We know Elon didn't support Trump for purely patriotic reasons. He wants something. It could be non-financial and his want from Trump is for his own chance to build a legacy - like being anointed as an "Efficiency Czar" to reshape the U.S. government. However, what if his wants are more...sinister? If you've been looking at China for the past few years post Covid you'll probably have noticed the capital migration from MNCs out of China into other developing locations - India and Vietnam being two big beneficiaries of this. However, iirc Musk has been pushing more capital into China. He's bet pretty big on China with Tesla factories. IF - BIG IF - Musk's primary goal is to soften Trump's stance on China given the big investments made into China by Tesla...would you consider that a major problem?

I think this should be a legitimate fear to have, and that we'll need to watch closely how Trump interacts with China during his 2nd term. In particular, it's not hard to pretend to be tough on China but provide enough loopholes to actually aid them. This post is inspired by seeing more than one article and video talking about Tesla's exposure to China and the possible deep "friendship" Musk has with Xi.

The only other major desire Musk might have that allying with Trump may help with is an expansion of Musk's government/defense contracts. Maybe that's Musk's real endgame and China plays no role. That appears to be Bezo's aim IMHO with him squashing the WaPo's endorsement of Harris plus his fawning congratulatory message. Could be this.

Not sure on his motivations, but I don't trust Musk. Not to say that Musk can't be a great help in the end to get us away from the Progressive's policies - I think he wants that too because less push from the gov't to EV manufacturers is a net benefit to Tesla IMHO but still there has to be something more than just doing this out of the kindness of his heart or as a patriot.

I think it's simple.. The Dems were threatening to shut down his companies.. Threatening to take X from him... He wants to be able to live his life and continue to be successful.

Perhaps he wants Trump’s FCC to approve his purchase of CNN

Freedom of speech?

You’re overthinking it. Elon was an Andrew Yang democrat just 4 years ago and is a traditional liberal. The crazy ‘woke’ stuff and anti-First amendment turned him off but when the Left went after him for buying Twitter and not being a ‘union’ guy for SpaceX, after which they quickly punished him didn’t invite him into the WH he had enough.

I suppose it could be as simple as self preservation. However, I think Musk could have figured out a way to preserve his assets without resorting to going all in on Trump.

Hookers and blow


Stupid question.

For one, Musk probably would like an FAA who doesnt tongue tickle the anus cavities of Boeing.

Melanie

Probably the same thing as us. A sane government run by competent people with fair markets

I think he legit got annoyed with government waste and various departments sticking their nose in his companies business.
The government does all those things for power trips, reasons to beef up department budgets, and to give politicians manipulated campaign material.
He knows that Trump is for common sense policies and is in agreement about getting rid of dumb regulations.
With these various departments no longer having a blank check to waste money, they can no longer do dumb things to justify their existence.
This will also allow Elon more freedom to do his magic in the tech world.

Also - I think this was mostly answered on one of the Rogan podcasts. Either the one with Trump or Elon himself.

Miko, I think you are forgetting one big thing. Why did Musk buy Twitter? Do you think it was to make more money? Or somehow shield his other companies? No. That makes no sense. The Dems were big fans until then. Now they're threatening ALL his companies.

Musk has publicly stated that he wants to preserve free speech. Until there is some legit evidence that he has some ulterior motives that haven't been displayed yet, I think your concern is unfounded.

This guy is trying to build the ability to take man to Mars to help save humanity. Until given evidence to the contrary, I'm going to believe his intentions are pure.

Also, Trump has said he is going to kill the EV mandates. That doesn't help Musk at all. Yet Musk was instrumental in getting Trump elected.

If I was the richest guy on earth I doubt that I would even know the meaning of the word "want".

(11-07-2024 08:04 AM)TripleA Wrote:  Miko, I think you are forgetting one big thing. Why did Musk buy Twitter? Do you think it was to make more money? Or somehow shield his other companies? No. That makes no sense. The Dems were big fans until then. Now they're threatening ALL his companies.

Musk has publicly stated that he wants to preserve free speech. Until there is some legit evidence that he has some ulterior motives that haven't been displayed yet, I think your concern is unfounded.

This guy is trying to build the ability to take man to Mars to help save humanity. Until given evidence to the contrary, I'm going to believe his intentions are pure.

Also, Trump has said he is going to kill the EV mandates. That doesn't help Musk at all. Yet Musk was instrumental in getting Trump elected.

I'm not going to pretend to know the rationale behind his twitter purchase. It was withering on the vine by the time he bought it so he wasn't investing into an endeavor that was making money. He could have bought it thinking if he made it more open that it would become more broadly utilized by a larger audience and that the free speech aspect was one of the strategies to make it profitable. Regarding threats to his companies - he could have easily taken the heat off himself by taking his foot off the gas too.

A lot of famous people will take to the public forum to make pronouncements that they either don't truly believe in or maybe believe in them but not want to fight too hard for it. Going back to Twitter - the free speech aspect of the site could easily be a byproduct of his strategy to make money. I don't know the financials at twitter today, but we knew prior to Musk's purchase twitter was in dire straights with their strategy of suppressing speech. Not an unrealistic assumption to think that making it a true free speech forum could result in profits.

Building a rocket to go to Mars. Maybe it's to save humanity. Also, the R&D expended to make something like this will result in technologies that can be cross-applied to different industries. Is this R&D partially funded by the gov't? I don't know but I bet he's getting some gov't benefits for the work in SpaceX. Also it's common for cutting edge tech for the military to later by commercialized for different intents to make profits. Especially if the gov't is footing the bill for much or all of the development. See Military Industrial Complex.

The EV mandates lift up a number of competitors to Tesla. Tesla was the first company to strike gold with it's EV's. Killing the mandate kills the lifeline for a number of other players trying to break into the EV sphere while Tesla is already the top player there.

Well, you could be right, but I see absolutely no evidence of it, so until then, I'll worry about other things.

My impression is Musk is legit and honest.

(11-07-2024 08:17 AM)Bear Catlett Wrote:  If I was the richest guy on earth I doubt that I would even know the meaning of the word "want".

When people like you or I - probably almost everyone else on the board - would ever end up with a billion dollars we would feel like we made it to our destination. Time to relax and enjoy the rest of your life. People like Musk, Gates, Buffet are wired differently than us. It's not about securing wealth to live well. It's about how far can they take it. It's never enough.

(11-07-2024 08:04 AM)TripleA Wrote:  Miko, I think you are forgetting one big thing. Why did Musk buy Twitter? Do you think it was to make more money? Or somehow shield his other companies? No. That makes no sense. The Dems were big fans until then. Now they're threatening ALL his companies.

Musk has publicly stated that he wants to preserve free speech. Until there is some legit evidence that he has some ulterior motives that haven't been displayed yet, I think your concern is unfounded.

This guy is trying to build the ability to take man to Mars to help save humanity. Until given evidence to the contrary, I'm going to believe his intentions are pure.

Also, Trump has said he is going to kill the EV mandates. That doesn't help Musk at all. Yet Musk was instrumental in getting Trump elected.

This 100x

Sure the man likes what that money can buy but overall being able to fulfill his dreams is his main goal. Like Trump who hasn't really changed since the 80s on his core beliefs. Musk is the same, if you listen to him talk about the future 30 years ago, it would be close to the same way today.

That is what the man wants the most to be able to build his life long dream

And so it begins. Why must we always look a gift horse in the mouth. Musk, along with the rest of the coalition Trump put together probably contributed greatly to Trumps 2nd election. They all want something, I doubt any of them are acting out of a sense of altruism. They likely just want positions within his administration. There could be different motives for that but that doesn't mean they're bad.

(11-07-2024 08:22 AM)TripleA Wrote:  Well, you could be right, but I see absolutely no evidence of it, so until then, I'll worry about other things.

My impression is Musk is legit and honest.

I hope you're right. To me though it doesn't add up. I'll make an analogous "law" inspired by physics..."The Law of Quid pro Quo". Assume altruism = 0, the law states that favors/benefits cannot be given without something given in return of equal value. In the world of big business and politics - this how those worlds work.