the essential
The richest man in the world and minister to Donald Trump, Elon Musk leaves no American indifferent. From those who admire it to those who are disgusted by it, the report by our correspondent in the United States, Vincent Piala.
Christopher has lived and lived in New York since his birth 34 years ago. This convinced Democratic voter owns a Tesla, which he uses in particular in his professional activity: he is a VTC driver. For a few days, this thirty-year-old has stuck a sticker on the back of his vehicle which reads: “I bought this car before he went crazy”. “He” is Elon Musk, the owner of the car brand, who changed direction in recent months and ended up supporting Donald Trump in his race for the presidential election.
Also read:
PORTRAIT. Elon Musk: boss of Tesla and Space X, minister of Donald Trump… is the billionaire inspiring or worrying?
Christopher is not the only one to publicly dissociate himself from Elon Musk: sales of stickers of this type have exploded recently on the Internet. “The image of Tesla is very attached to that of Musk, and I am almost ashamed to have contributed to the success of a man who turns out to be the opposite of everything I believe in,” explains the VTC driver . I received a few remarks, in the street, and a few obscene gestures too, from people who personified their disgust of Musk through his cars. It was important for me to publicly display my rejection of who he is. When I have amortized the purchase of the vehicle, it is likely that I will resell it for another brand. »
“If you take a stand, you will have to pay the price”
His involvement in politics constituted a big risk for Elon Musk. An NBC poll carried out before the presidential election materialized this danger: only 6% of Democrats now have a good image of him, while they were still 20% three years ago. Conversely, his popularity exploded among the ranks of Republican voters: from 30% to 62%.
“If you just look at the numbers and you don't know who they refer to, you might think it's a classic Republican Party figure,” notes Jeff Horwitt, one of the authors of the study via the Hart Research. But the problem is that he is not a politician, he is involved in many sectors of American society, in our personal lives and in that of government, and it is a serious problem to concentrate around his person figures which show so much division. This is politics today: if you take a stand, you will have to pay the price. »
Elon Musk himself was quite aware of the uncomfortable position he was putting himself in. “If he loses the election, I'm screwed: I spent my time ranting about Kamala…” he blurted out on the sidelines of an interview with conservative podcaster Tucker Carlson a few days before the election. “When you want to work with government or through public-private partnerships, becoming such a divisive personality makes working with people on the other side more complicated,” notes Jeff Horwitt.
A “disturbed mind”
Elon Musk has attracted a lot of criticism since his purchase of Twitter, which he quickly renamed X. He is notably accused of misusing the platform for ideological purposes. Musk notably went to war against wokism, which he calls “virus”, guilty according to him of having contributed to the gender change of his daughter, and with which he cut all ties: Vivian Jenna Wilson became in the United States -Unis one of the fiercest opponents of her father, broadcasting numerous messages on social networks displaying his lies and untruths…
In the United States, a country that has adopted it, Elon Musk has always divided. Some want to portray him as a visionary genius, while others prefer to emphasize that he did not create any of his companies, simply buying them before making them grow at the cost of extreme management. Media reports, based on confessions from former relatives such as author Sam Harris, highlight Musk's serious drug addiction and “disturbed mind.”
Propensities known to everyone in the world outside of tech and the Silicon Valley ecosystem where Elon Musk lived for a long time, but which were only exposed to broad daylight when the entrepreneur launched into politics. For better and for worse.
