'Foolish' Newsom Faces Backlash From His Own Party After Latest Snub of Elon Musk

'Foolish' Newsom Faces Backlash From His Own Party After Latest Snub of Elon Musk

Revolutionary-era French statesman Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand once remarked that the exiled Bourbon monarchs had “learned nothing and forgotten nothing.”

Today, after President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election, it seems some Democrats are channeling a similar mindset.

The UK’s Daily Mail reports that California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, whose self-styled aristocratic tendencies famously led him to sidestep his own COVID-19 restrictions, is taking action against Tesla CEO and Trump ally Elon Musk. The move has drawn criticism from members of Newsom’s own party, with Democratic Representative Ro Khanna of California branding the plan as “foolish.”

Newsom’s proposal would grant state tax rebates for electric vehicle purchases—but with a catch. The rebate would apply only to vehicles made by struggling EV manufacturers, leaving Tesla, the state’s dominant EV producer with a 55% market share, notably excluded. In contrast, Hyundai and BMW, with market shares of 6.4% and 5.5%, respectively, would qualify for the incentive.

The intent behind Newsom’s plan appears glaringly obvious: to target Musk’s Tesla.

“Even though Tesla is the only company who manufactures their EVs in California! This is insane,” Musk commented on his platform, X, on Monday.

Rep. Khanna, a progressive Democrat, echoed Musk’s concerns.

“Tesla makes over 550,000 vehicles in Fremont in my district & employs over 20,000. Let’s not play politics with keeping manufacturing in California,” Khanna stated.

“It would be foolish to exclude Tesla. Have we learned nothing from snubbing @elonmusk at the Biden EV summit?” he added.

President Joe Biden has a history of disregarding Musk, going beyond simply ignoring Tesla’s pivotal role in the EV industry.

Khanna may be overly optimistic in believing that including Musk in the Biden administration’s EV initiatives could have deterred the Tesla CEO from aligning with Trump.

One former Democratic operative responded to Khanna on X, summing up the broader issue: “How did we become the party of censorship, Liz Cheney and cruelly and capriciously killing pet squirrels?”

Khanna’s desire to protect 20,000 jobs in his district is understandable. However, his critique of Newsom’s proposal underscores a broader problem within the Democratic Party.

For nearly a decade, Democrats have positioned themselves primarily as a reactionary opposition to Trump, often relying on extreme and authoritarian tactics.

With the rise of Musk’s X platform, their once-dominant control over information dissemination has crumbled. Their tactics have backfired, culminating in Trump’s victory.

Now, the party must choose: adopt the pragmatic approach Khanna advocates or follow Newsom’s Bourbon-like path into irrelevance.