There was a time, not way back, by which most individuals may need scoffed at the concept Elon Musk, an entrepreneur with aspirations to save lots of the world from local weather change, would turn into a right-wing people hero. And but, that’s exactly the transformation he underwent this yr. The billionaire CEO of Tesla—now identified for his ardent assist of Donald Trump and his limitless philippics in opposition to the “woke thoughts virus”—has turn into a serious energy participant within the MAGA-verse, and is about to go up a brand new initiative in Trump’s second administration, so referred to as the Division of Authorities Effectivity. Within the newest episode of Contained in the Hive, VF particular correspondent Nick Bilton and New York Instances tech reporter Kate Conger unpack what introduced Musk into the MAGA-verse, how he plans to intestine the regulatory state below Trump, and why the duo’s ego-fueled bromance could also be destined to explode. “I feel we’re on a collision course of personalities with these two,” Conger predicts. “[Musk is] going to need full management…and I don’t suppose Trump goes to be prepared to provide him that.”
In some ways, Musk’s right-wing transformation has been years within the making. And in Bilton’s view, it didn’t occur purely for monetary causes. “It’s all the time private with Elon. It’s not simply enterprise. Every thing is pushed by private. And from what I’ve heard, the primary signal of him shifting from the left to the fitting was COVID, after they tried to close down his factories,” says Bilton. “And the second signal was when his daughter, [Vivian Wilson], turned in opposition to him very, very publicly.” Bilton added that Musk blames “the left” for his poor relationship with Wilson: “I feel that that was the factor that lastly pushed him over that edge.”
Elsewhere within the episode, Bilton and Conger focus on the implications of the 2024 election, in addition to broader ideological shifts in tech, together with what Conger calls a political “persecution advanced” among the many C-suite. “I feel that there’s some actually pernicious development in Silicon Valley of individuals seeing any opposition or criticism as persecution, proper? And also you see this from Travis Kalanick considering the taxi business—which was already struggling when he got here alongside—was like this epic pressure combating in opposition to him, to tech CEOs who really feel like they’re having to fight their woke workforces or no matter,” she says. “Even Musk, considering that he must eradicate that mindset from inside Twitter. And I’ve spoken to tech executives who’ve donated to [Kamala Harris] and supported her marketing campaign who nonetheless had been simply, deeply, deeply offended by the appointment of Lina Khan and the best way the FTC aggressively pursued campaigns in opposition to the tech business. So there’s this large persecution advanced throughout the business that Democrats need to grapple with.”
