107 Days

by Kamala Harris

Elon Musk had set off my spidey senses long before his MAGAfication and his endorsement of Trump. Both SpaceX and Tesla sprang to life in California, and millions of California taxpayers had helped the companies prosper. But when Democrats tried to tie electric car subsidies to workplace standards—Tesla had been sued for labor violations, including racial discrimination and suppressing union organizing efforts—Musk began a rightward pivot. It accelerated during Covid, when he refused to close the Tesla plant to protect the health of his workers. When he moved his operations to Texas, he claimed it was because the state offered more “freedom,” which was the height of hypocrisy, since Texas, with its draconian abortion ban and the privacy-shredding policies around it, violated the most basic of human liberties. Musk is a talented entrepreneur. But there are genius engineers behind the cars and rockets, such as Tesla’s former longtime chief technical officer, J. B. Straubel, who deserve just as much credit. Despite what I think of Musk, I believe Joe Biden made a mistake in not inviting him to the White House in 2021 for an event promoting our electric vehicle policy. I shared this view with his team. Behind the president on the lawn that day were electric Fords, Chevys, Jeeps. American-made Teslas, then the world’s most innovative and successful electric cars, were nowhere to be seen. Biden, loyal to the UAW, was sending a message about Musk’s anti-union stance. But as presi...

Musk