Mike Murphy: The Curious Case of Elon Musk, MAGA & Electric Vehicles

"Today’s post lives at that busy crossroads of business and politics.

Yesterday, the busy elves at the American EV Jobs Alliance (where I’m Founding Elf) released a fascinating report on Elon Musk’s numbers in a national poll we did after the election

The data tells a odd but impressive story: Elon has sped from EV Jesus to MAGA superstar with neck-snapping speed, creating all sorts of complicated cross currents. On one hand Elon’s new MAGA Avenger could have a strong positive effect on future Republican consumer acceptance of EVs. (There is some evidence in the data he already has.) That said, to date there is little evidence he is personally interested in doing anything like that. I think the cause of EV adoption is longer of any interest to Elon with his current role as Acting President of the United States, Twitter yob and Federal HR Berserker being so much more fun.

So then, how is Elon’s new Bond villain status among so many non-GOP current and potential EV buyers affecting Tesla’s brand? It’s not pretty. (Quite the ol’ gender gap for Elon too.)

A good tell in the data? Elon v2.0 is far more popular with pick-up truck drivers… than with EV owners!

Let’s just say you should be glad, very glad, you are not Tesla’s head of marketing…

From Michael Murphy

"Elon Musk is more popular with pickup truck drivers than EV drivers"

Source:Michael Smerconish talking to Republican political strategist Michael Murphy. Can you guess which 1 is Michael?

From Michael Smerconish

Mike Murphy's: "Elon Musk is more popular with pickup truck drivers than EV drivers", line, reminds me of then Governor Howard Dean's late 2003 or early 2004 line, when he was running for President and still in contention for the Democratic nomination, about people who would be called Donald Trump voters today: 

"I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks. It’s time that Democrats address guys with gun racks in the back of their trucks". 

From POLITICO

Now, Howard Dean took a lot of heat for that and not just from right-wing, blue-collar Republicans, especially from small towns, who voted for George W. Bush for President in 2000 and 04, as well as some small town blue-collar Democrats who voted for G.W. Bush in both elections as well, for being a cultural bigot, a Northeastern elitist, (or something) who doesn't like rednecks. (To be frank about it) But Mike Murphy, who is a blue-collar Republicans from Detroit, who worked for the Bush's, as well as John McCain, can get away with that. 

Another Mike Murphy quote talking to Michael Smerconish: 

"You are never going to get Bubba (referring to stereotypical Donald Trump voters) to buy a Ford Lightning pickup to run your tools off that would (by the way) beat a lot of cars in a drag race, if he has to put a Save The Whales sticker on the back of his pickup next to the NRA. You are not going to win the virtues thing here. So quit trying!"

I don't claim to be an expert on Elon Musk.... but only because I'm not. I also don't claim to be an expert on: 

Brain surgery

Astro physics

Field hockey... 

But only because I'm not. But what I do know about Elon Musk is very clear: he's not a politician, doesn't want to be. He's a businessman... an oligarch. If he thought he could make a billion dollars producing nothing but vegan foods and other products and thought campaigning to outlaw meat, junk food, and soft drinks, so his vegan business would be even more successful, that's exactly what he would do. Even while still eating cheeseburgers (and I don't what he actually like to eat) with fries and washing that down with chocolate milkshake. And that would make him very popular with the Hippie-Left in America, (to keep it real) even if they founded out that he still eats meat and likes his junk food and soft drinks. 

I think the mistake that the Left (if not far-left) made with Elon Musk pre-MAGA, was to think that he is one of them, because his company makes electric vehicles. 

The Left supporting Elon Musk, was the same mistake that Independents and perhaps even blue-collar Democrats, as well as Arabs, Latinos, and even urban African-Americans who voted for Donald Trump in 24, but are now regretting that: they tried taking their final exam (meaning the 24 presidential election) without doing any of the work and the studying needed to pass that exam. And they all failed miserably and a lot of them are at least starting to regret their votes.

You can follow me on Threads. 

You can also see this post on WordPress.