Culture

Gov. Newsom sets himself up as a foil to Elon Musk and Donald Trump


By Eliyahu Kamisher and Kara Carlson | Bloomberg

As Elon Musk prepares to wield more power in Washington, the state where he built his fortune is girding for a fight.

Gavin Newsom is positioning California as a foil to Donald Trump’s policies, laying the groundwork for resistance on everything from deportations to regulation rollbacks. On Monday, the Democrat governor delivered a plan that squarely touches on Musk’s Tesla Inc.: a rebate for electric-vehicle buyers if the president-elect repeals a federal subsidy.

Notably, the proposal includes market-share limitations that would leave out popular Tesla models.

RELATED: Tesla excluded from EV buyer credits in Gov. Newsom’s proposal 

The exclusion marks another turn in the fraught relationship between Newsom and Musk, a key member of Trump’s inner circle who has been tapped to co-lead an effort to slash federal spending. The governor’s office said the policy is designed so more carmakers can “take root” — that’s a blow for Tesla, a company started in Silicon Valley and nurtured by California’s climate goals and incentives.

Musk has made no secret of his disdain for deep-blue California and its policies. He relocated Tesla’s headquarters to Austin from Palo Alto in 2021 after clashing with Newsom over pandemic lockdowns.

In July, as his shift into Republican politics deepened, he announced that his companies X and SpaceX would also leave the state for Texas, saying the “final straw” was a new law signed by Newsom that bans school districts from requiring teachers to notify parents of changes to a student’s gender identity.

Yet just last year, Musk and Newsom struck a cooperative tone by announcing a Tesla global engineering headquarters in Palo Alto. The car company also maintains a huge presence with a factory in Fremont — a point Musk made in an X post Monday, calling Newsom’s policy “insane.”

“Think of the relationship between Newsom and Musk as love-hate, love-hate, love-hate-hate,” said Dan Schnur, a political analyst who teaches at University of Southern California and the University of California at Berkeley. “As Musk gets closer to Trump, he becomes a more lucrative political target for Newsom.”

Newsom, who’s widely seen as having presidential ambitions, is stepping up potential roadblocks to the Trump administration. He called a special legislative session to be held next week aimed at providing money for the state’s department of justice to potentially sue the administration or defend against federal lawsuits. He’s also touring Republican strongholds in the state, promoting his economic message and offering reassurances that their concerns are heard.

RELATED: Path is clear for Gov. Gavin Newsom to run for president, insiders say

In a statement Monday, Newsom said California would be “doubling down” on its commitment to clean air and green jobs.

“We’re not turning back on a clean transportation future — we’re going to make it more affordable for people to drive vehicles that don’t pollute,” he said.

Details of the EV proposal — including Tesla’s possible omission from the credits — will be negotiated with the state legislature and could change, Newsom’s office said. Leading lawmakers haven’t indicated their …read more

Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment

      

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