OPINION:
Elon Musk recently upset conservatives by backing out of his deal to acquire Twitter. Say it isn’t so, they said. Free speech is doomed, they said. Their concern is understandable, but it’s also misplaced. Mr. Musk isn’t a free speech absolutist; he’s not even a conservative. He’s just a run-of-the-mill opportunist.
At a recent rally, former President Donald Trump hit the nail on the head by calling Mr. Musk a BS artist. Indeed. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO claims to love free speech but has tried silencing those who disagree with his views at the same time. He’s now saying conservative things while the “Let’s Go Brandon” movement continues gaining public steam, but he’s still a self-described socialist who supports climate change policies and government-ordered income distribution.
Mr. Musk doesn’t just talk the socialist talk; he also walks the walk. Mr. Trump crystallized this point as well, detailing on Truth Social how, “When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidized projects, whether it’s electric cars that don’t drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocket ships to nowhere, without which subsidies he’d be worthless … I could have said ‘drop to your knees and beg,’ and he would have done it …”
Like every good socialist, Mr. Musk’s mission appears to be milking the government coffers for as long and as much as humanely possible. Fixing the many issues with his companies — be it the rocket that exploded this month in Texas or the self-driving cars that regulators continue to investigate — is always ostensibly second on his priority list, next to increasing his $5 billion government handout accumulation and aimlessly babbling on social media. That’s low for any entrepreneur but it’s especially low for the richest man in the world who fancies himself to be a revolutionary idealist.
But let’s put Mr. Musk aside. The lesson here for conservatives is bigger than any one man. The bigger-picture point that the SpaceX and Tesla CEO has highlighted for all in the Republican Party to see is that conservatives need to stop being enthralled by rhetoric and start making their decisions based on action and results.
Why do conservatives continue to support candidates who spout MAGA talking points but then turn around and topple the MAGA agenda? Why do they continue to demand leaders make the right speeches and tweet the right tweets but don’t get equally animated about seeing the action items they discuss get put into action?
There’s a reason that the conservative legislative ball hasn’t moved much at all since the Reagan years. Conservatives don’t idolize doers, they idolize talkers. They place too much trust in charming, successful people like Mr. Musk who are with us for a moment and then leave us in the next. Sometimes talkers are also doers, as was the case with Mr. Trump in his four-year White House reign. But these case studies are the exception, and no one should ever count on them being the rule.
Politics isn’t talk radio; it’s not about dialogue. It’s about action and advancing principles. Democrats get this. That’s why they have moved everything from Obamacare to massive financial regulations in recent years. Conservatives don’t appear to grasp this concept, but they need to, and soon. Unless that is, they want the Republican Party to turn into the Grifter Party, where pass-throughs like Mr. Musk can continue to leverage it for their short-term interests whenever convenient, in which case they can continue what they’re doing. The choice is theirs.
• Michael Glassner was the 2016 deputy campaign manager for former President Donald Trump and his 2020 chief operating officer.
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