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Same. This proves what I've always suspected: Musk was trying to use the Republicans to push a bit of fiscal responsibility. Now that it's clear that this isn't going to work, and after presumably fighting against the Big Beautiful Bill behind the scenes, he's calling it quits.
The real mistake was the left wing's decision to alienate Musk. The Democrats really should have seen this coming (since Trump falls out with all his allies sooner or later) and they should have refrained from spending the past few months calling for people to firebomb Tesla dealerships out of spite. If they had just kept their stupid mouths shut they would be in perfect position to welcome the highly influential CEO of Twitter into their camp, with plenty of time before the midterms. Maybe they could even drive Zuck and the rest back into the fold (look what an alliance with Trump gets you, better join the right team while you have the chance!)
If only the Democrats hadn't just spent the last few months proving that they punish their apostates more vindictively than Trump ever could, they might seem like the safer and more reliable ally right now. As it is they just look dangerously unhinged in a different way.
And all it would cost them is telling the Lina Kahn / Elizabeth Warren faction to shut up and vote blue anyway (what are they gonna do, vote MAGA?)
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If the Democrats were capable of that level of self-control, they would have worked with the 90s-era democrat who got elected in a repudiation to the Republican establishment a decade ago.
It's all a bit chicken and egg, but I rather think he alienated the left, not vice versa.
The first big unambiguous attack I recall was Tesla getting shut out of Biden's joke of an "EV summit" ... but the first big conflict I recall was that Musk was heavily opposed to Covid lockdowns, back before being opposed to Covid lockdowns was cool. Not sure who you would say was doing the alienating in that case.
In all those cases I was totally on Musk's side. Lockdowns were terrible and now even Scott Alexander quotes studies that they didn't do anything, only destroyed economy even more and increased mental problems of people. This is where both democrats and republicans dropped the ball on science.
Elon deserved at least some recognition for EVs.
Elon's transkid? The UK banned puberty blockers for a reason. It turns out that most “transkids” stop being “trans” by reaching adulthood, but if they are given puberty blockers, then it is almost 100% guaranteed that they will continue this transpath. Not good outcome at all and only the most ideology obsessed people cannot see why this is a problem.
The only thing I don't like about Musk is his over promises, for example, selling self-driving cars (was promised to be ready in 2024)? Clearly a fantasy although the idea to develop them is good. Of course, sometimes I don't like his talk (calling some a pedo etc.). But that is not important in the great scheme of things.
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I mean it all comes back to his trans kid, doesn't it? Who came out in 2020.
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But Trump's election was specifically a repudiation of the Republican establishment's weakness on illegal immigration, wasn't it? Even his eagerness to be obnoxious to opponents was seen as insurance against the possibility of him becoming yet another Republican who would go weak-kneed and try to thread the needle between "grr, we hate illegal immigration" among their voters and "oh, but what can we do about it in a divided government? better trade another sweeping amnesty for some minor hypothetical enforcement concessions" in DC. The Democrats' only difference from the repudiated Republicans was that they were supporting the same outcome overtly rather than dishonestly, and Trump's base was centered around opposition to that specific outcome, not principled opposition to dishonesty, so there wasn't a lot of room for collaboration there.
The Democratic strategy of "help get people pissed off at an opponent who's pretty good at pissing people off" would have been a great one (for their own strategic interests; perhaps not for the country as a whole), if only they'd been able to field candidates and policies that weren't also pissing everyone off in different ways.
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Never say never.
Technically I didn't say never, I said 'ever'. And I genuinely don't believe Trump has the power to punish Musk any more than he already has been.
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