My point when I brought it up is it's bad for business to "attack the left" when probably 90% of his clientele is left-leaning (electric car buyers). I'm making figures up and possibly exaggerating, I have no idea, but I'd imagine a large majority of electric car purchasers lean left. I did not intend on a political discussion, just asked from the business side of things, as a shareholder of TSLA or someone who follows it a lot, is it concerning to you that Mr. Musk is essentially poking his client base. It would be like someone who owns a company selling viagra "attacking" men. Or someone who owns a dementia medication attacking boomers. Or someone who owns a "Let's Go Brandon" company attacking Trump. If I was an investor in TSLA, I'd be like dude just stfu, you need environmentalists to buy your cars...
Hard to argue against your case. He knows that investors parse through every word he says, and yet he still acts in ways that is counter to Tesla's success sometimes. This whole Twitter sideshow is a great example. And as an investor, I would very much like him to stfu, focus on batteries, software, solar, satellites, and stay the hell away from politics. He sounds like an idiot.
Why are people so resistant to political discussion? I could care less about nicey, nice chat. I'm here to make money. We have a CEO throwing 100% of his support behind one party and condemning another. That makes this political. A lot of people aren't smart enough to resist the urge to tell other people how to vote. Elon seems to be drifting into this category. Certainly, legions of online people fall into this category. A true investor will care passionately about getting to the kernel of the issue, regardless of where it leads, within the scope of understanding a company. Not only do you have to tune out other people's idea of the correct political view, you have to tune out your own. If you can ignore bait comments, you can succeed more than if you cannot. Elon was correct to move Tesla to Texas. He could never expand like that in California. His point is not unfounded. There are enough people to buy his cars that he is capacity constrained, so he has the luxury of being able to run his mouth without impacting the company but it will cause Tesla problems in the future and that is just bad strategy lead by the compulsion to blurt out whatever is on his mind. He has actually been a contemplated thinker. I respect his approach, for the most part. I suspect he runs his mouth sometimes due to frustration and lack of sleep. Still, a CEO ought not do that.
Now that I've lit the fuse, please allow me to specify the value of politics. How I vote -> Irrelevant How a CEO votes -> Irrelevant How someone I know votes -> Irrelevant How someone else wants me to vote -> Irrelevant The philosophical mind set of a CEO -> Relevant for a few reasons. Also, all CEOs are in favour of less regulation, as any of us would be if we did that job, so they tend to be conservatives. Politics and the current political power structure -> Relevant and directly impactful to corporate fortunes. Taxes, incentives, macro economics, economic output, ..... we should be talking about this stuff all the time, instead of playing a guessing game with a random number generator.
On the contrary, most people are all to happy to get into a foam at the mouth political discussion these days. Some people (like most of us) hesitate to talk about it because everyone is so high strung (precisely what the powers that be want in us) and are usually uninformed so it amounts to nothing but a visceral zero sum game. I bet if we all got together face to face in a backyard and had a BBQ, minds might not change a lot but the conversation would be civil and informative. I do not think that is the norm these days, and it is because of that breakdown in people's willingness to be civil and put their beliefs under scrutiny that discussing politics is so toxic and often avoided. There is only one solution to this: self-evaluation, introspection, and a willingness to learn from others. Until then, it's just a damn football game. And in this case, Elon is doing a great job of stirring the pot. Nothing more, nothing less.
I also want to point out that a laser beam goal of maximizing profits above all else is an invitation for political battle because many people do not put that as the number one priority in life. I am sure many investors are conflicted about their investor priorities and their citizen priorities. I am.
I agree, Elon can support which ever party he likes, but his reasons are BS and an appeal to populism. He loves to bash California, but we all know that California and the west coast libs are the reason Tesla exists. They were the first customers and the only place where the initial build out of charging stations could happen. Nobody in Arkansas would be rushing out to buy the first ever Tesla and build a network of charging stations which may or may not ever get used. Aside from the Federal EV tax credit that Obama pushed through, California has their own rebates and incentives to encourage their population to buy EV's. I do not see Texas pushing for 35% of all vehicles to be EVs within 4yrs, that is California pushing for that. Elon Musk is attacking the hand that feeds him. What if California decides that all future incentives only apply to Ford, GM, Toyota etc? There is a big risk there.
Gwynne Shotwell has publicly defended Elon, saying she believes the allegations are false, adding, "If she had really seen Elon's love rocket, she would not have missed the launch window."
This sex scandle could cause a wild ride for Tesla. Unlike before the scandal when it was totally stable. Lol!
This is all nothing new for Musk. The man is meticulous, calculated and doesn’t just shoot off the cuff. When he is asked questions during interviews he pauses for 5-10 seconds often and really thinks about his answer. He is not going to lose the left, look at the poll numbers, not many are behind our current administration, he is playing the centrist card and is getting support now from all sides despite what you may be hearing in the media. I currently live in the south but spent half my life near Fremont, California. Most of us are not extremists in either place. Tesla needs all Americans not just liberal bay area tech workers. Just my opinion but I think he is gaining more than he is alienating and that is on a global scale as well. There will be no shortage of customers, my only concern is him making the wrong enemies in high places by being so outspoken. That is what can hurt Tesla, not a lack of clientele.
"But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican." I do not know any centrist who would let the words above leave their mouths. To argue otherwise would make me want to commit a crime, and I'll not go down that rabbit hole.
You conveniently left out the part where he says that he has voted Democrat his whole life, but I do agree the safe move for Tesla would be for him to stay far away from politics, especially in this day and age. He must feel very strongly about what he is seeing happening with the Democrat party and how it will impact his businesses going forward. Or maybe he’s becoming erratic as was previously stated. If you feel that to be the case you should definitely not invest in Tesla or maybe short the stock.
For sure. He has recently tried to adjust the narrative to suggest his concern revolves around Democrats in California having a super majority with no real threat from Republicans so not representing the population. That also rings hollow considering he moved to Texas. lol!
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/...462386128&mc_cid=8e0fcc3f5d&mc_eid=f67e99dcaa "Tesla has announced it will expand its charging network to non-Tesla EV owners at select sites in the UK, as part of a pilot scheme to “accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy”." Sounds like the non-Tesla EV's will be charged a much higher rate to use the superchargers. Good news
