- The Washington Times - Wednesday, May 17, 2023

Elon Musk is not ready to say whether his vote for President Biden was a mistake nearly a month after the incumbent formally launched his reelection campaign. 

The billionaire who runs SpaceX, Tesla and Twitter has said he voted for Mr. Biden in 2020 and then urged people to vote for his Republican opponents in Congress in 2022. 

As the 2024 campaign season intensifies, Mr. Musk sighed when he was asked Tuesday about how he views his vote for the Democratic president.

“Do you regret that?” CNBC’s David Faber asked Mr. Musk.

“I mean, man, I wish we could have just a normal human being as president,” Mr. Musk said with an audible sigh. “That’s what I want.”

Mr. Musk has been less shy about criticizing politicians no longer in office. 


SEE ALSO: Musk says remote work is unfair and immoral


He has locked horns with former President Donald Trump, who has formally entered the 2024 presidential race. 

Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk are competitors in the social media business, with the former president operating his Truth Social platform and Mr. Musk running Twitter

“I don’t hate the man, but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset,” Mr. Musk tweeted in July 2022 before Mr. Trump launched his 2024 campaign. 

Mr. Musk has also offered an optimistic view of one of Mr. Trump’s major potential challengers in the 2024 race — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. 

“Trump would be 82 at end of term, which is too old to be chief executive of anything, let alone the United States of America,” Mr. Musk tweeted in July. “If DeSantis runs against Biden in 2024, then DeSantis will easily win — he doesn’t even need to campaign.” 

Mr. Musk offered no endorsement of any candidate on Tuesday, but laughingly suggested someone chosen at random may yield a better option than other choices available to voters in recent elections. 


SEE ALSO: Musk says he’s not stepping down as Tesla CEO, tells shareholders the company will advertise


He said he is now looking for someone who demonstrates they could successfully run the country. 

“It’s not simply a matter of do they share your beliefs but are they good at getting things done?” Mr. Musk said Tuesday. “There’s a lot of decisions that need to be made every day, many of them are unrelated to moral beliefs.”

• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.

Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

Please read our comment policy before commenting.

Click to Read More and View Comments

Click to Hide