Source: Tesla’s Musk Says “No Choice” But to Quit Trump Panel if US Quits Paris Climate Accord | TheDetroitBureau.com Faced with the growing likelihood Pres. Donald Trump will pull the United States out of the Paris climate chance agreement binding the country to cut production of CO2 and other global warming gases, Tesla CEO and environmental champion Elon Musk said he will have “no choice” but to quit three separate White House economic advisory councils. Musk would be the latest transportation industry leader to leave the Trump panels, following the move by Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick earlier this year. Bob Wilson
He already answered that question in a tweet awhile back. He said that a moderate voice could only be positive. But this latest move by Trump would show Musk that he has no influence over Trump whatsoever and is wasting his time by being there.
I read his bio. Interesting guy. He sincerely believes most of his own crap, but modesty isn't his tragic flaw.... You hit the nail squarely on the head. It's damn hard to steer a ship that you've abandoned.....and Musk is one of the few people on the planet that POTUS probably genuinely respects.....and rightfully so. Musk is a busy guy. He's tinkering with tunnel boring machines, roof tiles, cars, and rockets. Lots of hobbies, so his 'inside the beltway' activities are more about his name on a letterhead than actual time back-slapping and glad-handing with slimy policy hacks, something that his .....ahhhh....unique personality probably isn't well suited for anyway. HOWEVER (comma!) POTUS' tragic flaw isn't humility either.....and he's never passed on an opportunity to avenge what he perceives to be a slight. So......until the next (Uncle Joe's???) admin comes along, Musk has about a zero-percent chance of getting face time with somebody in a cornerless (actually, corner-free) office that he stands a chance of genuinely influencing.....and more is the pity. Net result? Almost zero. Paris is a decades process, and quite frankly it will probably be better served by a temporary (4 yr or less) US withdrawal rather than a tepid, slow-rolling by the present administration.
Musk of 2017, seven years ago, is not the Musk of today. The first symptom was Oct 2022 when he bought Twitter. I've already seen others who "over night" went nuts. Musk is not immune to this defect of our species ... and that includes me. When I decided to get an AR-15, I opened the subject with my physician at my next general checkup. We had a good conversation and I was not advised there was a problem. Mental health is a public policy problem that begins with each of us. Sad to say, the earlier examples, two individuals who 'went nuts', never really recovered. One was a grandfather who aged out in a nursing home, maintenance drug numbed. The other, a young Marine, got a medical discharge yet still 'cold called' me at my first job after the Marines. I have little confidence Musk will 'get better.' His mental illness is unlikely to be cured and very likely lead to his exploitation. Given his close association with the con-man in Chief, Trump, even less likely. Musk actually believes his current fantasies in spite of counter, empirical evidence ... like my grandfather and the young Marine. The irony is how many project their own "Trump Derangement Syndrome" to avoid dealing with empirical evidence of Trump's behavior. Reality doesn't care. Bob Wilson
And back in the day, everybody complained about Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field. I don't think he has nothing on Trump.
4 years is a long time to not have an adult in the room, but I question whether Musk would have counted as an adult. Your question was seriously pondered by pretty much every member of the Cabinet of #45. The Cabinet of #47 is not looking like it will be filled with people who ponder anything seriously, except how to acquire power without being burned by someone with even more power. Each is hoping to buck the trend of getting chewed up and spat out.
Soon enough, Musk will enjoy the "gift" of Trump's business practices. The only delay will be Trump maximizing stealing everything from Musk: Thanks to Bob Dylan Like a Rolling Stone . . . Ah you never turned around to see the frowns On the jugglers and the clowns when they all did tricks for you You never understood that it ain't no good You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you You used to ride on a chrome horse in an EV car with your diplomat Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat yellow hair cap Ain't it hard when you discovered that He really wasn't where it's at After he took from you everything he could steal How does it feel, how does it feel? To be on your own, with no direction home Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone . . . Musk's wealth is dependent on the price people will pay for his TSLA stock. Take Musk away from TSLA, and the stock price will crash and every other car, including ICE, will look a lot better. Lobotomize or ban Full Self Driving and my last reason for owning a Tesla evaporates (and "over the air update" will mysteriously fail on my car.) Bob Wilson
Trump claims to be a master negotiator (Art of the Deal, and all that). Yet he drops out of the Paris Climate Accord, the Iran Nuclear deal and Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal in his first term, making no attempt to negotiate terms that he found more acceptable on any one of them. (Ok, his administration did engage his North American counterparts to negotiate NAFTA 2.0, but to most observers it did not significantly change anything from the first version anyway, and he still rails against this new agreement that his people negotiated). Now it seems he intends to withdraw the US from the WHO and probably NATO. Since when is walking away from an agreement (as opposed to merely threatening to walk away) exercising good negotiating skills?
Ever READ the TPP? How about the JCPOA? WHO runs the WHO? The W.H.O. Skips Forward Two Greek Letters, Avoiding a Xi Variant - The New York Times As far as NATO? Two questions: HOW did 'The Great War' start and how much does it cost to operate a Carrier Strike Group? Bonus Question: How many nations HAVE carrier strike groups? I was a 'Never Trumper' before the only political party I ever registered with said: 'Hold my beer!'
At the risk of relocating the thread to Fred's House of Politics, Musk once left Trump: June 1, 2017 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk and Walt Disney Co CEO Robert Iger said on Thursday they would leave White House advisory councils after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would withdraw from the Paris climate accord. ... Musk's actions since 2017 are consistent with observations of rapid onset insanity that I've seen it twice before. My paternal Grandfather took a couple of years and time in the State Mental Hospital (before antipsychotic drugs.) He passed, heavily medicated, in a nursing home. The other was a young Marine who cold called me at work a month after I got out in 1975. Bob Wilson
I have not read ether of those documents, but trust that those responsible for negotiating them would be able to explain their logic in agreeing to their terms. It would seem out of character for Trump to have discussed any of the terms with their creators before declaring unilaterally that the US was out. Concerning the WHO skipping a couple of Greek letters in naming COVID variants, is it a crime to go out of one's way to avoid offending another party, no matter how uncooperative they are? Showing deference is never a bad strategy in any type of negotiation, in my opinion. With NATO, only a very myopic person would not recognize benefits that accrue to the only world superpower by ingratiating themselves to those in need of help. It's good that Trump encouraged other NATO members to step up the funding of their defence, but now that they have, why would you still walk away? Hopefully, this threat is just a negotiating tactic, but John Bolton doesn't seem to think so.
