Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk listens to President Donald Trump throughout a gathering with enterprise leaders within the State Eating Room of the White Home in Washington, Feb. 3, 2017.
Evan Vucci | AP
Elon Musk’s endorsement of former President Donald Trump was meant to buoy the candidate’s probabilities in November. However greater than a month after Musk formally put his weight behind Trump, a collection of Democratic assaults have advised that the endorsement has uncovered a vulnerability.
For the reason that tech billionaire endorsed Trump on July 13, the marketing campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris has repeatedly attacked Musk for his anti-worker stances. The marketing campaign has known as Musk and Trump “self-obsessed wealthy guys” and reposted audio from an occasion on Musk’s social media app, X, during which the 2 chuckle collectively about firing putting employees.
Harris allies together with Shawn Fain, the president of the United Auto Staff, have adopted up with assaults of their very own, and now some Democratic strategists look keen to maintain highlighting the Musk-Trump alliance, which they see as reinforcing Trump’s weak factors.
“Every time that Elon Musk tries to do something to help Donald Trump, I think it fires up the Democratic base to work against him,” mentioned Pete Giangreco, a Democratic strategist primarily based in Chicago.
“If you’ve got a billionaire helping out someone who says he’s a billionaire, but really isn’t, what does that really get you?” he mentioned.
Musk didn’t reply to a request for touch upon the Democrats’ assaults or the affect of his endorsement.
Musk’s endorsement was purported to hit the Trump marketing campaign like a lighting bolt. He introduced it the identical day the previous president survived an assassination try. His backing signaled that Trump would have all of the money and social media firepower he wanted to regain the White Home, and it added to a notion that Trump had received over an enormous share of America’s tech trade and entrepreneur class.
Musk’s endorsement was arguably probably the most excessive profile and coveted of this election cycle, given his unprecedented combine of wealth, superstar and media attain.
However the weeks since have been outlined by stumbles and missed alternatives. The 2 males publicly disagreed about how a lot cash Musk would chip in. Musk’s tremendous PAC went by means of a main employees shake-up quickly after it launched. And plenty of different Large Tech donors have declined to comply with Musk’s lead, selecting as a substitute to signal onto the Harris marketing campaign.
Then there was the stay one-on-one dialogue on X, which Trump’s marketing campaign billed as “the interview of the century.” Partway by means of the two-hour occasion, Trump introduced up how a lot he admires Musk’s dealing with of labor unions.
“I look at what you do. You walk in and you just say, ‘You wanna quit?'” Trump mentioned whereas laughing.
“Yeah,” Musk broke in, additionally laughing.
“They go on strike,” Trump continued. “I won’t mention the name of the company, but they go on strike, and you say, ‘That’s OK, you’re all gone. You’re all gone, so every one of you is gone.’ And you are the greatest.”
The Harris marketing campaign rapidly jumped on the alternate with a publish on X that has been considered 7.2 million instances. And it has posted concerning the alternate a minimum of thrice since.
Harris’ marketing campaign added in an announcement quickly after the occasion: “Trump’s entire campaign is in service of people like Elon Musk and himself — self-obsessed rich guys who will sell out the middle class and who cannot run a livestream in the year 2024.” (The occasion was delayed 40 minutes by technical difficulties.)
The episode snowballed. The United Auto Staff union filed unfair labor observe expenses towards Musk and Trump, alleging they interfered with employees who could wish to train their labor rights. The UAW’s Fain pressed the problem in media interviews. Appearing Labor Secretary Julie Su mentioned at an occasion on the Democratic Nationwide Conference: “You can’t be pro-Elon Musk and pro-worker.”
Sean O’Brien, common president of the Worldwide Brotherhood of Teamsters, who spoke on the Republican Nationwide Conference in July, slammed Trump and Musk’s feedback as “financial terrorism.”
American employees’ proper to strike is assured by the Nationwide Labor Relations Act of 1935.
The criticism of labor unions is prone to inspire a part of the Democratic base, mentioned Chuck Coughlin, a Republican-leaning marketing campaign guide.
“If I were the Harris campaign, I’d lean on that, too,” he mentioned.
Harris leads Trump by 10 factors amongst individuals who stay in union households, in line with a Fox Information ballot performed Aug. 9-12.
Brendan Steinhauser, a Republican strategist in Texas, mentioned Democrats look like pulling from the playbook they utilized in 2012 to defeat Mitt Romney, who additionally appeared to maintain an informal perspective towards job cuts.
“They want to make Trump, Elon and people like them look like plutocrats,” he mentioned.
Steinhauser mentioned there is a hazard for Republicans that the message might resonate in sturdy union states like Michigan.
“It can land if delivered effectively. I don’t think it will land, but it can,” he mentioned, including that it is powerful for anyone message to interrupt by means of in a crowded media setting.
Musk has a protracted document of opposing organized labor and has fought allegations of unlawful anti-worker exercise at his firms Tesla, SpaceX and X. In 2018, he tweeted that unionized Tesla employees would lose inventory choices, which Tesla’s legal professionals mentioned was protected “employer speech.”
In January, Musk responded to allegations from the Nationwide Labor Relations Board towards SpaceX with a countersuit asking a federal court docket to declare the NLRB’s system of administrative regulation judges unconstitutional.
Labor union leaders have been harshly essential of Trump’s time in workplace, citing his appointment of conservatives to the NLRB and the federal courts. On the identical time, Trump has sought to keep up some ties to organized labor, inviting some union leaders to the White Home whereas he was president and persevering with to court docket the Teamsters.
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump meets with leaders of the Worldwide Brotherhood of Teamsters at their headquarters on January 31, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Photos
Seth Harris, a former labor coverage adviser to President Joe Biden and a senior fellow on the Burnes Heart for Social Change at Northeastern College, mentioned he believes Trump needs to be ambiguous with regards to labor unions, a objective that he mentioned is now way more tough.
“Elon Musk created the opportunity that Donald Trump took to unmask himself as rabidly anti-union, and he did that by praising Elon Musk’s anti-union, union-busting perspective and endorsing the idea of illegally firing striking workers,” he mentioned.
Harris, who is just not associated to Kamala Harris, mentioned he views Musk’s endorsement as a web adverse.
“No one views Elon Musk as a voice of the middle class,” he mentioned. “Musk is a rapacious corporate overlord who did everything in his power to destroy organizing efforts at Tesla and also at SpaceX.”
David Nasaw, the creator of books on enterprise magnates similar to William Randolph Hearst and Andrew Carnegie, questioned Musk’s capability to sway voters: “Even those who think he’s a genius with regard to AI and tech and space travel, that doesn’t translate into presidential campaigns.”
“I’m trying to think of the demographics that are going to be swayed by Musk repeating Trump’s attacks,” he added. “If they don’t believe Trump, are they going to suddenly come to his side because Musk says he’s right?”
Nasaw mentioned he sees a parallel with Hearst, a newspaper and radio baron who tried and did not defeat President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936 and 1940 by utilizing his media empire to fire up opposition. Musk confirmed comparable aspirations in 2022 when he purchased X, and he regularly makes use of the app to assault Harris and Biden.
“When it came to elections, nobody really trusted Hearst and there was no reason to trust Hearst. I think the same is true with Musk,” he mentioned.
“Once upon a time there was this legion of Musk bros who hung on his every word — who believed he was not only a genius but a genius who was dedicated to saving the planet,” he mentioned. “I don’t think that’s the case anymore.”
Nasaw mentioned he believes Musk has grow to be “too far out there” to draw widespread assist, citing Musk’s antisemitic statements and his views about delivery charges.
In a March ballot by Grinnell School, 47% of respondents mentioned they’d a good view of him, with 37% having an unfavorable view. For comparability, Taylor Swift in the identical ballot was seen favorably by 52% and unfavorably by 32%. Her potential endorsement within the presidential race is additionally extremely anticipated.
A USA Right this moment/Suffolk College ballot in Might ranked Musk because the sixth most influential kingmaker amongst celebrities, simply behind Oprah Winfrey, with 15.2% of respondents saying Musk’s endorsement for president would have “a lot” or “a little” affect on their vote. However the ballot discovered that his affect was largely restricted to Republicans, indicating he could not convey many Democratic-leaning voters into the Trump camp.
Coughlin mentioned Musk and Trump have comparable fan bases.
“I see it as drawing from the same well,” he mentioned.
Each Trump and Musk have mentioned the chance of Musk serving in a second Trump administration, a minimum of in an advisory function.
In recent times, Musk has vacillated not solely on Trump however on whether or not he would endorse a candidate in any respect this election cycle. Musk mentioned in 2022 that Trump shouldn’t search the White Home once more and he regularly describes himself as a former Democrat.
As lately as March, Musk struck a pose of neutrality within the presidential race.
“Just to be super clear, I am not donating money to either candidate for US President,” he posted on X, three days after assembly Trump over breakfast in Palm Seashore.
Two months after that publish, Musk arrange a brilliant PAC, a kind of political motion committee that may elevate limitless money for impartial political exercise, not coordinated with a candidate. The committee, America PAC, is now operating adverts supporting Trump and opposing Harris.
Seth Masket, a College of Denver political science professor who has studied the facility of endorsements, mentioned the backing of a well-known particular person or media purveyor can generally make a distinction in a main election, as when Winfrey boosted then-Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential marketing campaign together with her endorsement in 2007.
However the proof is skinny for endorsements typically elections, particularly in a comparatively polarized period, he mentioned.
“Even a very famous person’s endorsement is not going to change very many people’s minds,” he mentioned.
Musk’s possession of X provides to his potential affect: He has probably the most followers on X with greater than 195 million and controls its algorithm, at instances pushing his personal posts increased within the feed. However X stays a a lot smaller app than rivals similar to Instagram, TikTok or YouTube, and its progress has slowed.
“I don’t know how many people who are undecided in this race are relying on Twitter,” Masket mentioned, utilizing X’s earlier identify.
If Musk’s endorsement has sway with voters, it is prone to be amongst a really particular group, mentioned Thad Kousser, a political science professor on the College of California San Diego who has studied endorsements.
“There are many people in this techno-libertarian, young-voter world who aren’t as set in their ways and locked into one party or another.” Kousser mentioned. “They may be up for grabs in this election.”
However as Trump’s ballot numbers have sagged, Musk has proven indicators of firming down his enthusiasm, if not outright indicators of purchaser’s regret. Musk didn’t converse on the Republican Nationwide Conference, regardless of early discussions amongst Trump and his allies for him to take action.
And on July 22, two days after Trump boasted to a Michigan crowd that Musk “gives me $45 million a month,” Musk mentioned the determine was not true. He added on X that he would give “at a a lot decrease degree.” To this point, Musk’s identify hasn’t appeared as a donor on public marketing campaign finance disclosures apart from a $10,000 donation to the Utah Republican Get together, although there’s a lag in reporting.
“If he comes through on these promises to donate tons of cash, and that cash is well spent by the Trump campaign, then that could have an effect,” mentioned Nasaw, the biographer.
“But I see no signs that, one, he’s going to follow through and give the money he’s promised or, two, that the Trump campaign is organized in such a way as to make use of that money,” he mentioned.
