The Conservative Case Against Elon Musk

After he purchased Twitter last month, billionaire Elon Musk ascended to something of an internet god-king in conservative and libertarian circles—and with good reason. Accomplishments by Musk and his companies—from his purchase of Twitter to providing uncensored internet to Ukraine—have advanced worthwhile principles that few other people with his amount of power are promoting. There are many things to admire about the world’s richest man, but the Right’s lionization of Musk risks ignoring several important facts (and none of them are the criticisms he gets from the Left.)

Liberalism

It’s pretty surprising that the conservatives’ current folk hero is a man who runs multiple companies dedicated to solving climate change, who is a supporter of Democrat Andrew Yang, and who famously puffed herb on The Joe Rogan Experience in 2018. 

Musk is a major donor to the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU has beclowned itself to a degree rivaled only by PETA by supporting a range of left-wing social issues from abortion and “gender-affirming healthcare” for underage trans people to calling out J.K. Rowling. The nonprofit has also stated “Racism is foundational to the Second Amendment” and condemned the Donald Trump administration’s expansion of the rights of the accused in Title IX hearings. 

Also, Musk’s eccentric family life puts him inliberal celebrity culture. He has eight children, has been divorced three times, and is currently in a “very fluid” relationship with Canadian singer Grimes. Musk and Grimes had their second child, Exa Dark Sideræl, in December after the couple had “semi-separated.” Musk has a history of ostentatious baby names. He also dated actress Amber Heard in 2017, and her ex-husband Johnny Depp accused her of having an affair with Musk (which both have both denied). 

Whether Musk’s free-speech absolutism is as absolute as he claims is questionable. Last month, he implicitly admitted he believes free speech isn’t an inherent good when he tweeted, “I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect.” Beyond the assumption that the law is a reflection of “the will of the people,” the belief that it’s O.K. for rights to be limited if a majority supports it is directly contrary to the principles of limited government.

Boondoggles

A major reason Musk is revered is due to his image as a visionary whose companies will revolutionize space travel, transportation, robotics, whatever he decides to dabble in. But many of his bold predictions seem to always remain just that: predictions.

Tesla has promised full self-driving capabilities “next year” every year since 2014. The company acknowledged privately privately that Musk’s claims about the cars’ autopilot capabilities do “not match engineering reality.”

In 2013, Musk presented the idea for the Hyperlink, a high-speed train powered by air pressure. To this end, he founded The Boring Company, which has succeeded at… digging tunnels much slower and more expensively than traditional boring machines. By 2017, Musk’s concept had evolved to tunnels in which platforms would zip individual cars around at high speeds. The plans then “simplified” even further: The Boring Company’s only operational site is a two-mile, one-lane tunnel in Las Vegas, through which chauffeurs drive passengers in traditional Teslas. 

Cronyism

The main criticism of Musk from the Right may be that he receives government subsidies—nearly $5 billion to Tesla and SpaceX alone. This case is perhaps overstated; subsidies should not exist, but they do—so he cannot be blamed for accepting what is available to him (and his competitors!) He has argued against some subsidies and calls himself a free-market defender, but the degree to which he has relied on government money (and actively lobbied for it) is relevant to his reputation as a self-made capitalist. 

SolarCity, a defunct energy company Musk helped fund, was almost entirely reliant on corporate welfare, including $750 million and a state-funded factory from New York governor Andrew Cuomo, with whom Musk had a tight relationship. Musk also spoke out against a plan by California to cut incentives for solar power. 

None of these facts mean that the Right can’t support the good things Musk has accomplished and the conservative principles he sometimes promotes. But turning someone into a hero creates the risk of binary thinking that glosses over important flaws. We must resist the temptation to idolize anyone who supports some of our ideals, especially if this means ignoring facts that run in the opposite direction.