Many persons thought that with Travis Kalanick‘ retirement from the Trump’s advisory council, Tesla CEO Elon Musk would forfeit as well. However, Musk has stated that he struggled to make the immigration issue the first discussion of the agenda and hopes that the meetings produce impact.
According to Musk, he specifically asked for the immigration ban to be the primary subject, as he assures that the request was accepted. Musk explained that this topic was not even considered among the ones present in the agenda, but the intervention he made was enough to put it on the table.
“At my request, the agenda for yesterday’s White House meeting went from not mentioning the travel ban to having it be first and foremost,” Musk wrote on his official Twitter account. “In addition, I again raised climate. I believe this is doing good, so will remain on council & keep at it. Doing otherwise would be wrong.”
Musk’s posture is that more change can be made from the inside than from the outside.
One federal judge has already overturned Trump’s ban, while some people are criticizing Musk by saying that his method to act is way useless. However, he has stated that this battle must be made from all fronts including judicial, legislative and executive channels.
Even after those declarations, Musk has made himself clear that he is not thrilled about participating in the political world, as that takes away time from “inventing and developing technologies that improve lives.”
Musk’s posture and its consequences
The great question regarding this issue is the actual impact that Musk’s role will have in the federal policies from Trump’s Administration. According to Mary Barra, GM’s CEO, there were held discussions about the environment and possible actions. However, the thing is how those discussions would convince Trump’s cabinet of performing differently.
Musk is doing a great job on putting all the subjects on the debate table at the White House, but that does not assure that Trump will change his mind regarding, for example, the Muslim ban or the use of fossil fuels.
The Muslim ban implemented by Trump is not only affecting foreign citizens in their way to returning or entering the United States but is also affecting local companies.
In the case of Tesla, there are about 400,000 persons who paid $1,000 to get a place in the line for when the Model 3 vehicle starts his way in the market. After Musk’s statement regarding his continuity on the Trump’s council, many persons started to cancel the pre-ordering.
Even when Musk has admitted that all adverse comments regarding his posture are affecting him, he still believes that the fact there are several communication channels to achieve what is best for the country is what keeps him moving toward negotiation.
Source: Tech Crunch