What Are Elon Musk’s Political Views? - The New York Times
▻https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/16/business/elon-musk-politics-twitter.html?campaign_id=2&emc=edit_th_20220417&instance
The billionaire in pursuit of Twitter has often been described as a libertarian, but he has not shrunk from government help when it has been good for business.
But what no one seemed to be able to say with any certainty was what kind of political philosophy the enigmatic billionaire believes himself.
That’s because Mr. Musk, 50, who was born in South Africa and only became an American citizen in 2002, expresses views that don’t fit neatly into this country’s binary, left-right political framework.
He is frequently described as libertarian, though that label fails to capture how paradoxical and random his politics can be. He has no shortage of opinions on the most pertinent and divisive issues of the day, from Covid-19 lockdowns (“fascist,” he called them) to immigration restrictions (“Very much disagree,” he has said).
There is not much consistency in the miscellany of his public statements or his profuse Twitter commentary — except that they often align with his business interests. And despite the intense partisan reaction to his unsolicited bid to buy Twitter, his opaque politics make it difficult to say whether the elation and fear about how he would run the company are justified.
He has railed against federal subsidies but his companies have benefited from billions of dollars in tax breaks and other incentives from federal, state and local governments. He has strenuously opposed unionization, criticizing the Biden administration for proposing a tax credit for electric vehicles produced by union workers.
His concerns about the way Twitter now censors content echo those of conservative activists and politicians who have argued that social media companies are poor arbiters of truth and should not be engaged in policing speech. One person who has worked closely with Mr. Musk said that it is Mr. Musk’s firmly held belief that in a functioning democracy, it is anyone’s right to say “whatever stupid thing you want.” This person, who spoke anonymously to not violate Mr. Musk’s trust, added dryly, “Which he occasionally does.”
If he should become Twitter’s owner, Mr. Musk said he would scrap the current program of content monitoring and censoring. Conservatives were elated. “Elon Musk seems to be our last hope,” declared Tucker Carlson of Fox News.
Mr. Musk tends to give only a few thousand dollars at a time — nothing like the tens of millions that Mr. Thiel has given this year to support candidates like J.D. Vance for Senate in Ohio, for instance. And his giving is fairly evenly distributed to candidates in both political parties. He has donated to stalwarts in the Democratic Party, including Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama. But he has also cut checks to Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader, and to the Republican National Committee.
Here, too, his actions appear to reflect the moves of someone who is not thinking ideologically but pragmatically. Many of his donations were funneled to politicians in states where Tesla has manufacturing operations like Texas and California. He has given to both Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, and Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat.