On Sunday, Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk dragged radical leftist Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders after Sanders snapped, “We must demand that the extremely wealthy pay their fair share. Period.”
We must demand that the extremely wealthy pay their fair share. Period.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) November 13, 2021
Musk responded on Twitter, “I keep forgetting that you’re still alive,” adding, “Want me to sell more stock, Bernie? Just say the word.”
I keep forgetting that you’re still alive
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 14, 2021
Want me to sell more stock, Bernie? Just say the word …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 14, 2021
The latter comment referred to Musk’s sale of a combined $6.9 billion worth of shares as of Friday. On November 6, Musk created a Twitter poll asking whether he should sell 10% of his stock in Tesla, tweeting, “Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock. Do you support this?” Roughly 58% of the 3.5 million votes cast said he should.
Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock.
Do you support this?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2021
Musk added, “I will abide by the results of this poll, whichever way it goes. Note, I do not take a cash salary or bonus from anywhere. I only have stock, thus the only way for me to pay taxes personally is to sell stock.”
Note, I do not take a cash salary or bonus from anywhere. I only have stock, thus the only way for me to pay taxes personally is to sell stock.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2021
Musk created the aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company SpaceX in 2002; he became the CEO of Tesla, Inc. in 2008. In 2015, he co-founded OpenAI, a nonprofit research company that promotes friendly artificial intelligence. In 2016, he co-founded Neuralink, which develops brain-computer interfaces. He reportedly employs roughly 110,000 people around the world.
Sanders, on the other hand, has made his living as a politician supported by citizens’ taxes for decades.
In July 2020, Musk issued two tweets tweaking the Left. The first likely confounded members of the Left confident that their support for attacks on America, whether physical (riots, looting) or philosophical (the 1619 Project) was shared by everyone in the so-called center of the political spectrum. Musk tweeted, “The left is losing the middle.”
The left is losing the middle
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 27, 2020
Musk followed twenty-five minutes later with another tweet attacking the father of communism, Karl Marx, writing succinctly, “Das Kapital in a nutshell,” followed by a picture of Marx with the statement in quasi-German, “Gib me dat for free.”
Das Kapital in a nutshell pic.twitter.com/mG44mMkitx
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 27, 2020
In May 2020, Musk famously tweeted, “Take the red pill.”
Take the red pill 🌹
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 17, 2020
In the film “The Matrix,” the hero, Neo, is offered a choice between a red pill and a blue pill; the red pill would free him from a dream-world imposed on humanity and let him see reality. Some conservatives aver that taking the “red pill” means for a former liberal or leftist to embrace the conservative philosophy. As an opinion piece in Fox News explained in 2017:
The mainstream media failed to see the rise of Donald Trump in 2016. Now it’s overlooking another grassroots movement that may soon be of equal significance— the growing number of liberals “taking the red pill.” People of all ages and ethnicities are posting YouTube videos describing “red pill moments”—personal awakenings that have caused them to reject leftist narratives imbibed since childhood from friends, teachers, and the news and entertainment media.