Within the context of American politics, Musk has said he supported Barack Obama in 2008[1] and 2012, Hillary Clinton in 2016, and Joe Biden in 2020.[2][3] In 2022, Musk said he would start voting for Republican Party candidates,[4][5][6][7] with him showing support for Vivek Ramaswamy in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries.[8] He has stated support for universal basic income,[9] gun rights,[10] freedom of speech,[11] a tax on carbon emissions and opposes government subsidies.[12][13] He is also a critic of immigration and short-selling.
Musk has expressed concern about issues such as artificial intelligence (AI), climate change and population decline. He has also criticized COVID-19 lockdowns, public transportation, and labor unions.[14] He has promoted conspiracy theories, and made controversial statements that have led to accusations of antisemitism,[15][16] support of white pride[17] and transphobia.[18] His views on international relations, including on the China-Taiwan and Russia-Ukraine conflicts, have received mixed reactions.
Politics[edit]
Canada convoy protest[edit]
On January 27, 2022, Musk tweeted "Canadian truckers rule", endorsing the Canada convoy protest, branded as the "Freedom Convoy" by its organizers.[63][64] Musk tweeted extensively in support of the protest, which began as a denunciation of COVID-19 vaccine mandates for truck drivers crossing the Canada–United States border, but morphed into being against COVID-19 restrictions in general and Canada's Liberal government.[65]
On February 16, 2022, apparently supporting the protest, Musk tweeted and later deleted a meme comparing Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau to Adolf Hitler. Trudeau's government had recently invoked the Emergencies Act to cut funding to the convoy protest, which was founded and internationally funded by far-right activists.[66][67] The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum accused Musk of exploiting the tragedy of the Holocaust, and the American Jewish Committee asked Musk to apologize.[68][69]
Free speech[edit]
In 2022, Musk refused to block Russian state media on SpaceX's Starlink satellites in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, calling himself "a free speech absolutist."[70] On April 14, 2022, Musk made an offer to buy Twitter, saying "I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy".[71] Musk clarified his definition of free speech as "that which matches the law", advocating that corporate censorship of speech should not go significantly beyond minimum legal requirements, but that lawful censorship requests should be upheld.[72]
Since Musk's acquisition, Twitter has increased its approval of censorship requests by governments.[73][74][75][76][77] During the 2023 Turkish presidential election, Twitter limited access to content in Turkey. Reports indicated that affected accounts were those critical of incumbent president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, including political opponents and journalists.[76][77][78] Musk defended this move by stating that the alternative would have been to "throttle [Twitter] in its entirety"[76][77][78] and falsely[77] claimed it was "par for the course for all Internet companies".[77][78]
Musk stated that Truth Social "exists because Twitter censored free speech," noting the application's rank in popularity above Twitter and TikTok in the Apple store at the time.[72] (Trump created the alt-tech platform after Twitter banned him for inciting violence following the 2021 United States Capitol attack.[72]) On May 10, 2022, Musk called Twitter's decision to ban Trump "morally wrong", and said that he will reverse Trump's ban when he buys Twitter.[79] On November 19, 2022, following a Twitter poll which resulted in 51.8% of over 15 million votes in favor of reversing the ban, he unbanned Trump.[80]
In November 2022, Musk tweeted that he was so committed to free speech that he would not ban @ElonJet, a Twitter account that tracked the publicly available real-time flight data of Musk's private plane. Musk reversed his position the next month, banning the account and several journalists who had reported on it, accusing them of doxxing. He also announced that he would take legal action against @ElonJet.[81][82]
Gun rights[edit]
In the aftermath of the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting, Musk said that he supports "tight background checks" on all gun purchases. He also said that he supports limiting the sale of assault rifles to those living in "high risk" locations with issues such as "gang warfare" and to owners of gun ranges, adding that "Assault rifles should at minimum require a special permit, where the recipient is extremely well vetted". However, Musk said that he "strongly" believed "that the right to bear arms is an important safeguard against potential tyranny of government. Historically, maintaining their power over the people is why those in power did not allow public ownership of guns".[83]
Finance[edit]
Short-selling[edit]
Musk, a longtime opponent of short-selling, has repeatedly criticized[257] the practice and argued it should be illegal.[258] He has engaged with short-selling critics via social media and used Tesla merchandise as a means of mocking those who short the Tesla stock.[259] In lighter moments, Musk has openly joked with well-known short-seller David Einhorn using puns on "short" and arranged to sell commemorative short shorts on Tesla's website for $69.42.[260][261]
Subsidies[edit]
On the topic of subsidizing renewable energy, Musk has stated that he does not believe the U.S. government should provide subsidies to companies but should instead use a carbon tax to price in the negative externality of climate change and discourage poor behavior. Musk says that the free market would achieve the best solution, and that producing environmentally unfriendly vehicles should come with its own consequences.[262][263] Musk has advocated against funding for charging stations in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, maintaining that oil and gas subsidies should also be eliminated.[264][265]
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders accused Musk of hypocrisy for receiving "billions in corporate welfare" before opposing a $2 trillion stimulus package that included provisions for specific companies and interest groups.[266]
Conspiracy theories[edit]
In November 2022, Musk shared a tweet with an article from a right-wing fake news website which promoted a conspiracy theory that the attack on Paul Pelosi was the result of a drunken Pelosi fighting with a male prostitute.[267][268]
In the wake of a mass shooting at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas on May 6, 2023, Musk baselessly tried to cast doubt on evidence collected by journalists regarding the shooter's political beliefs.[269] Law enforcement officers said in a press conference that the shooter, Mauricio Garcia, had "neo-Nazi ideation",[270] and large Nazi tattoos on his body, including a swastika and the SS lightning bolt logo.[271][272][273] Musk doubled down on his denial of the evidence that the shooter was a white supremacist in a CNBC interview on May 16.[111]
In early June 2023, Musk boosted a tweet promoting an antisemitic blood libel conspiracy theory about adrenochrome, frequently invoked as part of QAnon, by replying to it with a coy remark about an image of Mel Gibson in the tweet.[274][275]
In July 2023, Musk commented on Bronny James' cardiac arrest, tweeting "we cannot ascribe everything to the vaccine, but, by the same token, we cannot ascribe nothing."[276][277]
In November 2023, Musk endorsed a tweet referencing an antisemitic conspiracy theory that "hordes of minorities" are infiltrating Western countries and that Jews are "pushing hatred" against white people. The White House condemned Musk's endorsement of the tweet as "unacceptable".[278][279]
In late November 2023, Musk tweeted a meme promoting the widely discredited far-right Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which alleged that the Clintons and Democratic Party leaders ran a secret satanic child sex ring in a D.C. pizzeria known as Comet Ping Pong. After a few hours, Musk deleted the tweet.[280]