Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Friday criticized the Biden administration and Democrats on Twitter as the world’s richest person doubled his vow to vote for Republicans.
Musk accused the Biden administration in a tweet of doing “all it can to sideline” and ignoring Tesla, despite its dominance in the electric car industry.
Musk, who is making an increasingly difficult bid to buy Twitter for $44 billion, suggested on Thursday that Democrats would attack him with a smear campaign after he announced he would vote for GOP candidates.
“In the past I voted Democrat because (mostly) they were the kindness party. But they have become the party of division and hatred, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican,” Musk tweeted Thursday.
“Now watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold…” he wrote, ending the tweet with a “popcorn” emoji.
Hours later on Thursday, Business Insider released a bombshell report alleging that Musk had exposed his genitals to a private jet flight attendant when he asked her for a full-body massage on a SpaceX flight to London. The report said he offered to buy her a horse because she consented to his alleged sexual requests.
Musk denied the woman’s claims. Insider reported that they were detailed in a written statement from a friend of hers, filed to support a complaint the woman had filed with SpaceX’s human resources department.
But neither Musk nor SpaceX have denied Business Insider’s report that the aerospace company he founded and heads paid the woman $250,000 in severance pay in exchange for her silence after complaining about his alleged behavior.
Musk wrote in a tweet: “The attacks on me must be viewed through a political lens – this is their standard (despicable) script – but nothing will stop me from fighting for a good future and your right to free speech.”
Thursday, after Musk tweeted that he expected a “dirty-trick campaign against me” after announcing he would vote Republican, Democratic podcaster Jon Favreau fired back at Musk.
“Hey man, if you want to support a bunch of electric-car-hating climate deniers, do it yourself,” tweeted Favreau, who was a speechwriter for former President Barack Obama.
“I’m not sure it helps the cause that you and your team have devoted much of your life to, but I think you’re getting some attention on Twitter, so there it is!” wrote Favreau.
Musk replied Friday, writing: “Hello Jon! You are a good guy, but by die-hard Dem, so must support the party, but this administration has done everything it can to sideline and ignore Tesla, even though they have we have twice as many EVs as the rest of the US industry combined.”
Earlier this week at the All-In Summit in Miami, Musk said he would classify himself as “a moderate, neither Republican nor Democrat,” who has voted “overwhelmingly” for Democrats in the past.
“I may never have voted Republican. Now, this election? Shall I do it,” Musk said at the event.
“The Democratic Party is overly controlled by the unions and the trial lawyers, especially the class action lawyers,” he said.
Musk’s feud with the Biden administration dates back to August last year. He wasn’t invited to President Joe Biden’s signing ceremony for an executive order calling on automakers to sell more electric vehicles — but executives from General Motors, Ford and Chrysler were.
“Yeah, it seems odd that Tesla wasn’t invited,” Musk tweeted.
In February, it was reported that Biden had no immediate plans to invite Musk to White House meetings with corporate executives.
Musk told CNBC in emails that same month that Biden was ignoring Tesla to pay attention to older automakers.
The idea of a feud isn’t quite right. Biden has emphatically ignored Tesla at every turn and falsely stated to the public that GM leads the electric car industry, when in fact Tesla produced more than 300,000 electric vehicles in the past quarter and GM 26 produced.” Musk said in the email at the time.
Last month, Musk, GM CEO Mary Barra and other top executives in the auto industry met with senior officials in the Biden administration about electric vehicle charging stations.
— Additional reporting by CNBCs Lora Kolodny and Brian Schwartz
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