Elon Musk has been criticized for staying on as an adviser to Donald Trump. On May 31, he tweeted that he apparently has had it with the feckless toddler-in-chief. The Tweet was predicated on the assumption that The Mouth Who Roared really is about to cancel the US commitment to the Paris climate accords.
Musk is a member of an economic advisory board and the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative. Previously, he has said it is preferable to have a seat at the table than not. He feels his input is something the puerile president might actual give some weight to. But after Trump’s disastrous trip to the G7 meeting in Sicily last weekend, where he pranced around like a preening prima donna and complained to anyone who would listen that the European Union is bad because it once took him more than two years to get permission to build a golf course in Europe, the news today is filled with reports that he is prepared to pull the US out of the Paris climate accords.
And what if that happens?
Musk has been a champion of climate action since long before he became involved with Tesla Motors. He has often said that everything he and Tesla are trying to do is connected to his desire to see the world stop using fossil fuels that befoul the environment when they are extracted, transported, and consumed.
His mission for Tesla is not to build luxury cars for wealthy people but rather to introduce premium electric cars to those who help shape public attitudes about zero emissions transportation. The same goes for his involvement in rooftop solar power and grid scale battery storage that replaces fossil fuel generating plants and promotes the greening of the electrical grid.
Among all the dark news swirling about, Musk also took time to retweet the good news that the stockholders of ExxonMobil staged a revolt against company management at the annual meeting on May 30. More than 60% of them voted to require the company to begin publicly disclosing the climate related risks to its business.
Lest anyone has any doubts about where Musk stands on climate change, he made his position crystal clear at a presentation he gave at the Sorbonne in Paris during the negotiations that led up to the climate change accords. That is where he made his famous “turd in the punchbowl” remark. Powerful stuff.
Elon needs to take a stand regarding the infantile chief executive. There are reports that some Tesla customers are considering cancelling their orders for the upcoming Model 3 automobiles because they are displeased with his relationship with Trump. That may be the motivation that convinces Musk to step away from the table at Trump Tower.
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