The Trump-Musk showdown continues

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The recent dispute between Trump and Musk over green energy subsidies has been simmering for a long time. One knew it had to come to the surface eventually. Their opinions on green energy are just too far apart. Trump stands on one side urging the Senate to put a dagger in the heart of the green energy vampire with his post on Truth Social stating,

Windmills, and the rest of this ‘JUNK,’ are the most expensive and inefficient energy in the world, is destroying the beauty of the environment, and is 10 times more costly than any other energy. It is time to break away, finally, from this craziness!!!

Musk stands on the other side attacking Senate Republicans for further proposed cuts to green energy subsidies with the following post on X:

Earlier this year, in an article entitled, Musk, battery salesman or American hero?, I tried to make sense of the contradictions which abound within Musk. On the one hand, he stepped forward and did a service to all Americans by liberating Twitter (rechristened X) and later supported Trump in his successful bid for reelection. In addition, Musk went on to lead DOGE in widely publicizing corruption in USAID. As I stated in my earlier article, those accomplishments alone are enough to accord hero status to Musk.

I also pointed out that Musk, more than any other man, has profited from the generous government subsidies for EVs, batteries, solar, and wind. I also witnessed Musk on many occasions deceive the public regarding the feasibility and economics of those technologies. In his latest statement, he does not even touch on those issues but instead pleads that “the latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America … while severely damaging industries of the future.” However, he is ignoring what economist Milton Friedman and others have said about tax incentives leading to a distortion of the market and hindering long-term economic growth by preventing resources from flowing to their most productive uses. This contrasts the perspective of the businessman with the economist. The businessman has the perspective of offering a valuable product or service to customers and maximizing the return on investment for stockholders. The economist sees things from the perspective of what is good for the economy, in general.

Musk may step out of his role as businessman and entrepreneur to take on the role of concerned citizen as he has done in the recent past, but it should have been obvious to all that he could not abandon his belief in green energy without making his career as founder of the most successful EV manufacturer, Tesla, look like a sham. Moreover, Musk has probably convinced himself that green subsidies are a relatively small price for society to pay to transition away from a fossil-fuel based economy, his reasoning based on vague notions of an impending climate catastrophe or fossil fuel shortage.

The whole affair with Musk does say something about Trump and his commitment to the MAGA vision of America moving forward. He will not be dissuaded by arguments to retain vestiges of Biden’s Green New Deal, no matter what Musk says, just as he was firm in not letting Iran build a nuclear weapon, no matter what Tucker said.

Image generated by AI.