No, Democrats Should not Befriend Elon Musk Now

He's still a super spreader of conspiracies, hate, and destruction. Oh, and he illegally stole all our data.

You may have heard about a public feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump. I’ll assume you have and bypass the details here.

There’s been a lot of punditry and speculation about what all this means for politics in general and the MAGA movement in particular. It’s too early for me to predict. Usually, a few news cycles need to pass before the effects come into view.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump and Musk held a joint press conference tomorrow expounding on how their recent scuffle has made their relationship stronger. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Musk went all-in on a multi-billion-dollar venture into third-party politics. They both need each other in many ways, but they’re also both egomaniacs that would go out of their way to never make this parasitic connection obvious. So it’s hard to say right now how this will play out.

But one thing I do know for sure is that Democrats should not try to woo Musk to their side.

This idea has been floated by a few pundits, commentators, and politicians, such as Anthony Scaramucci (the founder of the infamous unit of labor service time, the “Scaramucci”), and Dem Reps. Ro Khanna and Ritchie Torres.

I don’t know if this point of view will gain steam, but I really hope it doesn’t. Musk has been the face of the Oligarchy that Dems have been trying to position themselves as fighting against since the beginning of the current Trump administration.

In fact, he’s the face of so many things that Dems can and should fight against in the upcoming elections. For starters: Great Replacement Theory, white supremacy, mass illegal migrant voting scheme conspiracies, heavy drug use, dismantling of relied-upon government services, the death and demise of poor people across the world, boated corrupt government contracts, quasi-Nazi salutes, meddling in foreign elections for hard right-wing parties, and illegal data piracy and manipulation.

So why would the Democratic Party have any interest in befriending such a person?

Because he is extremely rich, with a proven penchant for political spending, I assume. And that fact that he owns the most popular and influential social media company in the world.

But, seriously, any other reason? Is there anything he brings to the table to better society at this stage in his life?

Note that I’m referring to this current era of Musk. Ten years ago, he was different. He was the face of technological and societal progress then. But this is no longer the case.

Rep. Khanna recently posted the following on Xitter:

If Biden had a big supporter criticize him, Trump would have hugged him the next day. When we refused to meet with [RFK, Jr.], Trump embraced him and won. We can be the party of sanctimonious lectures, or the party of FDR that knows how to win and build a progressive majority.

I am actually a believer that there are ways that Democrats should behave more like Republicans in order to win elections (a post about this is likely coming soon), but this is not one of those ways. Taking in someone that’s been espousing repugnant beliefs very publicly is not a good strategy and is just taking a page from the worst of MAGA.

There are a couple problems with this analogy to RFK, Jr., which also apply to other ex-Democrats that have been excommunicated from the party, such as Tulsi Gabbard.

First, yes, Trump would have “hugged him the next day”, but that’s because he’s a desperate transactional actor. It’s not even clear that RFK Jr. helped him win. Trump just did a knee-jerk thing that seemed valuable at the time. Looking back on the 2024 election, RFK Jr.’s “MAHA” movement wasn’t exactly the main issue people voted for.

Second, RFK, Jr., like Gabbard and Musk, have been pushed away by Democrats not because Democrats cancelled them for a few offensive comments. They simply are not aligned with Democrats anymore. Their politics evolved where they have a much more comfortable home in the MAGA Republican party now. This isn’t Democrats shunning them, it’s that they now espouse ideas that Democrats don’t espouse. Publicly saying or implying this is Democrats’ fault is the kind of self-flagellation that is keeping Democrats from being more popular.

The current politics of Elon Musk are not something Democrats should now embrace. By embracing him now, just because they have a common enemy (at least for a few days), they are embracing all of him and all his current beliefs.

Yes, electric vehicles are great for the environment and a major technology of the future, but Democrats can be for this and not embrace Musk.

Same with space and satellite technology. Musk has led companies that provide essential and useful technologies in this regard. But there are other companies out there as well that can be utilized, headed by people that just quietly get things done, who aren’t the faces of a 1930’s-style authoritarian movement.

And let’s not forget that he conducted an illegal data piracy scheme (DOGE) while simultaneously illegally cancelling federal contracts and other government appropriations at will. He broke the law and should be prosecuted for this.

If Elon wants to give money to Democrats, fine, use the money. But don’t feel beholden to him in any way. And definitely don’t befriend or embrace him now. He’s gone too far and caused too much damage to be a credible advisor or policy player.

He can wallow in political obscurity now. He can be a man without a political home. That’s where people like him should be.

He’s the face of everything that needs to be stamped out so that a functioning small “d” democratic government can thrive again.