Inside Elon Musk's Grievance-Fueled MAGA-morphosis: "What the F--k Is Wrong With Your Boss?"

In an excerpt from his forthcoming book, Hubris Maximus, Faiz Siddiqui chronicles how the billionaire was radicalized by everything from the “woke mind virus” to the COVID shutdown and plain old government oversight. “He just basically has a complete disdain for any authority—period,” says one investor.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/inside-elon-musks-grievance-fueled-maga-morphosis-what-the-f-k-is-wrong-with-your-boss

https://archive.ph/IjB3G



The Tesla executive was beside himself on his call to Steven Cliff, administrator at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “Why are we being excluded?” he asked, perhaps rightfully incredulous that Tesla would be left out of a White House event promoting electric vehicles in August 2021, according to a person familiar with the matter. Tesla, he noted, was an “American company making all electric vehicles,” the poster child for the type of renewable energy success story President Joe Biden was trying to tell months after taking office and making EVs a priority.

The White House electric vehicle summit featured General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler parent Stellantis, the big three automakers whose EV sales paled in comparison to Tesla’s. It also included a Tesla foe in the form of the United Auto Workers (UAW), who had tried to unionize Tesla’s Fremont factory, which became the site of unfair labor practice allegations. Was the snub intentional, the Tesla official asked, “or is this just a union thing?”

Numerous Biden officials ran interference in the meantime, according to a person familiar with the matter, trying to placate Rohan Patel, Tesla’s liaison to Washington, while explaining that the decision was above their pay grade. “The president made a decision that he wanted to make sure that the UAW knew that he was there for them,” one said. Musk could only sigh. This retelling of Tesla’s exclusion from the Biden electric vehicle summit is based on the recollection of two individuals with direct knowledge of the events.

Two things could be true at once: Biden was trying to generate excitement for his plans among those who had not already embraced EVs, and space was limited at the White House South Lawn event at a time when many in attendance were still wearing masks to protect against COVID-19. Regardless, Biden officials seemingly underestimated the fallout and went out of their way to include Musk in future events.

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