‘Take The Red Pill’: How Elon Musk Came To Embrace The Republican Party

Americans are used to multibillionaires like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Michael Bloomberg favoring progressive policies and the Democratic Party. Yet Elon Musk — the wealthiest of them all — recently surprised the nation by announcing that he is voting Republican.

Musk — the CEO of both Tesla and SpaceX, as well as TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year — is worth $215 billion, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. Amid his rise to become the richest man in the world, one of Musk’s primary obstacles has been leftist lawmakers and their agendas.

In the spring of 2020, Musk grew increasingly frustrated as government lockdowns prevented the reopening of his companies. In California, lawmakers refused to allow a major Tesla factory to reopen, leading Musk to weigh moving the company’s headquarters to Texas — which, of course, he eventually did.

“Frankly, this is the final straw. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately,” Musk tweeted. “If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependen [sic] on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in CA.”

Musk devoted significant time and energy to refuting the mentality behind the lockdowns. “The expansion of shelter-in-place, or as we call it, forcibly imprisoning people in their homes, against all their constitutional rights, is, in my opinion, breaking people’s freedoms in ways that are horrible and wrong, and not why people came to America and built this country,” he argued during a Tesla earnings call. “This is not democratic. This is not freedom. … Everything people have worked for all their lives is being destroyed in real time. I think the people are going to be very angry about this and are very angry.”

As Musk continued to balk at the draconian policies, he encouraged other Americans to “take the red pill.” The phrase — which comes from a moment in “The Matrix” where main character Neo opts to take a pill allowing him to see reality despite being force-fed a lie throughout his entire life — also refers to liberals beginning to reject leftist narratives. Indeed, Musk noticed that the Left is “losing the middle” of the political spectrum.

Over the next several months, Musk began vocally opposing Democratic officials and debunking key elements of their agendas.

As President Joe Biden assumed office and introduced the Build Back Better Act — a package that would have expanded federal social programs, such as universal preschool, childcare subsidies, and climate change initiatives — Musk actively argued against the legislation. “I would say can this bill, don’t pass it. That’s my recommendation,” he argued during The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit. “If this bill happens or doesn’t happen, we don’t think about it at all really. Honestly it might be better if the bill doesn’t pass.”

Musk also used a line that originated with economist Milton Friedman, and which President Ronald Reagan often borrowed: “Nothing is more permanent than a ‘temporary’ government program.”

The world’s richest man is no supporter of President Biden. While the White House has frequently praised the efforts of Ford and GM, Tesla — the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer — has often been omitted. The snubbing may be due to the fact that Tesla is not unionized, as former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki hinted last year when she was asked why Tesla was not invited to an electric vehicle summit in which the other two companies participated.

During his most recent State of the Union address, Biden nodded to Ford and its manufacturing efforts. “Ford is investing $11B to build electric vehicles — creating 11,000 jobs across the country,” read a post from Biden’s Twitter account as the State of the Union speech concluded. “GM is making the largest investment in its history — $7B to build electric vehicles, creating 4,000 jobs in Michigan.”

“Tesla has created over 50,000 US jobs building electric vehicles & is investing more than double GM + Ford combined,” Musk responded as an “fyi to person controlling this twitter.”

Indeed, Musk has often referenced Biden’s apparent senility. After Biden stumbled through remarks provided to him via teleprompter, Musk commented with a meme from the movie “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” which showed the film’s main character struggling to use a teleprompter. “Whoever controls the teleprompter is the real President!” Musk added.

Musk’s disdain extends to Democratic legislators. For instance, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) asserted on Twitter that the “rigged tax code” ought to be changed so that the multibillionaire will “stop freeloading off everyone else.”

Musk replied with a series of knockout blows. First, he suggested that Warren “stop projecting” and linked to a Fox News opinion piece entitled “Elizabeth Warren is a fraud — Her lies about being Native American disqualify her from presidency, Senate.” Then, he said Warren reminds him of

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