It looks as if Bolivia elected a new president today and not only is Elon Musk getting thoroughly dunked on, but Tesla stock is down˳ Why? Because Elon set himself up for failure on Twitter, of course˳
The news itself is that the left-wing Luis Arce has declared victory in the Bolivian presidential election˳ Arce is the former finance minister to Evo Morales, who had been head of the country for over a decade until what he denounced as a right-wing coup forced him out of the country last year˳ Who else called this a coup, a U˳S˳-backed coup no less? Elon Musk!
LeftVoice has a pretty good explanation of the Twitter drama from July and explained how Musk was illustrating how capitalism and imperialism go hand in hand:
Last Friday, Elon Musk caused a stir on Twitter when he suggested that he supports coups which benefit his companies˳ Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, had first tweeted that a second government stimulus package would not be “in the best interests of the people˳” A Twitter user replied, “You know what wasn’t in the best interest of people? the U˳S˳ government organizing a coup against Evo Morales in Bolivia so you could obtain the lithium there˳” In a since deleted tweet, Musk fired back, “We will coup whoever we want! Deal with it˳” The comment is a clear illustration of the capitalist motivations behind imperialist aggression˳
To reiterate, Elon deleted the tweet and Tesla doesn’t even get its lithium from Bolivia˳ It mostly sourced lithium out of Australia, as the sympathetic site Electrek was quick to point out at the time˳ Elon said the same:
Still, something about it stuck˳ We could all see how Elon felt about it because, well, he told us loud and clear˳ He thinks that he deserves everything in the world, like it’s his right˳ Like it’s his manifest destiny˳
Elon could have kept his mouth shut, but why? He clearly felt untouchable˳ He is a billionaire, after all˳ He has been rewarded richly for every loud idea he’s had thus far˳
But aligning himself online with the immediate success of the 2019 coup meant that he’s now aligned with its failure:
And because we’re talking about Tesla, that means we should mention Tesla stock:
This year has been a good one for Tesla as a business, with deliveries up and the Model 3 an enduring success˳ This drop will likely be a blip, but a memorable one˳
The reason why any of this is even popping up in American news feeds is that Bolivia is not a rich country but is rich in natural resources˳ Lithium is at the center of this particular drama˳ Tesla cars use lithium batteries, and certainly exploiting Bolivian lithium is on the radar for anyone looking to make batteries cheaper˳ Which is exactly what Tesla is focused on˳ Does Elon in particular need Bolivian lithium? He says he doesn’t, but he also championed a U˳S˳-backed coup there, so he’s getting drawn into the whole mess anyway˳
Again, Elon didn’t have to get himself into this, but I’m glad he did˳ It tells us where his head is at in a way that no PR team can deny˳ Not that Tesla has one anymore, but still˳
Correction: This article initially stated Evo Morales had been head of the country for decades˳ This election was, in fact, the first time Morales had not been on the ballot in decades, as noted by the BBC˳ Morales had held office since the ‘90s, but was only elected president in 2006˳
