Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk blasted President Joe Biden following his State of the Union address, noting his decision to ignore Tesla in favor of Ford and GM’s new electric vehicle ventures.
During his speech on Tuesday evening, President Biden nodded to Ford and its manufacturing in the United States. While the White House has frequently lauded the efforts of Ford and GM, Tesla — the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer — has often been omitted. The snubbing may lie in the fact that Tesla is not unionized, as 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 Ford and GM participated.
On Twitter, Musk again pointed out the White House’s willingness to ignore Tesla’s role in promoting electric vehicles.
“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,” the billionaire entrepreneur responded as an “fyi to person controlling this twitter.”
Tesla has created over 50,000 US jobs building electric vehicles & is investing more than double GM + Ford combined
[fyi to person controlling this twitter]
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 2, 2022
Last month, Musk also took to Twitter and issued commentary on the federal budget deficit. Responding to a headline from The Babylon Bee — “Biden Goes Double Or Nothing On National Debt By Placing $30 Trillion On The Bengals” — Musk pointed out that the financial implications of the debt are no laughing matter.
“True national debt, including unfunded entitlements, is at least $60 trillion — roughly three times the size of the entire US economy,” he said. “Something has got to give.”
Indeed, Musk has pointed to the national debt when arguing that Congress should avoid greenlighting Biden’s domestic spending plans. “I would say can this bill, don’t pass it. That’s my recommendation,” Musk said of the $1.75 trillion Build Back Better Act. “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 added to his remarks by sharing an analysis from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School — his alma mater — explaining that the national debt would increase by over 24% if the bill’s provisions are made permanent.
In recent days, Musk has received commendation for helping Ukrainians amid the Russian invasion. Under the leadership of Musk, SpaceX answered a request from Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov to supply broadband internet service through the company’s Starlink satellites.
According to SpaceX, “Starlink is ideally suited for areas where connectivity has been unreliable or completely unavailable,” and “people across the globe are using Starlink to gain access to education, health services and even communications support during natural disasters.”