A CNN panel discussion led to an epiphany about how Democrats essentially drove billionaire Elon Musk into the arms of former President Donald Trump.
U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna pointed a finger at the Biden-Harris administration for losing the support of the Tesla/SpaceX CEO and tech mogul, calling out Democrats who likely “offended” Musk by not giving him credit for innovations and products.
Musk has thrown his full support behind Trump, endorsing his run for office and appearing with him last week at a Pennsylvania rally as the GOP nominee returned to Butler, the scene of a failed assassination attempt against him. Democrats, who once hailed the billionaire now treat him with contempt, notably since his purchases of X, formerly Twitter, and his vociferous fight for free speech.
(Video Credit: CNN)
“I think where the Democrats started to lose Elon [Musk] was actually personal,” Khanna said during the CNN panel discussion on the White House race.
“We should have celebrated his contributions to electric vehicles even though he was against unionization and stood up to unions,” the California Democrat added.
“We should have said, look, Starlink’s a great product that needs to be used. We should’ve celebrated the fact that he’s had the first commercial success of private people in space,” he said. “A lot of it was that we didn’t celebrate it and he felt offended.”
CNN anchor Abby Phillip wondered “What was the thing” that began to push Musk away?
“I got a call from him about it when he wasn’t invited to that EV summit, he should have been invited,” journalist and CNN contributor Kara Swisher chimed in, referring to Biden’s 2021 White House event with automakers celebrating electric vehicles which glaringly snubbed the Tesla CEO.
“I called the White House – I never call the White House – and I’m like, why didn’t you invite him? He’s very angry,” she said, noting that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg seemed “glib” about it at the time.
Swisher reiterated that Musk “deserved” to be invited to the event but the administration was likely miffed with the billionaire’s union stance.
Khanna added that Musk was also the target of negative tweets about his private plane but Phillip interjected to claim Democrats could not take the blame for that.
“I certainly think he should not be making jokes about the vice president, But I think with the Democrats, remember, he was a supporter of [former President] Obama, Bill Clinton,” Khanna said. “And we are a party that is John F. Kennedy. That is about innovation. That is about entrepreneurship,” he said.
“Elon Musk was historically a moderate Democrat and had a good relationship with President Obama, who visited SpaceX in Cape Canaveral. Elon Musk even stood in line for six hours to shake Obama’s hand when he was running for president,” the SMX account on X posted. “In the last 3.5 years, the Biden-Harris administration has disrespected Elon by ignoring his achievements and canceling his contracts with no sensible reasons.”
(Video Credit: Barack Obama Presidential Library)
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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