Elon Musk criticism: Why Jörg Steinbach’s comments are hypocritical

Opinion

Brandenburg’s Minister of Economic Affairs Jörg Steinbach has sharply criticized the statements made by Tesla boss Elon Musk in the context of the recent right-wing extremist riots in London: “I think his statements are not only wrong, but they actively undermine the fabric of our German and European society,” the SPD politician told the “Handelsblatt”. The fact that Musk sympathized with protesting right-wing extremists and wrote on X that a civil war was now inevitable is now going too far for Steinbach, shortly before the state elections.

But getting worked up now is too late and is simply hypocritical.

When Elon Musk announced at the Golden Steering Wheel awards ceremony at the end of 2019 that he wanted to build a Tesla gigafactory on the outskirts of Berlin, everyone was excited.

The first electric car factory. In Brandenburg! The local Social Democrats were intoxicated by their coup of winning over the billionaire. With Musk’s help, they wanted to combat climate change and bring more jobs to the structurally weak region. Brandenburg’s Minister of Economic Affairs Jörg Steinbach, SPD, in particular, was almost bursting with pride as he listed Musk’s gigafactories one after the other: “California, Shanghai, Grünheide!” From that point on, Steinbach saw himself as a global player. He boasted about how well he got on with Elon Musk.

Dietmar Woidke, the SPD prime minister of Brandenburg, also promised that the factory would be built for Musk at a rapid pace. It should be possible in one year. They did not want to burden Musk with the fact that a permitting process normally takes years.

Elon Musk’s views are not new

Brandenburg politicians knew exactly what kind of person Musk was even then. After all, the tech billionaire has never made a secret of the fact that he absolutely wants to move his business forward at any cost. No matter which party he belongs to. So it is not surprising that Musk became one of Donald Trump’s economic advisors in 2017. There is a photo of him with Trump. Steve Bannon, then head of the ultra-right website “Breitbart” and chief strategist in the White House, is also in it.

The relationship between Trump and Musk did not last long, however. Trump withdrew from the Paris climate agreement. This made it clear that the Republican preferred to rely on fossil fuels. Musk realized that Trump was no longer of any use to me.

Despite all this, Brandenburg politicians have never allowed criticism of Musk. He is simply a bit neurotic. Steinbach apparently thought that his relationship with Musk was more reliable than Trump’s. The Minister of Economic Affairs always liked to tell everyone how close their contact was and that they spoke on the phone regularly.

When there was stress due to construction delays at the Tesla factory, we accompanied Steinbach from his office in Potsdam to the construction site in Grünheide for a report. The SPD politician drove to Musk in his official limousine, with a kebab and a Berliner Kindl in the back seat. This is how Steinbach tried to appease the car manufacturer’s moods.

Nobody can control Elon Musk

The 53-year-old has regularly positioned himself publicly further to the right: He railed against the refugees on the American-Mexican border. He criticized Europe for its refugee policy, called the refugees an invasion and spoke favorably of the AfD, saying that their statements were not extremist.

I always wondered how the Social Democrats could tolerate this and continue to court him. Just the statement about the AfD: After all, it is the SPD’s strongest competition in the upcoming state elections. And since June 2020, the party has been under surveillance by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution on suspicion of right-wing extremist activities.

But the Social Democrats have long overlooked Musk’s right-wing positions. . That Musk does not want a union in his factory.

They even trivialized the environmental violations of the Tesla factory in the drinking water protection area.

The fact that Steinbach is now attacking Musk probably also has something to do with the disappointment that business with the billionaire did not go as hoped. Tesla is linking the further expansion of its factory to the sales market. Will the announced 40,000 jobs ever be created? It is questionable.