‘Elon Musk Must Take a Net-Zero Approach to Violent Hate Speech to Save his Businesses and Credibility’ 

Here’s the paradox. Elon Musk is a champion of net zero and a manufacturer of electric cars and grid-scale battery packs designed to store energy generated by wind or solar power.

Yet he is also a backer of Donald Trump – who has taken the US out of the Paris Climate Change Agreement once and plans to do so again if he is again elected President.

On top of that Musk is owner of a social media platform which has tolerated hate speech, is accused of spreading climate disinformation, has alienated advertisers, and seen its users sign up in protest to competing platforms.

How does this all stack up and where is it going?

Psychology Professor Sander van der Linden has speculated that Musk’s rightward shift has come about because he has radicalised himself on his own media platform, X.

Another possibility is that much of his embrace of right-wing populism is a ruse to protect his investment in electric vehicles (EVs) in case Trump makes it back to the White House.

Musk’s Tesla company is by far America’s largest manufacturer of EVs, outselling all its competitors in the US combined. Musk has turned net-zero into one of the most successful business plans in history and has led the fight against climate change for many years.

More than a decade ago, Musk described using fossil fuels as  “the world’s dumbest experiment”, and called for a carbon tax. He clashed badly with Trump in 2017 when the then-president decided to withdraw the US from the Paris Climate Agreement, and resigned from two advisory councils Trump had appointed him to. 

Musk says he reluctantly backed Joe Biden over Trump in 2020. Biden had pledged to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement on his first day in office, and that is what he did. But as Biden’s approval ratings fell in 2021/2022, it seemed that the next President could be a Republican.

Musk’s acquisition of Twitter in April 2022 put a global megaphone in his hands and those of the politicians he calculated he might need to influence on climate policy. Trump and his allies increasingly fitted that bill.

In June, a spokesperson said Trump would take the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement again if elected. In July, Biden was lagging in the polls, and Trump survived an assassination attempt.

Musk crossed his Rubicon and endorsed Trump. Days later, the tectonic plates of the Presidential race shifted. Biden bowed out as a candidate and backed Vice-President Kamala Harris as his successor. She rapidly attracted funding from supporters along with endorsement from the Democratic Party. The race could be close, but Harris is currently ahead of Trump in the polls. 

Musk backing Trump seemed to bring an immediate dividend regarding Trump’s attitude to EVs. In his message to supporters last Christmas, Trump described support for EVs as “lunacy” and hoped EV supporters would “rot in hell”.

But straight after receiving Musk’s support, Trump said to a rally in Georgia, “I’m for electric cars, I have to be because Elon endorsed me very strongly.” But it was a small concession.

Trump went on to say that EVs were suitable for a “small slice” of the population and that “you want every type of car imaginable” to be available.