9 ms·

That's what happens when a CEO associates themselves tightly with their brand and then publicly takes extremely polarizing political action that half the voter

That's what happens when a CEO associates themselves tightly with their brand and then publicly takes extremely polarizing political action that half the voter base considers antithetical to their values.

actionfromafar 2y ago
Half, or more, of their Total Addressable Market, even.
IgorPartola 2y ago
There was a comedian talking about how Musk is now selling trucks after selling eco friendly sedans to anyone who will buy one. People who drive Real Manly Trucks in this country generally don’t jive with the eco friendly crowd so he has to act more like them. Of course that’s a humorous take, not a serious one but I do wonder how much of that is a part of his thinking. I do think there is a chance he just runs Tesla into the ground and there definitely is an opportunity for another company to come in and position themselves as quality electric vehicles without the politics.
- square_usual 2y ago
  I don't buy the idea that Musk is doing this as some sort of branding play. I think he genuinely believes in what he says; his beliefs have just shifted over the past few years, notably after COVID.
  - toomuchtodo 2y ago
    His trans daughter Vivian is what flipped him. "Woke mind virus." For someone trying to have as many kids as possible (allegedly boys prioritized) and the controlling personality type, he takes great offense, as if this is a mortal sin against him. He also does not act in a healthy way when his attempts to exert control over others fails. Haven't heard much from him since his $25M in Wisconsin didn't buy him the election. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/08/13/elon-musk-s-ambition-repopulating-the-planet-and-destroying-the-woke-virus_6714239_4.html https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/08/13/e... | https://archive.today/LsqF9 https://archive.today/LsqF9 https://www.wsj.com/tech/elon-musks-quest-to-make-men-great-again-aee1e35d https://www.wsj.com/tech/elon-musks-quest-to-make-men-great-... | https://archive.today/BgTwJ https://archive.today/BgTwJ
    - square_usual 2y ago
      I'm sure that's part of it, but I think the first sign was in 2020 when he basically went to war with California over their shelter in place orders. Remember the "Zero new cases by the end of April" prediction?
      - piva00 2y ago
        There were glimpses of his idiotic side coming out earlier, mainly the "pedo" comment about the diver in Thai kids rescue but COVID definitely triggered something major on him, he lost any semblance of a filter after the pandemic.
        jeffbee 2y ago
        That wasn't a "glimpse", that was S-tier idiocy on display.
        piva00 2y ago
        At the time it was S-tier idiocy, relatively speaking to nowadays terms... It was a glimpse.
        jeffbee 2y ago
        [flagged]
      - rsynnott 2y ago
        I mean, I think the first really massively public sign that he had a screw loose was the submarine thing.
      - cheaprentalyeti 2y ago
        I also remember the Personification of Science who funded virus creation at a lab in the city where the virus first spread spending February 2020 saying that Covid probably wasn’t going to be a problem. This raises a whole lot of questions BUT no one here wants to talk about that. And besides he’s been pardoned. It’s funny how fast the Hn crowd can go back and forth between asking “what radicalized you?” and looking away from the answer.
  - morgengold 2y ago
    Speaking of COVID. There is a weird story about Musk betting $1 million dollars on low death cases of COVID against his former friend Sam Harris. After Elon was spectacularly wrong he just canceled the friendship. Also forgot to pay the $1 million dollars. https://samharris.substack.com/p/the-trouble-with-elon https://samharris.substack.com/p/the-trouble-with-elon
    - ethbr1 2y ago
      That seems like the Thiel school of transactional relationships. - Heads: I win - Tails: Fuck you, I'm never paying you your winnings And yes, that's a short-term superior way to monetize one's life. It also makes one an asshole to everyone around them.
  - FireBeyond 2y ago
    Excluding SuperPACs, Musk's political contributions are public. Like most of the UHNW types, he donates to both political parties. But going back to pre-Tesla days Musk has NEVER donated more to the Democrats than the Republicans. In fact, he usually donates at about a ratio of 10:1 towards Republicans. Musk isn't interested in liberal/ecological/whatever agendas and never has been, it's a means to an end. Even his libertarian bent... go on shows/podcasts and smoke weed because hey, he's a libertarian. But work at Tesla? Better piss clean or you're fired.
- beAbU 2y ago
  > there definitely is an opportunity for another company to come in and position themselves as quality electric vehicles without the politics. Nissan Renault Hyundai Kia MG BYD Honestly, there is no "opportunity" for an incumbent alternative to step in here, there are literal dozens of alternatives available right now for every taste and preference, sans any of the fascist political connotations.
toomuchtodo 2y ago
There still remains substantial value destruction ahead of us.
palmotea 2y ago
> That's what happens when a CEO associates themselves tightly with their brand and then publicly takes extremely polarizing political action that half the voter base considers antithetical to their values. More generally: this is what happens when someone in power gets so arrogant they totally lose sight about what they can and can't do, and what the consequences of their actions will be. I'm reminded of this (about Musk), which is probably the root cause of his arrogance: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-kara-swisher.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/opinion/ezra-klein-podcas...: > He has people around him who are just enablers. All these Silicon Valley people do. All his minions. And they are minions — they’re all lesser than he is in some fashion, and they all look up to him. They’re typically younger. They laugh at his jokes. Sometimes when he apologizes for a joke, which is not very often, he’ll say that the people around him thought it was funny.
- usefulcat 2y ago
  This is by far the most believable explanation I've heard.
tzs 2y ago
> [...] and then publicly takes extremely polarizing political action that half the voter base considers antithetical to their values. It's worse than that. A significant fraction of the half that doesn't consider his political actions antithetical to their values consider EVs antithetical to their values.

actionfromafar 2y ago

Half, or more, of their Total Addressable Market, even.

IgorPartola 2y ago

There was a comedian talking about how Musk is now selling trucks after selling eco friendly sedans to anyone who will buy one. People who drive Real Manly Trucks in this country generally don’t jive with the eco friendly crowd so he has to act more like them. Of course that’s a humorous take, not a serious one but I do wonder how much of that is a part of his thinking. I do think there is a chance he just runs Tesla into the ground and there definitely is an opportunity for another company to come in and position themselves as quality electric vehicles without the politics.

square_usual 2y ago
I don't buy the idea that Musk is doing this as some sort of branding play. I think he genuinely believes in what he says; his beliefs have just shifted over the past few years, notably after COVID.
- toomuchtodo 2y ago
  His trans daughter Vivian is what flipped him. "Woke mind virus." For someone trying to have as many kids as possible (allegedly boys prioritized) and the controlling personality type, he takes great offense, as if this is a mortal sin against him. He also does not act in a healthy way when his attempts to exert control over others fails. Haven't heard much from him since his $25M in Wisconsin didn't buy him the election. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/08/13/elon-musk-s-ambition-repopulating-the-planet-and-destroying-the-woke-virus_6714239_4.html https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/08/13/e... | https://archive.today/LsqF9 https://archive.today/LsqF9 https://www.wsj.com/tech/elon-musks-quest-to-make-men-great-again-aee1e35d https://www.wsj.com/tech/elon-musks-quest-to-make-men-great-... | https://archive.today/BgTwJ https://archive.today/BgTwJ
  - square_usual 2y ago
    I'm sure that's part of it, but I think the first sign was in 2020 when he basically went to war with California over their shelter in place orders. Remember the "Zero new cases by the end of April" prediction?
    - piva00 2y ago
      There were glimpses of his idiotic side coming out earlier, mainly the "pedo" comment about the diver in Thai kids rescue but COVID definitely triggered something major on him, he lost any semblance of a filter after the pandemic.
      - jeffbee 2y ago
        That wasn't a "glimpse", that was S-tier idiocy on display.
        piva00 2y ago
        At the time it was S-tier idiocy, relatively speaking to nowadays terms... It was a glimpse.
        jeffbee 2y ago
        [flagged]
    - rsynnott 2y ago
      I mean, I think the first really massively public sign that he had a screw loose was the submarine thing.
    - cheaprentalyeti 2y ago
      I also remember the Personification of Science who funded virus creation at a lab in the city where the virus first spread spending February 2020 saying that Covid probably wasn’t going to be a problem. This raises a whole lot of questions BUT no one here wants to talk about that. And besides he’s been pardoned. It’s funny how fast the Hn crowd can go back and forth between asking “what radicalized you?” and looking away from the answer.
- morgengold 2y ago
  Speaking of COVID. There is a weird story about Musk betting $1 million dollars on low death cases of COVID against his former friend Sam Harris. After Elon was spectacularly wrong he just canceled the friendship. Also forgot to pay the $1 million dollars. https://samharris.substack.com/p/the-trouble-with-elon https://samharris.substack.com/p/the-trouble-with-elon
  - ethbr1 2y ago
    That seems like the Thiel school of transactional relationships. - Heads: I win - Tails: Fuck you, I'm never paying you your winnings And yes, that's a short-term superior way to monetize one's life. It also makes one an asshole to everyone around them.
- FireBeyond 2y ago
  Excluding SuperPACs, Musk's political contributions are public. Like most of the UHNW types, he donates to both political parties. But going back to pre-Tesla days Musk has NEVER donated more to the Democrats than the Republicans. In fact, he usually donates at about a ratio of 10:1 towards Republicans. Musk isn't interested in liberal/ecological/whatever agendas and never has been, it's a means to an end. Even his libertarian bent... go on shows/podcasts and smoke weed because hey, he's a libertarian. But work at Tesla? Better piss clean or you're fired.
beAbU 2y ago
> there definitely is an opportunity for another company to come in and position themselves as quality electric vehicles without the politics. Nissan Renault Hyundai Kia MG BYD Honestly, there is no "opportunity" for an incumbent alternative to step in here, there are literal dozens of alternatives available right now for every taste and preference, sans any of the fascist political connotations.

toomuchtodo 2y ago

There still remains substantial value destruction ahead of us.

palmotea 2y ago

> That's what happens when a CEO associates themselves tightly with their brand and then publicly takes extremely polarizing political action that half the voter base considers antithetical to their values. More generally: this is what happens when someone in power gets so arrogant they totally lose sight about what they can and can't do, and what the consequences of their actions will be. I'm reminded of this (about Musk), which is probably the root cause of his arrogance: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-kara-swisher.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/opinion/ezra-klein-podcas...: > He has people around him who are just enablers. All these Silicon Valley people do. All his minions. And they are minions — they’re all lesser than he is in some fashion, and they all look up to him. They’re typically younger. They laugh at his jokes. Sometimes when he apologizes for a joke, which is not very often, he’ll say that the people around him thought it was funny.

usefulcat 2y ago
This is by far the most believable explanation I've heard.

tzs 2y ago

> [...] and then publicly takes extremely polarizing political action that half the voter base considers antithetical to their values. It's worse than that. A significant fraction of the half that doesn't consider his political actions antithetical to their values consider EVs antithetical to their values.