[95500] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Our economy is in-trouble, but Trump-has a secret-weapon.
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (BreakingNews)
Fri Feb 10 13:18:47 2017
Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2017 11:21:42 -0700
Reply-To: BreakingNews@economyssecretweapon.com
To: mit-talk-mtg@charon.mit.edu
From: BreakingNews <BreakingNews@economyssecretweapon.com>
February 10th, 2017.
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Trump's "Secret-Weapon" for Economic-Recovery.
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Recession-Update ID No.9634450586236.
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Greetings,
Meet President-Trump's new secret-weapon...Elon-Musk!
He says the American-economy is in DEEP trouble and your job could-vanish in
six months or less! But Musk-says that he has the solution and President-Trump
is trusting him to help turn things around.
Find out what they are saying every single-America MUST do in order to protect-themselves.
Go here to read this exclusive-story now: http://financeinfo.economyssecretweapon.com
If you'd prefer not.to.get these economyads-you can_visit here: http://hwek8.economyssecretweapon.com
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#_2885_Sanford Ave.S.W.No.40442.
*-Grandville, M.I. #49418.
Less than a week before the 2016 presidential election, when most media observers thought Hillary Clinton was a lock to win, Elon Musk called CNBC and unloaded on Donald Trump. ???He doesn't seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the United States,??? he said.
In the three months since Trump's surprise victory, Musk has changed course, becoming something of an ally to Trump. When the then president-elect held a tech summit in December, Musk agreed to attend. He wasn???t the only one. Apple???s Tim Cook, Amazon???s Jeff Bezos, Facebook???s Sheryl Sandberg, Microsoft???s Satya Nadella, and others joined him at the table. But they didn???t agree to a larger role advising the Trump administration as did Musk, who has met with the president and his team more than any other tech industry leader, save for Peter Thiel.
Last weekend, after Trump signed an executive order barring Syrian refugees from the United States, along with refugees and citizens from six other Muslim-majority nations, several tech leaders released statements of opposition, if not outrage. Sergey Brin, the Google co-founder who first came to America as a refugee, attended a protest at San Francisco International Airport, and spoke at a mass walk-out by more than 2000 Google employees on Monday. ???I came here to the U.S. at age 6 with my family from the Soviet Union, which was at that time the greatest enemy the U.S. had,??? he said. ??? under the threat of nuclear annihilation ... the U.S. had the courage to take me and my family in as refugees.???
Tim Cook wrote to Apple employees, criticizing Trump???s immigration order in uncompromising terms, as did Facebook???s Mark Zuckerberg. Microsoft and Amazon have since announced plans to challenge the order in court. Yesterday, Uber???s Travis Kalanick quit Trump???s economic advisory council in response to the #deleteuber campaign that followed in the order???s wake???and, according to The New York Times, pointed questioning from Uber???s employees as to why he hadn???t resigned already. Musk has also come out against the order, albeit gently. On Twitter, he described it as ???not the best way to address the country???s challenges.??? And unlike Kalanick, he remains committed to his advisory role in the Trump administration, even amid reports that some Tesla customers are cancelling their Model 3 orders in protest.
???I cannot support a company where the CEO is acting as a conduit to the rise of white nationalism and fascism in the United States,??? one customer wrote on a cancellation form obtained by BuzzFeed. ???I???ve always been a fan of Mr. Musk???s, but his recent actions have been abhorrent. ... Take a stand, Elon.???
Last night, Musk took to Twitter to defend his continuing relationship with Trump. ???Advisory councils simply provide advice and attending does not mean that I agree with actions by the Administration,??? he wrote. ???In tomorrow???s meeting, I and others will express our objections to the recent executive order on immigration and offer suggestions for changes to the policy.???
Musk, who is an immigrant himself, says he understands the perspective of those who object to his attendance at the meeting, but he believes that ???engaging [with Trump] on critical issues will on balance serve the greater good.???
The ???on balance??? part is important. Musk knows that every time he accepts an invitation from the White House, he allows Trump to leverage his unique cultural status in American life, as perhaps the most admired technologist since Steve Jobs. In the decidedly pro-immigration technology industry, many were already suspicious of Trump, and are especially so now, following the executive order. Many Tesla owners hold similar views. Musk is paying a price for these repeated meetings, among his current staff, future prospective hires, and his customers. And yet, he seems to think that any reputational hit he takes will be more than offset by the good he can do as a policy advisor to the president.
I take Musk at his word that his decision is borne of this balance, and not narrower business interests involving Tesla or SpaceX. Even in Silicon Valley, where it is commonplace to talk of changing the world, Musk has always stood out for his earnestness. Few others are so comfortable using explicitly moral language to describe their technological ambitions. He once told me that his rocket company was a ???humanitarian??? project. It???s no surprise that Musk would think he???d spotted some greater good that others can't see.
