At approximately 8:45 p.m. EST on the evening of August 12, Tesla (TSLA) CEO and X (formerly known as Twitter) owner Elon Musk hosted what the platform called "a conversation" with former U.S. President and Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump.
During the nearly two-hour event — marred by technical difficulties that Musk attributed to a DDOS attack (X employees told The Verge that there wasn't one) — Trump used the opportunity to speak to America to engage in a long, often rambling discussion with Musk, covering key Republican talking points such as immigration, inflation, and foreign policy.
During the talk, Musk took the opportunity to broach a topic that is close to his heart, and pockets, but is also considered pretty controversial among Trump's supporters: EVs.
Musk's surprising defense
After the former president derided the threat of climate change and repeated his unwavering commitment to fossil fuels during their conversation, Musk made a very subtle but friendly plea to reduce the world's dependence on oil and gas in a way that Republicans could understand.
On the topic of energy and climate change, the CEO of the country's most prolific electric car manufacturer surprisingly came to the defense of the fossil fuel industry.
He claimed that the economy “would collapse” if oil and gas firms were forced to shut down and that the planet could transition to a sustainable energy economy in “50 or 100 years.”
“So it’s not like the house is on fire immediately,” Musk said. “But I think it is something we need to move towards... It’s probably better to move there faster than slower. But like without vilifying the oil and gas industry and without causing hardship in the short term.”
Related: Your local car dealer may have this shocking opinion about EVs
However, he contradicted himself almost immediately. Musk noted that the air will become harder to breathe with the continued use of fossil fuels and brought up cases where fumes in the air have caused people to experience “headaches and nausea.”
But, according to Musk, there is no urgency to jump into cleaner, renewable fuels.
"We still have quite a bit of time,” he said. “We don’t need to rush.”
Elon's EV pitch
With this dilemma in mind, Elon pitched Tesla as a "virtues-free" approach to the electric vehicle, pointing out that the act of owning an EV — specifically owning a Tesla, does not mean they are "giving up" on the things they like about cars.
“When you look at our cars, we don’t believe that environmentalism, that caring about the environment, should mean that you have to suffer,” Musk said.
“So we make sure that our cars are beautiful, if they drive well, if they’re fast, they’re, you know, sexy.”
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Musk then used some familiar Republican talking points to drive the sentiment home.
“I don’t think we should vilify people for it, but I think we should just, just generally lean in the direction of sustainability,” Musk said.
“We don’t need to, to rush and, and we don’t need to like, you know, stop farmers from farming or, you know, prevent people from having steaks.”
Republicans are not keen on EVs
Convincing Republicans to drive EVs will be difficult, even for someone as influential as Elon Musk.
Although Trump has made it clear that he is "for electric cars" and that he has "no choice" because "Elon endorsed me very strongly," a clear platform issue listed by his campaign on its website is "CANCEL THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE MANDATE AND CUT COSTLY AND BURDENSOME REGULATIONS."
The "mandate" refers to newly revised EPA rules unveiled in March. Under the revised rules, the administration targets at least 56% of new vehicle sales to be EVs by 2032, a reduction from nearly 67% the previous year.
Related: Elon Musk's endorsement inspired Trump's sudden flip-flop on EVs
Still, any "target" in regards to EV is too high for the former President, and the rhetoric has stuck inside the heads of many Republican voters.
According to a June 2024 poll by the Pew Research Center, about 3 in 10 Americans surveyed said they would seriously consider buying an electric vehicle.
Additionally, 77% of Republicans or those who lean Republican say they won’t consider one, and a majority think they’re too expensive, less reliable, cost more to charge than to fuel, and worse for the environment compared to gas-guzzlers.
Like a "giant red MAGA hat"
Musk's support of Trump and his outspoken political views online have turned potential buyers away from the brand.
According to analytics firm CivicScience, as of July 16, Tesla’s favorability among Democrats has dropped to 16%. In an interview with Yahoo Finance, CivicScience CEO John Dick said that Democrats strongly align Musk with the brand, which can pose problems for the brand's image.
In a July 2 New York Times poll of more than 7,500 of its readers around the country, many readers told the paper that Musk's views and rhetoric have affected their buying decisions.
In one response, a Seattle-based Microsoft product designer told the paper that he plans to buy a Volkswagen ID.4 instead of a Tesla because "You’re basically driving around a giant red MAGA hat," referring to the snap-back baseball caps worn by Trump and his avid supporters.
Tesla, which trades on the NASDAQ as TSLA is up 3.73% from the opening bell, trading at $204.86 per share at the time of writing.
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