Elon Musk Comments on Potential Trump 2024 Bid, Announces Plan to Get Involved in Politics in a Big Way
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk hedged Tuesday when asked if he would support former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
Musk last week said he might potentially support Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2024.
On Tuesday, during a video interview at Bloomberg’s Qatar Economic Forum in Doha, he was asked about his 2024 choice, according to a transcript of the interview posted by Bloomberg.
“Well, I was simply asked if I had decided on who I would be supporting in the next presidential race, and I said I had not decided who I would support. Then I was asked, well, who might you be leaning towards? I said possibly DeSantis,” Musk said.
Musk was then asked directly about Trump, who has not officially announced he is running.
JUST IN: When asked if he would support Donald Trump in the next US presidential race, @elonmusk says “I’m undecided at this point on that election” https://t.co/BLcp2WIvub #QatarEconomicForum pic.twitter.com/Sqe12g7qJr
— Bloomberg Live (@BloombergLive) June 21, 2022
“I think I’m undecided at this point on that election,” he said.
Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait then asked about the political action committee Musk talked of forming to support moderate candidates.
“I’ve not decided on an amount, but it would be some non-trivial figure, I think,” he said, before being asked about what “non-trivial” might mean.
“Well, I’ve not decided on an exact amount, but perhaps it would be $20 million or $25 million,” he said.
I’m thinking of creating a “Super Moderate Super PAC” that supports candidates with centrist views from all parties
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 15, 2022
During the session, he was asked about the chance of a recession hitting.
“Well, I think a recession is inevitable at some point. As to whether there is a recession in the near term, I think that is more likely than not. It certainly isn’t a certainty, but it appears more likely than not,” he said.
Musk, whose bid to buy Twitter has generated intense interest, was asked about the social media platform.
“Well, my aspiration for Twitter or in general for the digital town square would be that it is as inclusive — in the broader sense of the word — as possible. That it is an appealing system to use. So I mean, ideally, I’d like to get like 80 percent of North America and perhaps half the world or something ultimately on Twitter in one form or another,” he said.
“And that means it must be something that is appealing to people. It obviously cannot be a place where they feel uncomfortable or harassed, or they’ll simply not use it. And I think there’s this big difference between freedom of speech and freedom of reach in that one can, obviously, let’s say in the United States go in the middle of Times Square and pretty much yell anything you want. You’ll annoy the people around you, but you’re kind of allowed to just sort of yell whatever you want in a crowded public place, more or less, apart from ‘this is robbery’ — probably that would get you in trouble.
“So I think generally the approach of Twitter should be to let people say what they want to do within the bounds of the law, but then limit who sees that based on any given Twitter user’s preferences. So if your preferences are to see anything, or read anything, then well, you’ll get that. But if your preferences are well, you prefer not to see comments that you find offensive in one form or another, then you can have that as a setting and not see it.
“But I think one way or another, one needs to take the steps that entice most people to want to be on Twitter, and enjoy it and find it informative and entertaining and funny and useful — as useful as possible,” he concluded.
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