Elon Musk claims his atypical
side. He is proud of it.
His detractors may say they
have “Musk fatigue”, but the richest man in the world seems not to
listen to them. The closer we get to November’s midterm elections, the more
they’re going to have to get used to hearing Tesla’s (TSLA) – Get
Tesla Inc. Report chief executive officer to speak out about politics and the
candidates he supports.
The tech tycoon has been painstakingly
preparing the ground for this transformation for several months now. He began
by inviting himself into global geopolitical affairs, being the first boss to
publicly take a stand for Ukraine when it was invaded on February 24 by
Russia.
Musk went on to contribute
some big bucks, like sending Starlink satellite internet terminals to
Ukrainians to keep them connected to the world.
He later turned inward, stepping
up his criticism of the Biden administration for ignoring Tesla for more
than a year while the Democratic president’s agenda pushes for clean energy and
electric vehicles.
The serial entrepreneur
then launched a $44 billion bid to acquire the social network Twitter (TWTR)
– Get Twitter Inc. Report, which he considers the de facto Times Square of
our time. He immediately promised that he would reinstate former Republican
President Donald Trump, who was banned from the platform after the events of
January 6, 2021.
He then became a darling of
Republicans and conservatives alike by promising that his Twitter would
tolerate all posts as long as they don’t violate the law of the country the
user is in.
Biden and Trump Too Old?
These various positions have
caused an outcry from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, experts and
even tech peers and billionaires like Bill Gates. They all fear that such a
policy will resurrect bullying, racism, and misinformation on Twitter.
These criticisms have not
changed Musk’s mind, who accuses progressives of having become extremists. The
billionaire thus announced that he would vote Republican in the midterm
elections. He did, however, let it be known that he had voted Democratic in the
past, twice for Barack Obama and even for Joe Biden in 2020.
But Musk had still not
committed to 2024. The only statement he made was that he would vote neither
for Trump, whom he considers too divisive nor for Biden.
The billionaire has confirmed
this decision by pleading on various occasions on the limitation of the age at
which one can stand for election in order to automatically eliminate Biden and
Trump.
Biden will turn 80 in
November. He will be 82 at the time of the election in 2024. Donald Trump turns
76 in June. The former president will be over 78 when the next White House
election comes around.
Musk is 50 and can’t run for
president because he was not born on American soil, one of the criteria for
being an eligible candidate.
