had no rapid plans to ask Musk to White Home conferences with company leaders.
Musk told CNBC in emails that same month that Biden was ignoring Tesla in favor of giving consideration to legacy automakers.
“The notion of a feud will not be fairly proper. Biden has pointedly ignored Tesla at each flip and falsely said to the general public that GM leads the electrical automotive trade, when actually Tesla produced over 300,000 electrical automobiles final quarter and GM produced 26,” Musk stated within the e-mail on the time.
Final month, Musk, GM CEO Mary Barra and different high auto executives met with senior Biden administration officers about electrical car charging stations.
— Extra reporting by Lora Kolodny and Brian Schwartz
