During their glitchy, rambling, two-hour “conversation” on X last night, Elon Musk made the case to Donald Trump that climate change was real and maybe electric cars weren’t as bad as the former president has been making them out to be on the campaign trail. The result was a feeble attempt by a once-lauded environmentalist to launder the former president’s disastrous record on climate change. Musk, who endorsed Trump following the failed assassination attempt and is helping fund a super PAC supporting his election, tried to placate Trump by offering his own support for oil and gas drilling and minimizing the threat posed by climate change.
But he also attempted to win over Trump by offering a more MAGA-friendly pitch for his own EVs. A more MAGA-friendly pitch for Musk’s EVs “When you look at our cars, we don’t believe that environmentalism, that caring about the environment, should mean that you have to suffer,” Musk said. “So, we make sure that our cars are beautiful, that they drive fast, they’re, you know, sexy, cool.
” It’s not clear that Trump can be convinced. Sure, the former president has sounded a more positive note on EVs since Musk’s endorsement, but he continues to make the same arguments against them: they take too long to charge, they can’t go that far, and they’ll cost auto workers their jobs. And his record on the environment has been, to put in Trump’s words, a complete disaster.
During their conversation, Trump repeated many o.