Blue-hatted protests raise the question of whether Elon Musk is a red-hatted Robber Baron.
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This morning, Reuters and AutoNews.com published headlines reading "Tesla Plant Protesters Hold Out In Trees as German Police Clear Camp" and "German Police Clear Protest Site at Tesla Gigafactory," respectively. These headlines highlighted that once considered an environmentalist, Elon Musk is fast approaching "Robber Barton" status.
Musk, the Robber Baron
For a historical perspective of what qualifies someone as being a robber baron, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica
Robber Baron―a pejorative term for one of the powerful 19th-century American industrialists and financiers who made fortunes by monopolizing huge industries through the formation of trusts, engaging in unethical business practices, exploiting workers, and paying little heed to their customers or competition…It has been argued that these capitalist pioneers were the "antecedents" of the organized crime that emerged in the United States during the Prohibition era (1920–33). The robber barons transformed the wealth of the American frontier into vast financial empires, amassing their fortunes by monopolizing essential industries. In turn, these monopolies were built upon the liberal use of tactics that are today the hallmark of organized crime: intimidation, violence, corruption, conspiracies, and fraud.
If you read a little deeper into past infamous U.S. robber barons, the name "Leland Stanford" comes to mind with uncanny similarities relating to transportation (the construction of a transcontinental railroad) and politics (forming the Pacific Association using it to tip political influence toward Stanford's way of thinking and then afterward becoming a U.S. Senator).
Historically, such forms of American “the-ends-justify-the-means” capitalism among notable figures were praised for their "indefatigable pursuit of success and material wealth," leading to their celebration as entrepreneurial tycoons sometimes more politely referred to as "Captains of Industry."
Musk, the Environmentalist
Not so long ago, during Tesla's early years, the case for and praise of the development of EVs was solely attributed to Elon Musk. His popularity initially soared in places like California, where the implied marketing messages of "Here is the future at your feet, and it is all toward creating a Greener Planet" created overnight converts and acolytes for Elon Musk and Tesla.
You could not read a pro-Tesla comment thread without a pseudo-flower child comment like "ICE vehicles are so stupid―why do those owners insist on poisoning our planet?! I would never buy a gas-powered car."
Ah…youth. To feel its sting once again.
However, it does not take much looking to see Musk's fall from a slippery green slope.
As one article posted online in The Guardian stated just one short year ago, "…contradictions run deeply through his (Musk's) work and life:
"…once lauded as a sort of green Tony Stark – the genius inventor who leads a double life as superhero Iron Man – for single-handedly tackling the climate crisis one Tesla at a time, helping to forge a clean energy future and pushing for new taxes to drive down fossil fuel use.
But the climate credentials of the world's richest person have become clouded by his embrace of rightwing politicians, some of whom dismiss global heating, as well as by his management of X, formerly known as Twitter, during which many climate scientists have fled the platform amid a proliferation of misinformation about the climate crisis."
More recently, Fortune magazine pointed out that "The battery that once powered a great love between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and California car buyers is slowly fading away" in an article titled "As Tesla CEO Elon Musk continues to bash California and stump for Trump, West Coasters are getting revenge."
Such sentiments before the presidential election were seen on Twitter, with one former Musk fan admitting that Musk has changed, and it is now affecting his decision on whether to buy a Cybertruck.
Musk, the Anti-Environmentalist Overseas
This brings us to today's news about Environmentalists and local groups in Germany who are protesting at a European Tesla Gigafactory. It turns out that the same gigafactory was the site of an earlier anti-Tesla protest over Elon Musk's plans to double the site's capacity to 100 gigawatt hours of battery production and 1 million cars per year, which would lead to Tesla dominating Europe's EV market.
The Environmentalists expressed their fears that expanding the plant, which is located in a drinking water protection area, would endanger the region's water supply.
Here is a video from that protest earlier this year:
Germany: Police Clash With Hundreds Of Climate Protesters Trying to Storm Tesla Plant
Back to Robber Barony
Unfortunately for anti-Musk and former Musk fans, the U.S. Presidential election did not go the way they had hoped. In fact, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy were recently tapped on the shoulder (if not knighted) for overseeing a foresworn, newly to-be-created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which was proclaimed as the U.S.'s need for "super-high-IQ small-government revolutionaries" to get to work on cost-cutting.
Currently, DODGE is a small advisory body and not an actual department, with a name "inspired by a joke cryptocurrency," as The Economist notes. However, what becomes of this later may not be a laughing matter.
Unless, of course…you are the robber baron in control.
As stated in a Nov. 11th article titled "Tesla is not the only winner under Donald Trump" in the Economist, "Exactly how much Mr. Trump and his chums will end up profiting is uncertain. Elon Musk has added around $40bn to his fortune thanks to the soaring price of Tesla shares, up by around 30% since November 5th—a tidy return on the $100m or so he spent on helping elect Mr. Trump."
Hmmm...maybe those pesky German protestors are onto something after all.
Or as German philologist and folklorist Jakob Ludwig Karl Grimm co-writer/creator of Grimm's Fairy Tales once penned:
"She'll sting you one day,
Oh, ever so gently,
so you hardly ever feel it.
'til you fall dead."
For additional related articles about the effect EVs and their makers have on country and culture, be sure to click on these two: "EV Owners are Causing an Obesity Epidemic" and "Cybertruck Type EVs That Are Likely Worse for the Environment Than Most ICE Vehicles."
Timothy Boyer is an automotive reporter based in Cincinnati who currently researches and works on restoring older vehicles with engine modifications for improved performance. He also reports on modern cars (including EVs) with a focus on DIY mechanics, buying and using tools, and other related topical automotive repair news. Follow Tim on Twitter at @TimBoyerWrites as well as on Facebook and his automotive blog "Zen and the Art of DIY Car Repair" for useful daily news and topics related to new and used cars and trucks.
Image Source: Deposit Photos
Reference: Robber baron | Definition, Significance, & Captains of Industry | Britannica Money. https://www.britannica.com/topic/robber-baron
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