The world’s wealthiest man, Elon Musk, has made a drastic turn to the MAGA right politically, aligning himself so inextricably with GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump that he expects to be [expletive’d] if Democrat Kamala Harris defeats Trump in November.
Musk also notably runs multiple companies that do business with the U.S. government. Taxpayer money has for years gone to supplement the earnings of Tesla as part of green programs incentivizing the transition to electric vehicles, but more directly both Musk’s SpaceX and Musk’s Starlink companies do business with the Pentagon.
[NOTE: Space News reported in 2023 that under a $70 million task order awarded by the Space Systems Command, ‘SpaceX is providing a best effort and global subscription for various land, maritime, stationary and mobility platforms and users.’]
The partisanship of the billionaire has raised concerns in the past — Musk also provides, through a Pentagon contract, Starlink services in Ukraine, giving the private citizen and the company he runs exceptional power in the region as Russia’s attempt to annex parts of Ukraine continue.
[Note: The concern is deepened by Trump’s failure to condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression.]
But that partisanship was pushed way over the line, according to anti-Trump Republican and former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, after Musk joked about the fact that nobody had yet tried to assassinate Harris, while attempts on Trump’s life had been made.
Kinzinger characterizes Musk’s comment as disqualifying for a Pentagon contractor, amplifying a post that read: “Pentagon contractor Elon Musk laughs about the idea of assassinating the vice president (the potential next commander in chief).”
The government needs to cut @elonmusk and his companies out of contracting for the US Govt.
I can think of nothing more dangerous than this https://t.co/CFaTE0caUZ
— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) (@AdamKinzinger) October 8, 2024
Musk laughed while telling conservative pundit Tucker Carlson that attempts on Harris and also Joe Biden didn’t happen because would-be assassins imagined these politicians would be replaced by “another puppet” — and therefore weren’t worth eliminating.
Amplifying Musk’s comment, the group Republicans Against Trump called it “beyond disgusting.”
Elon Musk: “Nobody has even bothered to ki!l Kamala because it’s pointless. HAHA. What do you achieve? Nothing, you just bought another puppet”
Beyond disgustingpic.twitter.com/pajGScSUkE
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) October 8, 2024