The New York Times Doesn't Want to Understand Elon Musk's Politics

After listing all the ways Musk embodies the far-right... the Times pretends not to understand where he stands.

On Saturday, the disaster that has become The New York Times published a piece by Jeremy Peters titled, “Critics Say Musk Has Revealed Himself as a Conservative. It’s Not So Simple.” *sigh*

The New York Times: Critics Say Musk Has Revealed Himself as a Conservative. It’s Not So Simple

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Let’s review, shall we?

I’m going to go through this article paragraph by paragraph to illustrate what’s being written, what wasn’t written, and what sort of conclusion someone whose job it is to write about politics for a living might reasonably come to.

He has called himself an independent and a centrist, yet “economically right of center, maybe.” He has said he was until recently a supporter of only Democrats and voted for President Biden. He’s encouraged people to vote Republican, which he said he did for the first time this year. Last year, he once even declared himself indifferent about politics, saying he’d rather stay out of it altogether.

Okay, so… on one hand, Musk said that he voted for Biden. Oh, and “until recently” he was “a supporter of only Democrats.” Fact check: here’s a receipt from the Federal Elections Commission filings of a March 2017 contribution of $50,000 to the McCarthy Victory Fund.

Now, before any of you go, “Yeah, but maybe he considers 2017 to be ‘recent,’” I’d like to point out that this is all public information and his donations to Republicans date back to 2004. He did what rich dudes tend to do: donate to people in both parties. Yes, he has shifted more of his (publicly available and verifiable) donations to Republicans in recent years, but it’s a lie that he was ever “a supporter of only Democrats,” no matter which candidates he claims to have voted for.

Yes, this year he decided to tweet, “Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic.” And while that may make for a neat little excuse to defend his rank partisanship (no, no, you see, he’s not a Republican, he just supports checks and balances!), it’s worth noting that he didn’t tweet the same thing in 2018 when Republicans had complete control of the federal government.

And yes, just as Peters noted, Musk had said he “rather stay out of [politics] altogether.” There’s important context missing. Musk’s comment came after far-right Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX ) went on CNBC and said that he “frequently” speaks with Musk and that Musk “consistently tells [Abbott] that he likes the social policies of the state of Texas.” This was during a conversation about Texas’ anti-abortion “bounty” law.

Michael Sheetz @thesheetztweetz

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tells @SquawkStreet that he "frequently" talks to Elon Musk, who "had to get out of California because, in part, of the social policies in California." "Elon consistently tells me that he likes the social policies in the state of Texas."

Texas is the home of some of the most extreme right-wing “social policies” in the country. Musk responded, as he is wont to do, with a tweet, writing, “In general, I believe government should rarely impose its will upon the people, and, when doing so, should aspire to maximize their cumulative happiness. That said, I would prefer to stay out of politics.”

Notice how he didn’t actually deny that he supported Abbott’s extreme anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ “social policies?” And not only that, but he openly said that he believes it’s “rarely” (but not never) justified for the government to “impose its will upon the people” (a.k.a. to force people to carry pregnancies to term against their will). To ignore all of that in favor of just highlighting that he also said “I would prefer to stay out of politics” obscures that he’s made his political views clear. Peters’ decision to mention Musk’s “I would prefer to stay out of politics” comment without noting that it was said specifically to avoid answering whether or not he regularly spoke with the governor of Texas and “consistently” told him that he “likes the social policies in the state of Texas” is blisteringly dishonest — especially when the article is, ostensibly, about deciphering Musk’s politics.

Moving on now…

Elon Musk, ever a bundle of contradictions and inconsistencies, has long made his politics tricky to pin down. To many of his critics, though, his relentless flurry of tweets in the six weeks since he took over Twitter has exposed his true conservative bent, and intensified their fears that he would make the social network more susceptible to right-wing misinformation.

And at times, he’s made it hard to argue with that. He has said he’d welcome former President Donald J. Trump back on Twitter; suggested that Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband was lying about the attack at their home that left him hospitalized; and reinstated accounts that have trafficked in offensive ethnic stereotypes and bigotry, including for the artist formerly known as Kanye West. (Mr. Musk later suspended Mr. West’s account again after the rapper-entrepreneur posted an image of a swastika.)

In case you’re curious what that first link goes to (“long made his politics tricky to pin down”), I’ll tell you: It’s another article written by Peters saying the same exact thing back in April. And okay, so… yeah, you’ve got Musk welcoming Trump back to Twitter, pushing a homophobic lie about the attack on Paul Pelosi, and reinstated a bunch of right-wing accounts that included some actual Nazis. Plus, the Kanye stuff. Case closed, right? Well… Peters still has a lot more to say…

His copious tweeting has generated huge amounts of attention. In a 24-hour period late this week, he tweeted more than 40 times, often with little rhyme or reason. He criticized the Biden administration’s deal with Russia that freed Brittney Griner, the Women’s National Basketball Association star. He asked Elton John to clarify his complaint about misinformation flourishing unchecked on Twitter. At times, Mr. Musk was acting like Twitter’s in-house customer service representative, boasting about new features and improved functions.

And maybe that is a big part of the point — improving the image of his new $44 billion property, which he has said repeatedly is in dire financial straits.

Okay, so… again, there’s more evidence that Musk is a conservative. Okay…

Yet Mr. Musk, who did not respond to a request for comment, continues to defy easy political categorization. His views have been described as libertarian, though these days his politics seem more contrarian than anything else. He is more clear about what he is against than what he is for.

It’s true Mr. Musk certainly sounds a lot like a Republican — and, sometimes, a lot like Mr. Trump — with his missives on Twitter against “woke” politics and Covid restrictions, his attacks on “elite” media and his efforts to draw attention to allegations that Hunter Biden profited from his father’s political clout.

“He is more clear about what he is against than what he is for” is actually totally in line with the Republican Party, which operates with an “own the libs” ethos. That’s the opposite of someone who “continues to defy easy political categorization.”

But where Mr. Musk has seemed most in line with the G.O.P. of Mr. Trump is in the tenor of his political commentary, which if anything seems more spiritedly anti-left than ideologically pro-right. While he has not been shy about sharing his disdain for many Democrats, his enthusiasm for Republicans has been more muted. He has stressed repeatedly that his problems are with extremists on both ends of the political spectrum.

“To be clear, my historical party affiliation has been Independent, with an actual voting history of entirely Democrat until this year,” he wrote on Twitter the day before the midterm election. “And I’m open to the idea of voting Democrat again in the future.”

Once again, “more spiritedly anti-left than ideologically pro-right” is the Republican position. The GOP is the party that didn’t bother to put out a platform in 2020, that tried to make its way through the midterms without telling people what they were for (but were very vocal about what they were against, which was basically a bunch of invented right-wing pseudo-scandals about kids in litter boxes and a general disdain for trans people).

No one cares about his party affiliation. Hell, I’m independent, but that doesn’t make my politics impossible to decipher. Your voter registration affiliation just honestly doesn’t matter one bit. It may matter in some other countries, but in the US, there’s no real need to be a registered member of a specific party unless you intend to vote in primaries (even then, rules vary by state). Your party registration doesn’t matter. For instance, Michael Cohen worked for Donald Trump for more than a decade; during the 2016 campaign, Cohen would regularly go on TV specifically to promote Trump as a candidate — but was a registered Democrat (he switched his registration from Democrat to Republican in 2017, then switched it back to Democrat after he had a falling out with Trump). Registering as a member of a specific party is only relevant if you want to vote in primaries. That’s it. Moving on now…

As with many people who describe themselves as politically independent now, the hostility Mr. Musk harbors toward Democrats appears to have drawn him closer to the Republican Party over the last few years. He considers himself as part of the “center 80% of people, who wish to learn, laugh & engage in reasoned debate.”

I’m sorry, what? “As with many people who describe themselves as politically independent now, the hostility Mr. Musk harbors toward Democrats appears to have drawn him closer to the Republican Party over the last few years.” What an odd generalization (that independents as a group are shifting to the right)! Peters should have at least linked to a source to back up his claim. Also, independent doesn’t mean “moderate.”

And okay, cool, he may consider himself part of the “center 80% of people,” but he’s vocally supporting some of the most extreme right-wing voices in American politics now, so maybe look at his actions and not his look at me, I’m so moderate type tweets.

He has eagerly encouraged his followers to weigh in with their views on the country’s culture wars and traded tweets with some of the right’s favorite punching bags, like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. When she criticized his plan to charge Twitter users $8 a month to have a verified account with one of the social media service’s signature blue check marks — “Lmao at a billionaire earnestly trying to sell people on the idea that ‘free speech’ is actually a $8/mo subscription plan,” she wrote — he dismissed her.

“Your feedback is appreciated, now pay $8,” Mr. Musk shot back.

“Eagerly encouraged his followers to weigh in with their views on the country’s culture wars” is a funny way of saying that he reinstated a flood of anti-trans activists the same weekend that Club Q in Colorado was shot up and has relentlessly promoted far-right anti-LGBTQ accounts. And yes, he picks fights with Democratic politicians. He did this with Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, and he did it with Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) when he mocked Markey after a fake verified account was set up in the senator’s name. He is being friendly, near-exclusively, with Republican politicians/influencers/activists/journalists.

Many of his recent tweets have had that kind of “own the libs” tone, the shorthand on the right for when conservatives think they’ve deftly, often sarcastically, swatted down a liberal. A couple of weeks ago, he posted video on Twitter of a closet full of T-shirts with the slogan “#stay woke” that he said he had found at the social media company’s headquarters. Then he followed up with a tweet that linked to a Justice Department report that undercut one of the central narratives of the mass protests against police brutality: that Michael Brown, a Black teenager killed by the police in Ferguson, Mo., had his hands raised when a white officer shot him.

Okay, so yes, even more reason to believe Musk is conservative…

On occasion, his remarks have raised concerns that he has planted himself firmly among right-wing conspiracy theorists. When he tweeted about the attack on Ms. Pelosi’s husband, he shared the unfounded claim that there was “a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye.” He later deleted the tweet, which linked to an article from a fringe website.

He also said he would support Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida for president in 2024, though his endorsement was not especially resounding. He merely replied “Yes” when someone on Twitter asked him. Mr. DeSantis, a hard-line conservative, would be an odd choice for someone who professes to want centrist governance in Washington.

Mr. Musk has always claimed his concerns with Twitter’s previous management were about the ability of a small group of the company’s employees whom he described as “far left” to censor content. And over the past week, he has cheered on tweets about internal communications before he took over. The communications, which were given to two writers who have posted their findings on Twitter, calling them the Twitter Files, showed how the company went about deciding what information got suppressed.

It’s been a mixed bag of revelations. Some showed how Twitter employees made it harder to see tweets from a Stanford University professor who warned about how Covid lockdowns could harm children — a view many public health experts have come around to accept well after the fact. Other documents show how more conventional, conspiracy-theory-embracing conservatives were shut down, like Dan Bongino, the radio host who was one of the biggest amplifiers of lies about the 2020 election.

“Though his endorsement was not especially resounding?” Are you for real? You’ve got him saying he voted for Republicans, acting like your average right-wing 4channer on Twitter, spreading right-wing conspiracy theories, AND endorsing far-right anti-LGBTQ governor Ron DeSantis… and you’re still going… eh, who’s to say? Because the endorsement “was not especially resounding?” Christ, man. WTF.

And “The Twitter Files” have been duds. “Twitter employees made it harder to see tweets from a Stanford University professor who warned about how Covid lockdowns could harm children — a view many public health experts have come around to accept well after the fact.” Oh yeah? That was it? That Jay Bhattacharya simply said he had concerns about lockdowns? And not, you know, this stuff?

At The Print, on 1/11/21, Bhattacharya wrote an opinion piece: “Majority Indians have natural immunity. Vaccinating entire population can cause great harm.” For the record, this article relies on some very sloppy data. In truth, the world may never know how many people in India died from COVID thanks to the country’s far-right government’s secrecy.

What “The Twitter Files” have (so far) shown is that conservatives regularly broke Twitter’s rules, Twitter employees did everything in their power to not enforce the rules because they were afraid that conservatives would get angry, and then eventually enforce the rules in small ways. “The Twitter Files” have demonstrated over and over that Twitter gave the right preferential treatment, though Musk’s team of right-wing propagandists (Weiss, Taibbi, et al) is trying desperately to spin it the other way.

Mr. Musk has not professed to have any profound attachment to Republican policies, though, which is consistent with his posture before taking over Twitter.

He has been highly critical of climate change deniers and said he’s proud of how Tesla forced the rest of the automobile industry to embrace electric vehicles. In 2020, he revealed that he’d spoken to Mr. Trump numerous times about the importance of developing sustainable energy, which the former president dismissed in favor of traditional fossil fuel-based sources. And Mr. Musk quit Mr. Trump’s business councils after the administration pulled out of the Paris climate accord.

Again, the American far-right is less about any actual commitment to conservative policy about “small government” or anything like that. It’s all “own the libs,” all the time. Continuing…

In an interview with The New York Times in 2020, he described his politics as “middle-of-the-road.” “I’m socially very liberal. And then economically right of center, maybe, or center. I don’t know. I’m obviously not a communist.”

His political giving supports that claim. According to the Federal Election Commission, which reports spending in federal but not state races, he has donated just shy of $1 million since 2003 to candidates as conservative as former President George W. Bush and as liberal as Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat. More recently, in 2020, he donated to senators of both political parties — including Chris Coons and Gary Peters, both Democrats, and Susan Collins and John Cornyn, both Republicans.

Often, it seems, his posts are motivated by personal pique, not political philosophy. He’s criticized the Biden administration, for instance, as “not the friendliest” and for excluding Tesla, the world’s largest electric vehicle maker, from a White House summit on zero-emission vehicles in August 2021. His speculation on the reason for the exclusion: General Motors and the other car companies invited are union companies; Tesla is not. “Seems to be controlled by unions,” he complained at the time.

Yet again, you’re just taking him at his word here. “Middle-of-the-road?” What he’s doing when he describes himself as “middle-of-the-road” or “moderate” is exactly what far-right activist Candace Owens did in 2018 when a Twitter Moment accurately referred to her as “far-right.” It takes a massive level of narcissism to see yourself as some barometer of the universe, as a balancing point — and in that, Musk and Owens (who are both buddies with Kanye West) share the trait.

And if you’re going to include the bit about Musk’s long history of bipartisan donations — which, again, is a standard rich-guy move — why leave the false claim that he only supported Democrats until very recently at the beginning? And why not take into account that, as he did in saying that, he frequently lies about his political views to make them sound more mysterious than they actually are? There are obvious reasons he might want to paint himself as a moderate when that isn’t the case.

Additionally, he’s very clearly not “socially very liberal.” He thinks it should be legal to smoke pot, and… that’s about it. That’s his “very liberal” view. Other social issues? Well, Greg Abbott says Musk agrees with him on the state’s anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion laws. And one of Musk’s children, who is transgender, changed her last name, citing “gender identity and the fact that I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form,” on the legal document. When asked a few months ago about losing a relationship with his daughter, he wrote her off, saying, “Can’t win them all.” Really? Imagine being so indifferent about one of your own children. Maybe Musk considered himself “very liberal” in 2020 (he had already been mocking trans people online), but in 2022, that’s certainly not the case. Continuing on…

Many of the views he has espoused on Twitter over the last two years have become popular in today’s Republican Party but are hardly exclusive to card-carrying Republicans. His criticism of progressives he views as overly censorious and sanctimonious is a sentiment many on the left have expressed. And his public condemnation of strict Covid containment measures in 2020 channeled what would become a growing skepticism of widespread public health restrictions. Though he was more exercised about them than most. “Fascist,” he once declared.

Often, his tweets can seem to imply he leans in one direction when it’s just as likely that he is trying to court controversy. How to interpret, for instance, a post last week of what he said was an image of his bedside table? It had a revolver on it and a musket in a wooden case decorated with an image of George Washington crossing the Delaware River during the Revolutionary War.

“Greetings, I’m Musket, Elon Musket,” he wrote.

A few days later, he sounded pleased with himself as he remarked on the way Twitter had changed since his purchase was completed in October. “So many interesting posts on Twitter these days!”

Once again, Peters doing the same thing he did with his, “As with many people who describe themselves as politically independent now, the hostility Mr. Musk harbors toward Democrats appears to have drawn him closer to the Republican Party over the last few years,” comment, inserting his own feelings and beliefs into the piece. “But are hardly exclusive to card-carrying Republicans.” Yes, yes, we get it, New York Times, you’re really trying to make “Wah! Cancel culture!” and “Actually, trans people are bad for existing” things that people across the political spectrum believe. Sure, there are people who consider themselves progressives who complain about these things, but the framing of the left as “censorious” is laughable as Republicans are currently trying to ban books, to block nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people and more. But sure, dude, it’s definitely primarily the left that’s “censorious.” Give me a break.

If it walks like a conservative and talks like a conservative…

Peters’ article explains exactly why Musk fits in with the far-right, but then goes out of its way to act as though Musk is some mystery. This is the type of playacting I hate to see in political journalism and punditry. You’d see it happen all the time during the Trump administration: Trump would deliver a speech from a teleprompter, clearly reading it for the very first time live, and get a bunch of praise from the pundit class for “pivoting.” Meanwhile, average everyday people see through this. The same is true for Musk. If Jeremy Peters wants to pretend that Musk has indecipherable politics, he’s free to do that. He should know, however, that it makes him look like an out of touch fool. If the press wants to regain the trust of the public, the people working within the system need to understand that this sort of Birdbox-like blindfoldedness only makes the problems worse.