Elon Musk tried to launder Donald Trump’s disastrous climate record — it didn’t work

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.

“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 of these same attacks while also praising Musk for making a car that many people want to buy. (To be sure, Tesla’s sales have been slumping.)

“You do make a great product,” Trump said to Musk during the two-hour-long lovefest. “I have to be honest, that doesn’t mean everybody should have an electric car.”

On the campaign trail, Trump has falsely accused President Joe Biden of making the purchase of gas-powered cars illegal and trying to force all Americans to switch to EVs. In reality, the Environmental Protection Agency’s new fuel economy standards will require automakers to release less polluting vehicles, many of which will be battery-powered, but in no way mandate EV-only sales. The administration has also introduced consumer incentives to help bring down the cost of EVs.

But if anyone has shifted positions on EVs and climate change, it appeared to be Musk. The Tesla CEO seemed to be trying to get Trump and his supporters to support his company’s mission to usher in a more sustainable future — but in the same breath, he also downplayed the urgency of that mission.

“I don’t think we should vilify the oil and gas industry and the people that have worked very hard in those industries to provide the necessary energy to support the economy,” Musk said.

Trump’s campaign has received millions of dollars from the oil and gas industry. Many of their chief executives are banking on Trump rolling back Biden’s environmental policies should he win in November.

He later claimed that the planet can transition to a sustainable energy economy in “50 or 100 years” — despite the scientific community warning that humanity is quickly reaching climate tipping points.

And Trump argued that EVs aren’t a perfect solution because the power required to charge their batteries will come from fossil fuels until electrical grids transition to clean energy.

“Even to create your electric car and create the electricity needed for the electric car, you know, fossil fuel is what really creates that at the generating plants,” the former president said. “You sort of can’t get away from it at this moment.”

Generating electricity used to charge EVs can create pollution, but EVs themselves have no tailpipe emissions and are widely seen as preferable to gas-powered vehicles. Many states are in the process of switching from fossil fuel-powered electricity generation to more renewable sources, like solar and wind power.

Musk and Trump seemed to be in agreement that combatting climate change shouldn’t come at the expense of anyone’s personal inconvenience. We don’t need to “stop farmers from farming,” Musk said, adding, “People can still have a steak, and they can still drive gasoline cars.”

Of course, these statements ignore the reality of climate change. Fighting climate change will require huge systemic change, as well as small behavioral changes by individuals. Cattle and livestock are tremendous contributors to climate change, creating methane that becomes trapped in the atmosphere, which then causes the planet to warm significantly. Meanwhile, cars create carbon dioxide, another greenhouse gas that is responsible for global warming. We all need to eat less red meat and drive less to live more sustainable lives.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration’s policies have been geared toward forcing major industries to transition to less polluting sources of energy, whether it’s power plants, automakers, or construction. Trump’s record is one of rolling back these measures and inviting major industries to pollute more. And his Supreme Court picks have cast decisions that will make it harder for any administration to protect the environment in the future.

And yet Musk is hitching his wagon to Trump’s candidacy, a fact that throws into question the former’s commitment to clean energy. During their interview, Musk mildly pushed his chosen candidate to support renewable energy, like solar power — but instead, Trump expressed skepticism that climate change was even the most pressing threat.

“One thing that I don’t understand is that people talk about global warming, or they talk about climate change, but they never talk about nuclear warming,” Trump said, switching the subject. It was time to move on.