Tesla CEO Elon offered up some scathing criticism of the Democratic Party, suggesting the labor unions wield “control” over Joe Biden’s White House.
In the second installment of his interview with the Tesla Owners Silicon Valley club, Musk had also weighed in on Tesla's exclusion from a White House electric vehicles event earlier, saying it was because his company was not unionized.
"The general public is not aware of the degree to which unions control the Democratic Party. One does not need to speculate on this point," said Musk.
None of Musk's Tesla (or SpaceX) facilities in California, Nevada, New York or Texas are represented by labor unions.
In his tweet dated 2 March the billionaire said, "Our real challenge is Bay Area has negative unemployment, so if we don't treat and compensate our (awesome) people well, they have many other offers and will just leave!"
Elon Musk proceeded to touch upon an issue that has long rankled with him – the fact that Tesla was not invited by Biden to the signing of a new executive order in 2021 to set “a new target to make half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 zero-emissions vehicles.”
The President had invited Ford, GM, and Stellantis – all three are the largest employers of United Auto Workers union members. However, appearing to bow to union pressure, Biden snubbed Tesla. Musk accused Joe Biden of ignoring his electric vehicle company in favor of ‘legacy auto makers.’
“Last year, Biden held an EV summit where Tesla was explicitly not allowed to come, but the [United Auto Workers] was. So, Tesla has made two-thirds of all the electric vehicles in the United States… So, deliberately excluding us from an EV summit at the White House — but including UAW — tells you everything you need to know," Musk said in the Tesla Owners Silicon Valley interview.
The UAW is one of the most well-organized and politically powerful unions in the United States.
According to Musk, the unions, “have so much power over the White House that they can exclude Tesla from an EV summit — insane."
The Tesla and SpaceX chief also took issue with Biden heaping praise on GM CEO Mary Barra at the EV summit for leading the "EV revolution," in a quarter where GM delivered just 26 electric vehicles.
"That's some next-level insanity," Musk quipped.
Earlier this year, Elon Musk took a jab at the United Auto Workers over embezzlement charges against an ex-official, saying that the UAW slogan ought to be: "Fighting for the right to embezzle money from autoworkers."
The current outburst against the Democratic Party and the Biden administration follows similar criticism on the part of Elon Musk earlier in the year.
The Tesla CEO had ripped into Biden for ignoring the “obvious” cause of inflation in a podcast interview in May, hinting that “the real president is whoever controls the teleprompter.”
Speaking virtually at an event hosted by the All-In podcast in Miami, Musk, who had “voted overwhelmingly for Democrats, historically,” said he will vote for Republican candidates in the next election. He claimed he could no longer side with the Democrats.