WEBVTT - Citizen Elon, Episode 1: Flipping the Table

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<v Speaker 1>My fellow Americans.

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<v Speaker 2>Mahallo.

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<v Speaker 3>It's April twenty eleven White House Correspondence Dinner in DC,

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<v Speaker 3>a giant annual party for politicians and the press Corps.

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<v Speaker 3>President Barack Obama on stage, roasting himself, his colleagues, the press,

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<v Speaker 3>and the odd celebrity.

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<v Speaker 1>As some of you heard, the State of Hawaii released

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<v Speaker 1>my official long form birth certificate. Anyway, Donald Trump, let's

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<v Speaker 1>here tonight.

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<v Speaker 3>For months leading up to this, Donald Trump was going

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<v Speaker 3>on talk shows falsely claiming that Obama wasn't born in

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<v Speaker 3>the US, which, if that was true, would have made

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<v Speaker 3>him a wrongfully elected president. People believed it. The rumor

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<v Speaker 3>grew enough so that Obama had to weigh in.

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<v Speaker 4>But no one has had. No one is prouder to

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<v Speaker 4>put this birth certificate matter to rest than the Donald. Obviously,

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<v Speaker 4>we all know about your credentials and breadth of experience.

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<v Speaker 4>Well seriously, just recently, in an episode of Celebrity Apprentice

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<v Speaker 4>at the Steakhouse, the men's cooking team did not impress

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<v Speaker 4>the judges from Omaha Stakes, and you, mister Trump, recognized

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<v Speaker 4>that the real problem was a lack of leadership, and

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<v Speaker 4>so ultimately you didn't blame little John or meet Loaf,

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<v Speaker 4>You fired Gary Busick, And these are the kind of

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<v Speaker 4>decisions that would keep me up at night.

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<v Speaker 3>Omarrosa Newman, she was actually also on the Apprentice, was

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<v Speaker 3>also at the Correspondent Center that night. Later in a

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<v Speaker 3>PBS documentary, she said, it.

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<v Speaker 5>Just up, going and going, and he just kept hammering him,

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<v Speaker 5>and I thought, Oh, Barack Obama starting something. I don't

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<v Speaker 5>know if he'll be able to finish.

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<v Speaker 3>Donald Trump went on to beat Hillary Clinton for the

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<v Speaker 3>job of president. He literally took over Obama's home and job.

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<v Speaker 5>Every critic, every detractor, will have to bow down to

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<v Speaker 5>President Trump. It's everyone who's ever doubted Donald whoever disagreed,

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<v Speaker 5>whoever challenged him. It is the ultimate revenge to become

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<v Speaker 5>the most powerful man in the universe.

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<v Speaker 3>Now fast forward a few more years. It's twenty twenty one.

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<v Speaker 3>Joe Biden's the president, and one afternoon on the White

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<v Speaker 3>House lawn, he signs an executive order saying that by

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<v Speaker 3>twenty thirty, half of all new cars sold would be electric.

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<v Speaker 3>It was a piece of Biden's big plan to prioritize

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<v Speaker 3>the climate. He wanted to make e that's electric vehicles.

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<v Speaker 3>By the way, a lot cheaper. This was new Biden

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<v Speaker 3>all in on EV's and the big automakers too. We

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<v Speaker 3>are the United States of America.

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<v Speaker 6>There's not a single solitary thing, nothing beyond our capacity

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<v Speaker 6>to get done.

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<v Speaker 3>I want to.

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<v Speaker 6>Thank the CEOs of the automobile companies, and I also

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<v Speaker 6>want to thank all the auto.

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<v Speaker 3>Workers at the White House that day. Are members of Congress,

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<v Speaker 3>the UAW United Auto Workers, and a bunch of big

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<v Speaker 3>wigs from the Big Three that's General Motors, Ford and

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<v Speaker 3>Stillantis better known as Chrysler. Right before putting pen to paper,

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<v Speaker 3>Biden invites his colleagues to come up and stand by

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<v Speaker 3>his side. Come on, let's let the CEO's go to

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<v Speaker 3>Let's let the CEOs through too.

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<v Speaker 7>This is an executive or strengthy in America's leadership and

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<v Speaker 7>clean cars and trucks.

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<v Speaker 2>And again, let me start up.

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<v Speaker 6>I think in the CEOs as well as the UAW

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<v Speaker 6>me why it is happened.

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<v Speaker 8>Thank you, thank you, thank you.

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<v Speaker 3>There is one guy who's done more to make evs

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<v Speaker 3>happen than anybody in the Big Three who was missing

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<v Speaker 3>from the White House that day, noticeably so. But he

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<v Speaker 3>was watching. So on one hand, we've got Barack Obama

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<v Speaker 3>roasting Donald Trump and the fallout from that. On the other,

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<v Speaker 3>Joe Biden hyping up electric cars, separate events ten years apart.

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<v Speaker 3>What do they have to do with each other? I

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<v Speaker 3>think kind of a lot. I'm Max Chafkin, a reporter

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<v Speaker 3>with Bloomberg BusinessWeek. This is Citizen Elon. This is a

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<v Speaker 3>show about Elon Musk, someone I've spent almost twenty years

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<v Speaker 3>reporting on. For the longest time, Elon's been a champion

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<v Speaker 3>for elect your cars, a champion for outer space, and

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<v Speaker 3>as of this summer, a champion for Donald Trump. The

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<v Speaker 3>Elon I've always known has been largely a political. Now.

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<v Speaker 3>In the weeks leading up to the twenty twenty four election,

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<v Speaker 3>Elon's funneled more than one hundred million dollars into getting

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<v Speaker 3>Donald Trump elected. What I'd really like to understand is

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<v Speaker 3>what happened. Why is Elon suddenly so committed to Trump winning?

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<v Speaker 3>And if it works, if he successfully gets Trump elected,

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<v Speaker 3>what's in that for him? The first time I interviewed

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<v Speaker 3>Elon Musk was in two thousand and six. Tesla was

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<v Speaker 3>just a startup. Today it's the most valuable car company

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<v Speaker 3>in the world. You talk to CEOs normally and they're scripted.

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<v Speaker 3>They talk in soundbites, and Elon is the opposite. He'll

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<v Speaker 3>say whatever he wants, whatever's on his mind.

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<v Speaker 2>It is a fixer oppera of a planet. But eventually

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<v Speaker 2>you can try for Mars into an Earth like planet.

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<v Speaker 8>How would you do that?

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<v Speaker 2>You'd warm it up? The Fast Way has dropped them

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<v Speaker 2>nuclear weapons over the polls. I actually have to say

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<v Speaker 2>we have to keep the essays only questions.

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<v Speaker 3>Everyone was a slave everyone, well not everyone was a slave.

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<v Speaker 6>No, everyone was a slave.

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<v Speaker 2>We are all decided from slaves, all of us. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>just a question of when.

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<v Speaker 3>Of course, Elon could also be cold cruel. Looking back

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<v Speaker 3>on it now, I think maybe I was letting him

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<v Speaker 3>off too easily, paying attention to his achievements and ignoring

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<v Speaker 3>his bad behavior. In terms of politics, Elon's always been

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<v Speaker 3>kind of a chameleon. When George W. Bush was president,

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<v Speaker 3>Elon didn't have much to say about climate change. He

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<v Speaker 3>drove a Porsche. When Barack Obama was president, Elon became

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<v Speaker 3>a green capitalist, ecologically conscious. He wanted a blanket America

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<v Speaker 3>with solar panels. His take on Trump running matched most

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<v Speaker 3>Democrats and modern Republicans.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, hopefully Trump doesn't forget the domination of you know,

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<v Speaker 2>the Republican Party. That's because I think that's, yeah, that

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<v Speaker 2>wouldn't be good.

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<v Speaker 3>And again, after twenty sixteen, Musk more or less got

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<v Speaker 3>on board with Trump, meetings with Steve Bannon, was on

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<v Speaker 3>advisory councils to the president. It was business as usual.

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<v Speaker 3>But then COVID came. It's something changed, especially after Biden

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<v Speaker 3>became president.

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<v Speaker 9>You have to remember that, Like, you know, Elon Musk

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<v Speaker 9>is a guy who can't get enough of the dopamine

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<v Speaker 9>feedback of people and crowds and adulation.

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<v Speaker 3>Dana Hall is another reporter here at Bloomberg. She also

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<v Speaker 3>covers Elon Musk.

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<v Speaker 9>And during the pandemic, we were all locked down in

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<v Speaker 9>our houses, and he was incredibly angry that Tesla's factory

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<v Speaker 9>in California was shut down because of COVID restrictions.

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<v Speaker 3>On an Ernie's call talking to investors, Elon called stay

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<v Speaker 3>at home orders in Alameda County, where Tesla's factories were based.

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<v Speaker 3>Fascist quote, this is not democratic, this is not freedom.

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<v Speaker 3>Give people back their goddamn freedom. And then you.

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<v Speaker 9>Started seeing more tweets that were kind of questioning, you know,

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<v Speaker 9>the efficacy of vaccines and just like a little bit

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<v Speaker 9>more COVID denihilism, and then.

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<v Speaker 3>Danna said, by this point it was just a hop,

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<v Speaker 3>skip and a jump to much fringier conspiracy theories. And

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<v Speaker 3>then there was something else that happened during COVID, something huge.

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<v Speaker 9>But at some point Elon Musk became the richest person

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<v Speaker 9>in the world. And I think that once you're the

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<v Speaker 9>richest person in the world, you are emboldened to do

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<v Speaker 9>things that maybe you weren't before.

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<v Speaker 3>Let's go back to that summit. August twenty twenty one.

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<v Speaker 3>A month after that, Elon's at a tech conference. He's

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<v Speaker 3>on stage in front of an audience, and that snub

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<v Speaker 3>that he felt. He's still thinking.

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<v Speaker 7>About it, you know, like Biden held this EB summit,

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<v Speaker 7>didn't invite Teslam, and if I had jammed forward christ

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<v Speaker 7>or in RW maybe summits on.

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<v Speaker 6>The White House.

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<v Speaker 10>So you're pissed.

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<v Speaker 2>So this has sound maybe a little biased.

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<v Speaker 3>Eight months go by and Elon sits down for another

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<v Speaker 3>interview with the guys running a club for Tesla owners

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<v Speaker 3>in Silicon Valley. It's called the Tesla Owners Club of

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<v Speaker 3>Silicon Valley. And remember that White House snub. Elon is

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<v Speaker 3>still pissed off about it.

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<v Speaker 2>Last year, President Biden held an EV summit where Tela

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<v Speaker 2>was explicitly not allowed to come. Now, Tela's made two

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<v Speaker 2>thirds of all electric vehicles in the United States. Deliberately

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<v Speaker 2>excluding us from an EV summit at the White House,

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<v Speaker 2>that tells you all you need to know.

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<v Speaker 1>It's insane.

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<v Speaker 2>Insane.

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<v Speaker 3>Fast forward another eighteen months, a year and a half later,

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<v Speaker 3>Elon's on stage at a New York Times event. He's

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<v Speaker 3>talking to the financial columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin.

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<v Speaker 5>You've been very frustrated with the Biden administration, feeling like

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<v Speaker 5>they did not respect what you created.

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<v Speaker 3>Have you forgotten yet about that White House snub? No,

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<v Speaker 3>neither has Elon Well.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean, without any doing nothing to provoke the wide administration.

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<v Speaker 2>They held an electric vehicle summit at the White House

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<v Speaker 2>and specifically refused to let Tesla attend. We've done nothing

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<v Speaker 2>to provoke them. Then Biden went on to add insult injury.

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<v Speaker 3>Elon says, President Biden even singled out General Motors for

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<v Speaker 3>having quote led the EV revolution.

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<v Speaker 2>This was in the same quarter that Tesla made three

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<v Speaker 2>hundred thousand electric cars and GM made twenty six Does

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<v Speaker 2>that seem fair to you.

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<v Speaker 3>Tesla actually sold three hundred and eight thousand cars that quarter.

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<v Speaker 3>Elon's under selling the number. And he's also right about

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<v Speaker 3>GM that they really did just sell twenty six Something

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<v Speaker 3>important to note here is that Elon has never been

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<v Speaker 3>a fan of labor unions. That's putting it mildly. Joe Biden,

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<v Speaker 3>on the other hand, the opposite. Biden loves labor unions.

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<v Speaker 3>He's called himself the quote most pro union president in history.

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<v Speaker 3>He made it a big part of his presidential campaign.

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<v Speaker 5>Can you give us any insight into why Tesla wasn't

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<v Speaker 5>included in this event?

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<v Speaker 3>Well, we of course welcome. This is from a White

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<v Speaker 3>House press briefing.

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<v Speaker 10>So it's not because Tesla is a non union shop. Well,

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<v Speaker 10>these are the three largest employers of the United Autoworkers.

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<v Speaker 10>So let draw your own conclusion.

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<v Speaker 3>Go ahead. Translation, Yes, which classic politics, right, But Elon

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<v Speaker 3>didn't take it that way. Biden doesn't have to include

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<v Speaker 3>every automaker. It's not like Toyota or Volkswagen were there either.

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<v Speaker 3>But Elon's reaction was personal. He couldn't seem to move

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<v Speaker 3>beyond his own feelings to see this as anything other

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<v Speaker 3>than a grievous insult. On the one hand, it's surprising

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<v Speaker 3>to see a busy CEO fixate like this. Doesn't he

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<v Speaker 3>have bigger things to worry about. Who cares about GM

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<v Speaker 3>and Biden. On the other hand, and this is vintage Elon.

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<v Speaker 6>You know, if he didn't like what you were doing,

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<v Speaker 6>or thought you were an idiot, or any one of

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<v Speaker 6>these sort of negative reactions to you personally.

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<v Speaker 3>This is Jim Cantrell. He was on the founding team

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<v Speaker 3>at SpaceX for a long time. He and Elon worked

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<v Speaker 3>closely together.

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<v Speaker 6>He wouldn't come talk to you about it. He would

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<v Speaker 6>either call you an idiot, he would tell you you're wrong,

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<v Speaker 6>he would challenge you, he would yell at you, and

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<v Speaker 6>then later he'd just fire you.

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<v Speaker 3>Elon is indisputably really impressive. Jim agrees. But Jim also

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<v Speaker 3>could not take Elon's moodswings, and so he quit.

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<v Speaker 6>By the way, that's a controversial topic that he.

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<v Speaker 3>Last year, the writer Walter Isaacson published a sprawling biography

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<v Speaker 3>of Elon's life. So far, Elon participated in the book's creation.

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<v Speaker 3>He talked to Isaacson, and when he talked about his

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<v Speaker 3>early days at SpaceX.

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<v Speaker 6>He told Isaacson that I wasn't employ and I don't

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<v Speaker 6>know why he says that.

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<v Speaker 3>But I was, yeah, we're not sorry. I'm not trying

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<v Speaker 3>to litigate this.

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<v Speaker 6>I just know I understand it's a short point for me,

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<v Speaker 6>so I am.

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<v Speaker 3>This fixation on credit, this pettiness. It's also vintage Elon.

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<v Speaker 3>He actually got into it big time with Martin Eberhard,

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<v Speaker 3>the guy who started Tesla. Martin himself claimed that Elon

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<v Speaker 3>was taking up more than his share of credit for

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<v Speaker 3>the company, and even though these guys settled their lawsuit

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<v Speaker 3>in two thousand and nine, it's something Elon still brings

0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:39.240
<v Speaker 3>up all the time. I told jim My theory about

0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:43.040
<v Speaker 3>the correspondence dinner and the EV summit, and I asked him,

0:13:43.280 --> 0:13:45.400
<v Speaker 3>does he see the same parallels that I do.

0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:46.319
<v Speaker 9>I do.

0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:47.480
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.

0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:52.880
<v Speaker 6>I think he and Trump probably feel a kinship. There's

0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:57.080
<v Speaker 6>a certain this resonates with what I understand of Elon.

0:13:57.120 --> 0:13:59.719
<v Speaker 6>There's a certain sort of sense of fairness and fair

0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:02.400
<v Speaker 6>place that, like Trump, he feels violated.

0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:07.520
<v Speaker 3>Where Jim's take diverge from mine was about Elon's feelings.

0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:12.480
<v Speaker 3>I just think Elon was hurt, and maybe justifiably hurt,

0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:17.680
<v Speaker 3>like this guy revolutionized the electric vehicle industry. He spends

0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:21.800
<v Speaker 3>you know, a decade and a half not taken seriously,

0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:25.240
<v Speaker 3>called a joke, and then the President of the United

0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:30.000
<v Speaker 3>States basically finally embraces it, like everything that Elon has

0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:32.800
<v Speaker 3>imagined is happening without him.

0:14:33.360 --> 0:14:37.040
<v Speaker 6>Yeah, I'm going to tell you something that goes against

0:14:37.120 --> 0:14:42.000
<v Speaker 6>that theory. Elon, I don't think he was hurt by it.

0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:44.240
<v Speaker 6>I think he didn't really want to be part of

0:14:44.280 --> 0:14:50.800
<v Speaker 6>that crowd. I don't think he cared. There's a certain

0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:53.960
<v Speaker 6>rage in the machine song you know, You'll do what

0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:56.280
<v Speaker 6>I want to. I mean that if I had a

0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:58.000
<v Speaker 6>theme song for Elon, that would be it.

0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:02.040
<v Speaker 3>That EV conference was the summer of twenty twenty one.

0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:05.480
<v Speaker 3>Within a few months, the rage started to bubble up,

0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:11.280
<v Speaker 3>and it was a very specific, politically charged rage, usually

0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:15.400
<v Speaker 3>in tweet form, usually some right wing line about Biden

0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:19.000
<v Speaker 3>being too old, calling Biden quote a damp sock puppet

0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:21.840
<v Speaker 3>in human form, or saying Biden looks good for a

0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:25.160
<v Speaker 3>two hundred year old. When I read these, I could

0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:28.920
<v Speaker 3>tell that Elon was mad. What I couldn't tell is

0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:32.720
<v Speaker 3>where these insults, these specific words were coming from.

0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:35.760
<v Speaker 8>N PC is the biggest one to me.

0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:40.400
<v Speaker 3>Ellie Reeve is a CNN correspondent. She spent the past

0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:43.960
<v Speaker 3>ten years or so covering the far right. In November

0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:47.720
<v Speaker 3>twenty twenty one, she noticed this tweet from Elon. It

0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:50.880
<v Speaker 3>was a random comment on a six month old video

0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:55.400
<v Speaker 3>where Biden was praising the Autoworkers Union. Elon responded to

0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:59.720
<v Speaker 3>that video by tweeting that Biden quote talks like an

0:15:59.840 --> 0:16:04.600
<v Speaker 3>end PC with a limited dialogue tree. That acronym is

0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:05.880
<v Speaker 3>what caught Ellie's attention.

0:16:06.360 --> 0:16:08.840
<v Speaker 8>In PC from non player character comes from a video

0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:11.880
<v Speaker 8>game world. It's like, you know, instead of the character

0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:14.440
<v Speaker 8>that you can play, it's this static character with no

0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:18.520
<v Speaker 8>interiority that gives you directions or something. And in the

0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:24.960
<v Speaker 8>four chan world, that's their term for unthinking liberals real quick.

0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:28.720
<v Speaker 3>Four Chan was this free for all online forum where

0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:32.160
<v Speaker 3>people would share memes. It's also where a lot of

0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:36.640
<v Speaker 3>Donald Trump's early support comes from. You've probably heard this

0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:40.720
<v Speaker 3>term alt right that started on four Chan. Back to

0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:44.000
<v Speaker 3>Ellie and the NPCs. The tweet she noticed it was

0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:47.120
<v Speaker 3>basically Elon calling Biden a tool of the elite. And

0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:49.840
<v Speaker 3>I don't mean elite in the normal sense. I mean

0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:54.920
<v Speaker 3>it in the conspiratorial sense of an elite cabal, probably Jewish,

0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:58.520
<v Speaker 3>that is secretly out to get us. Ellie says, NPC

0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:01.160
<v Speaker 3>is a kind of acronym that would normally be thrown

0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:05.639
<v Speaker 3>around by neo Nazis, men's rights groups, proud boys in cells.

0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:09.800
<v Speaker 8>Elon Musk is a very powerful person, you know. He's

0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:12.880
<v Speaker 8>not a guy with a Twitter handle like this guy

0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:18.320
<v Speaker 8>can influence wars. Does Elon have the social skills to

0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:21.040
<v Speaker 8>actually lead a massive men I don't know, But does

0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:26.720
<v Speaker 8>he have enough of a network to spread these ideas into,

0:17:26.800 --> 0:17:30.480
<v Speaker 8>like among people who are in the position to truly

0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:32.080
<v Speaker 8>affect how the government works?

0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:32.239
<v Speaker 3>Like?

0:17:32.280 --> 0:17:33.400
<v Speaker 8>That's the question for me.

0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:36.679
<v Speaker 3>Ellie's not alone on this one, and she's certainly not

0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:40.240
<v Speaker 3>the only person who's noticing Elon's changing politics.

0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:43.520
<v Speaker 10>The first thing that I really noticed about Musk was

0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:46.280
<v Speaker 10>during the Rise of the all Right.

0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:50.520
<v Speaker 3>Joe Novan is a sociologist. She specializes in disinformation, that's

0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:54.720
<v Speaker 3>people or groups who lie on purpose for political gain.

0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:59.600
<v Speaker 10>He seemed to be very cued into the idea of

0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:01.080
<v Speaker 10>pop collapse.

0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:03.919
<v Speaker 3>In this idea, this is like the NPC thing. It

0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:06.439
<v Speaker 3>doesn't sound that bad on its face, but if you're

0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:09.760
<v Speaker 3>paying attention to the subtext it's not just about babies.

0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:14.000
<v Speaker 10>He seems to believe that the wrong kind of people

0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:21.400
<v Speaker 10>are the ones who are reproducing because white people are

0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:24.880
<v Speaker 10>not reproducing at the same rate as other people. He

0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:32.159
<v Speaker 10>does really get his hackles up about population collapse and

0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:35.800
<v Speaker 10>about this idea that white people might not be the

0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:38.040
<v Speaker 10>dominant culture going forward.

0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:44.919
<v Speaker 3>Right eugenics a discredited theory about selective breeding. By the way,

0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:47.399
<v Speaker 3>we invited Elon must to come talk to us or

0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:51.880
<v Speaker 3>to provide comment. He didn't respond. Another thing that Elon's

0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:55.800
<v Speaker 3>growing interested in, and I mean really interested in, is

0:18:55.920 --> 0:19:01.600
<v Speaker 3>free speech, specifically the idea that right wing guys on

0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:05.720
<v Speaker 3>the Internet are being suppressed by social media sites. Those

0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:08.520
<v Speaker 3>right wing guys, though, I don't think they were really

0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:12.119
<v Speaker 3>paying attention to Musk, not yet anyway, When did he

0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:14.520
<v Speaker 3>start mattering to them as a as a figure.

0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:18.080
<v Speaker 10>Around the time he started to say that he should

0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:22.560
<v Speaker 10>just buy Twitter. That's when I first saw the far

0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:27.840
<v Speaker 10>right really starting to believe he was a mover and

0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:30.399
<v Speaker 10>that he was going to do something huge.

0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:34.280
<v Speaker 3>After the attacks on the Capitol on January sixth, in

0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:37.800
<v Speaker 3>twenty twenty one, Twitter banned tens of thousands of accounts

0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:40.800
<v Speaker 3>associated with the right wing conspiracy theory known as QAnon.

0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:44.640
<v Speaker 3>They even ban Donald Trump's account permanently for the role

0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:49.240
<v Speaker 3>he played in inciting violence. Then, in March of twenty

0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:55.120
<v Speaker 3>twenty two, something happened that, especially Claudilan's attention, Twitter suspends

0:19:55.520 --> 0:19:59.680
<v Speaker 3>this satirical newspaper, the Babylon Beet. They're like a right

0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:02.800
<v Speaker 3>wing version of the Onion. The Bee had tweeted about

0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:06.200
<v Speaker 3>a trans woman who was a White House staffer. They

0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:09.720
<v Speaker 3>called her Man of the Year. Twitter said that violated

0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:13.639
<v Speaker 3>its policy against hateful conduct. The bees owner refuse to

0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:16.960
<v Speaker 3>take the tweet down. Musk hears about this from his

0:20:17.040 --> 0:20:20.280
<v Speaker 3>ex wife, Tallula Riley. She sends him a text a

0:20:20.280 --> 0:20:23.960
<v Speaker 3>few days later, quote America is going insane, it says

0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:27.960
<v Speaker 3>the Babylon b suspension got crazy. Can you buy Twitter

0:20:28.000 --> 0:20:30.840
<v Speaker 3>and then delete it please? Or can you buy Twitter

0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:35.080
<v Speaker 3>and make it radically free speech? And so he did.

0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:38.440
<v Speaker 11>Welcome to Tucker Carlson said, a good news show. Don't

0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:41.480
<v Speaker 11>get those two often. It's April twenty fifth, twenty twenty two.

0:20:42.040 --> 0:20:48.159
<v Speaker 11>Elon Musk bought Twitter today. Unlike the leaders of Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon,

0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:52.159
<v Speaker 11>Elon Musk believes in free speech This is the single

0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:55.880
<v Speaker 11>biggest political development since Donald Trump's election in twenty sixteen.

0:20:56.480 --> 0:20:59.439
<v Speaker 11>It is certainly the most threatening challenge to the corrupt

0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:01.640
<v Speaker 11>and in competent leadership of this country.

0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:03.080
<v Speaker 2>Now that I.

0:21:03.000 --> 0:21:07.520
<v Speaker 3>Remember watching this and rolling my eyes, I thought, Elon

0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:11.240
<v Speaker 3>Musk is no free speech savior. He's a business guy

0:21:11.680 --> 0:21:14.840
<v Speaker 3>who's just spent forty four billion dollars to buy Twitter.

0:21:15.760 --> 0:21:18.360
<v Speaker 3>Why would he mess with that. He's got other companies

0:21:18.400 --> 0:21:23.480
<v Speaker 3>to worry about. But now looking back, I think Tucker

0:21:23.560 --> 0:21:29.560
<v Speaker 3>really was seeing something, something seismic and inevitable. For years,

0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:32.959
<v Speaker 3>Elon and Trump have been marching in the same general direction,

0:21:33.640 --> 0:21:37.720
<v Speaker 3>which makes sense. They are a lot alike. They both

0:21:37.760 --> 0:21:41.200
<v Speaker 3>come from privileged backgrounds. They both grew up under hugely

0:21:41.240 --> 0:21:45.000
<v Speaker 3>accomplished fathers whose shadows they wanted out from under. They

0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:48.119
<v Speaker 3>both thought hard for their rightful place, not just to

0:21:48.160 --> 0:21:50.760
<v Speaker 3>be inside of the rooms where history happens, but to

0:21:50.800 --> 0:21:53.360
<v Speaker 3>be the ones in charge. But they never really made

0:21:53.359 --> 0:21:56.600
<v Speaker 3>it all the way through the door. To President Obama.

0:21:56.800 --> 0:22:02.800
<v Speaker 3>Trump was a punchline to President Biden was irrelevant. There's

0:22:02.840 --> 0:22:04.919
<v Speaker 3>something Jim told me he's a guy who worked at

0:22:04.960 --> 0:22:08.240
<v Speaker 3>SpaceX with Elon that I keep coming back to it's

0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:11.359
<v Speaker 3>about that correspondent's dinner and the Evy Summit.

0:22:11.800 --> 0:22:14.800
<v Speaker 6>It's a slight that tells you that they think they're

0:22:14.880 --> 0:22:17.800
<v Speaker 6>the parents sitting at the table and your child is

0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:22.159
<v Speaker 6>not invited. And I can see Elon one ting to

0:22:22.240 --> 0:22:24.560
<v Speaker 6>just destroy the table, burn it to the ground.

0:22:26.040 --> 0:22:28.600
<v Speaker 3>What does Elon do right after closing the Twitter deal?

0:22:29.600 --> 0:22:34.760
<v Speaker 3>He reinstates Donald Trump's account. If you can't join them,

0:22:35.280 --> 0:22:45.040
<v Speaker 3>beat them, that's next time. Citizen Elon is produced by

0:22:45.080 --> 0:22:49.240
<v Speaker 3>Lina Mesitzi's Rayhon Haarmanci is our senior editor, Blake Maple's

0:22:49.320 --> 0:22:53.919
<v Speaker 3>handles engineering, and William Elstrom fact checking. Brendan Francis Newnham

0:22:53.960 --> 0:22:56.639
<v Speaker 3>is our executive producer. Sage Bauman is the head of

0:22:56.640 --> 0:23:01.240
<v Speaker 3>Bloomberg Podcasts. Big thanks to the Elon Ink crew, David Papadopolis,

0:23:01.400 --> 0:23:06.600
<v Speaker 3>Naomi Shaven, Magus Hendrickson, Stacy Wong listen every Tuesday for

0:23:06.680 --> 0:23:11.080
<v Speaker 3>breaking Elon news, and thanks to our Bloomberg colleagues David Fox,

0:23:11.200 --> 0:23:15.560
<v Speaker 3>Julia Press, Dana Hull, Sarah Fryar, Kurt Wagner, Mark Millian,

0:23:15.840 --> 0:23:20.960
<v Speaker 3>Becca Greenfield, Margaret Sutherland, Alison Mobley, Jackie Kessler, Ariel Brown,

0:23:21.240 --> 0:23:25.199
<v Speaker 3>Chris Nescenzo and Albert Hicks. An extra big thanks to

0:23:25.200 --> 0:23:28.400
<v Speaker 3>Brad Stone, editor of BusinessWeek and Katie Boyce, executive editor

0:23:28.400 --> 0:23:32.280
<v Speaker 3>of Bloomberg Digital for their unflagging support. Part two of

0:23:32.320 --> 0:23:35.040
<v Speaker 3>Citizen Elon comes out next week, and since we won't

0:23:35.080 --> 0:23:37.960
<v Speaker 3>know how this thing ends until after the election, that's

0:23:37.960 --> 0:23:40.680
<v Speaker 3>when you'll hear the last part of our series. I'm

0:23:40.680 --> 0:23:43.040
<v Speaker 3>Max Chafkin. If you have a minute, rate and review

0:23:43.080 --> 0:23:47.040
<v Speaker 3>our show, it'll help other listeners find us. Thanks again,