Posted on 05/18/2022 6:02:50 PM PDT by aquila48
Elon Musk said twice this week that he plans to vote for Republicans in upcoming elections, even though he says he previously voted for Democrats such as former President Barack Obama.
Musk's stated political leanings will not surprise people who follow the celebrity CEO's interactions and proclamations on Twitter and elsewhere.
Behind the scenes, Musk and his biggest companies, SpaceX and Tesla, have worked to influence the U.S. political landscape for years through lobbying and political donations. Combined, SpaceX and Tesla spent over $2 million on lobbying in 2021. They tend to spend on both sides of the aisle.
But Musk has been historically anti-union, opposed to a billionaire's tax and is a vocal critic of President Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, said in a September interview with CNBC that Musk approved of his red-state social policies, which have included severe abortion restrictions, book bans that called for LGBTQ memoirs to be removed from school curriculum or libraries, and abuse investigations into families pursuing gender-affirming care for transgender children.
On Wednesday, Musk wrote on Twitter:
"In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party. But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican. Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold..." adding a movie popcorn emoji for emphasis.
The tweet followed earlier statements at the All In Summit in Miami on Monday, where Elon Musk accused Twitter of having a strong left-wing bias, saying during a podcast recording, "I would classify myself as a moderate, neither Republican or Democrat. In fact, I have voted overwhelmingly for Democrats historically. Overwhelmingly. I might never have voted Republican. Now, this election? I will."
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Missed it by that much! 😉
They were never the kindness party, they were always the party that fomented division between Americans by using the power of taxation to rob from one to buy the vote of the other. There's no doubt Musk is intelligent enough to know this.
Another liberal mugged by the left.
Every vote helps.
Time to get excited over the latest whim of a billionaire!
In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party. But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them...
They were never the kindness party, they were always the party that fomented division between Americans by using the power of taxation to rob from one to buy the vote of the other. There’s no doubt Musk is intelligent enough to know this.
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I think he never gave it a thought. All his friends voted for liberals and bad-mouthed republicans during election cycles. No one with his analytical ability can in all honesty say that he thought about the issues at stake and made his decisions based on facts.
In my 58 years this is the first time I have realized my government really does not care what happens to the USA.
“They were never the kindness party”
That’s right. But I get what he’s saying. Many non-political types have likely bought into the phony image dems like to portray that they feel sorry for the underprivileged etc.
This is a classic textbook case where a non-political person finally figures out what is going on. Does that mean Musk is now a conservative? Probably not. Baby steps.
It illustrates the image problem conservatives must deal with. As smart as Musk is he is a political infant and was fooled.
They certainly described themselves as the "kindness party," and the media portrayed them as the "kindness party," as does pretty much everyone in the education establishment.
But they're not the "kindness party."
They're the "get power at any cost" party, and always have been.
I’ve seen midlife turnarounds before... Sometimes they even stick.
Elon’s company merged with Paypal, but Elon had nothing to do with the founding of Paypal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confinity
“They certainly described themselves as the “kindness party,” and the media portrayed them as the “kindness party,” as does pretty much everyone in the education establishment.”
That is the left’s most successful tactic - take over the moral high ground and rain down invectives on the right from that high perch at every opportunity.
They do that by painting themselves as the “compassionate” party. The ones that care for the downtrodden, the misfits, the women, the blacks, the sick, the immigrants, the delusionals, equity, etc... while painting us as the the racists, the homophobes, the transphobes, the sexists, the cruel, the selfish, the hurtful, the malicious, the supremacists, the cultural appropriators...
And the politicians on the right would rather walk on hot coal than be called any of those names, so upon hearing any of that they profusely deny it and go crawling under the nearest rock.
And as silly as it might seem that has worked wonders for the left, because it resonates with the middle of the road, easily manipulated, “perpetually undecided independents”, also known as the useful idiots.
So, sad as it may seem, what it boils down to is that to win an election you have to win the votes of the useful idiots.
I stand corrected...
“And as silly as it might seem that has worked wonders for the left, because it resonates with the middle of the road, easily manipulated, “perpetually undecided independents”, also known as the useful idiots.”
Well said. Many conservatives are deeply passionate about this stuff and live and breath how right they are. However their image of themselves and non-political types’ image of them don’t align.
The real battleground is just what you said. And it is all about image. This requires a story line palatable for non-political types to be able to tell a neighbor why they are voting for such and such. We have to have candidates that ordinary people are not embarrassed to publicly support.
One can be intellectually right and lose the battle because useful idiots don’t like your image. MSM amplifies these phony images but good conservative candidates must go around the media and generate buzz and create an image that attracts voters like flies.
Maybe Musk is flushing out Twitter bots. With a tweet like his, the bots will inevitably make themselves known - it’s their prime directive to slander and hurl hate bombs at people that don’t align with their tribal dogma.
I don’t know Musk, but at some point we will cross paths
Not sure if that will be for a beer or a bong hit
But it will happen at somepoint.
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