Musk’s Endorsement of Trump May Have Backfired

One thing that Elon Musk and Donald Trump have in common is that they are totally self-absorbed narcissists who have zero empathy for others and who believe they can denigrate and lie about others with abandon and without consequences.  At the moment, Musk's arrogance has his platform X, formerly Twitter, blocked in Brazil and the recent arrest of the Russian billionaire founder of Telegram for failure to block child pornography suggests that Musk's refusal to moderate posting on X - supposedly to support "free speech" - could lead to similar legal problems for Musk.  Add to this the possibility that Musk's endorsement of Donald Trump may be backfiring as Musk faces more attacks from Democrats and labor unions (a lawsuit has been filed against both Trump and Musk).  As a piece at NBC News lays out, Musk's endorsement of Trump has opened the door for Democrats and is aiding in the effort to depict Trump as the water carrier for plutocrats at the expense of the middle class and organized labor (which is a true depiction).  Here are article highlights:

Elon Musk’s endorsement of former President Donald Trump was meant to buoy the candidate’s chances in November. But more than a month after Musk officially put his weight behind Trump, a series of Democratic attacks have suggested that the endorsement has exposed a vulnerability. 

Since the tech billionaire endorsed Trump on July 13, the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris has repeatedly attacked Musk for his anti-worker stances. The campaign has called Musk and Trump “self-obsessed rich guys” and reposted audio from an event on Musk’s social media app, X, in which the two laugh together about firing striking workers. 

Harris allies including Shawn Fain, the president of the United Auto Workers, have followed up with attacks of their own, and now some Democratic strategists look eager to keep highlighting the Musk-Trump alliance, which they see as reinforcing Trump’s weak points. 

“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,” said Pete Giangreco, a Democratic strategist 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 said. 

Musk’s endorsement was supposed to hit the Trump campaign like a lighting bolt. He announced it the same day the former president survived an assassination attempt. His backing signaled that Trump would have all the cash and social media firepower he needed to regain the White House, and it added to a perception that Trump had won over a big share of America’s tech industry and entrepreneur class. 

But the weeks since have been defined by stumbles and missed opportunities. The two men publicly disagreed about how much money Musk would chip in. Musk’s super PAC went through a major staff shake-up soon after it launched. And many other Big Tech donors have declined to follow Musk’s lead, choosing instead to sign onto the Harris campaign. 

Then there was the live one-on-one discussion on X, which Trump’s campaign billed as “the interview of the century.” Partway through the two-hour event, Trump brought up how much he admires Musk’s handling of labor unions. 

“I look at what you do. You walk in and you just say, ‘You wanna quit?’” Trump said while laughing.  “Yeah,” Musk broke in, also laughing. 

Harris’ campaign added in a statement soon after the event: “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 event was delayed 40 minutes by technical difficulties.) 

The episode snowballed. The United Auto Workers union filed unfair labor practice charges against Musk and Trump, alleging they interfered with workers who may want to exercise their labor rights. The UAW’s Fain pressed the issue in media interviews. Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su said at an event at the Democratic National Convention: “You can’t be pro-Elon Musk and pro-worker.” 

Sean O’Brien, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who spoke at the Republican National Convention in July, slammed Trump and Musk’s comments as “economic terrorism.” 

The criticism of labor unions is likely to motivate part of the Democratic base, said Chuck Coughlin, a Republican-leaning campaign consultant.  “If I were the Harris campaign, I’d lean on that, too,” he said.  Harris leads Trump by 10 points among people who live in union households, according to a Fox News poll conducted Aug. 9-12. 

Brendan Steinhauser, a Republican strategist in Texas, said Democrats appear to be pulling from the playbook they used in 2012 to defeat Mitt Romney, who also appeared to hold a casual attitude toward job cuts.  “They want to make Trump, Elon and people like them look like plutocrats,” he said. 

Steinhauser said there’s a danger for Republicans that the message could resonate in strong union states like Michigan.  “It can land if delivered effectively. I don’t think it will land, but it can,” he said, adding that it’s tough for any one message to break through in a crowded media environment. 

Seth Harris, a former labor policy adviser to President Joe Biden and a senior fellow at the Burnes Center for Social Change at Northeastern University, said he believes Trump wants to be ambiguous on the subject of labor unions, a goal that he said is now much more difficult. 

“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 said.