Democrats aren’t the biggest fan of Tesla and a lot of that has to do with Tesla CEO Elon Musk consistently calling them out and putting down their agenda.
(READ: Elon Musk Goes Nuclear on Government Power, Biden’s Build Back Better Plan, and Excessive Laws)
Last night during the State of the Union address, President Joe Biden spoke about companies moving forward on their electric vehicle production of Ford and GM. Tesla was noticeably absent from the list of companies Biden complimented, which struck Musk as a little odd since he’s the uncontested leader in electric car production.
“Ford is investing $11B to build electric vehicles — creating 11,000 jobs across the country,” noted Biden. “GM is making the largest investment in its history — $7B to build electric vehicles, creating 4,000 jobs in Michigan.”
Musk took to Twitter and made it clear that Biden left out the most important company in the game.
“Tesla has created over 50,000 US jobs building electric vehicles & is investing more than double GM + Ford combined,” Musk responded.
Tesla has created over 50,000 US jobs building electric vehicles & is investing more than double GM + Ford combined
[fyi to person controlling this twitter]
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 2, 2022
Biden likely gave Musk the cold shoulder for two reasons. For one, Musk’s inability to fall in line when Democrats apply pressure to the rich and powerful irks them to no end. Tesla is a constant target of hard-left politicians like AOC who, interestingly enough, likes to illegally park her Tesla in front of Whole Foods, whose parent company she chased out of New York.
But Musk is also a small-government enthusiast. He lambasted the Build Back Better bill of Biden’s as an expensive waste of time that would only hurt the U.S. more than improve it.
“Honestly, it might be better if the bill doesn’t pass,” Musk said in December of last year.
“Rules and regulations are immortal,” he went on to say. “They don’t die. The vast majority of rules and regulations live forever… there’s not really an effective garbage collection system for removing rules and regulations, so this hardens the arteries of civilization where you are able to do less and less over time.”
Regardless, the SOTU snub didn’t seem to bother Musk as he told CNBC that “nobody is watching” Biden’s speech.
Last year, Biden’s SOTU speech drew almost 27 million viewers, a 28-year-low at the time. Numbers are still to roll in on this year’s speech but judging by Biden’s tanking approval numbers, Musk may be correct.
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