Elon Musk

The commenters over at Instapundit tend to be cordial, docile, and tolerant. They're not overly friendly or gushing in their sentiments, but overall, they're a generally polite crowd, with a few intolerant, angry ones sprinkled into the mix. But as I've discovered over the past week, some of these commenters are easily triggered if you attack their sacred cow, Elon Musk.

I'm not a hater of Mr. Musk, who is apparently a triple citizen of South Africa, Canada, and the United States. I admire his SpaceX program, which has leapfrogged NASA in many ways, and while I'm not totally on board with his Neuralink, I respect his big-vision, future-looking style. What I don't like about Musk is the way he's invested in China. If I'm not mistaken, Musk has a Tesla plant there, as well as a Tesla display studio in Xinjiang, China, where all the Uyghur concentration camps are.

So while lots of people on the right are going gaga over some of Musk's saucier tweets (which often seem to be in defense of rightie-friendly issues like freedom of speech), I'm standing off to the side as something of a Musk skeptic. As I said, I don't hate the man, but there are things about him that I question. His investing in China, when we're all being urged to pivot away from China, is one reason. Another is that Musk has come out in favor of Universal Basic Income, which I find insane. Righties should not make the mistake of thinking this guy is a fellow rightie. He is not. He is a businessman, first and foremost, an amoral actor, a lover of filthy lucre, and if you're on your knees blindly fellating him, well, don't be surprised when that tactic explodes in your face, so to speak.

Anyway, I've been vocal about my Musk-related doubts over in the Instapundit comment threads, and just within the past 24 hours, I've been called names like "worthless," "backstabbing," and "traitorous" by rightie idiots who seem to want to ignore Musk's flaws. I've had pushback from more civil folks who have tried to spin Musk's activity in China as his somehow "taking money from China," but that's a load of nonsense. To establish his Chinese beachhead, Musk had to pour money into China, which is something the CCP likes very much. And having a Tesla facility right in the heart of the Uyghur territory shows, to me, that Musk doesn't care all that deeply about the Uyghur situation (not that I do, either, but it seems to be a concern for a lot of folks). Add to that the Universal Basic Income thing, and I see no reason to worship Musk as some kind of rightie icon. He so obviously isn't. And yet, if Instapundit is any indication, a lot of righties love Musk.

Go figure.