Elon Musk tells Donald Trump ‘we shouldn’t vilify the oil and gasoline business’

Elon Musk, who famously owns an electrical automobile firm and has stated he needs to maneuver humanity to “a sustainable energy civilization,” informed former President Donald Trump throughout an interview on X that “we shouldn’t vilify the oil and gasoline business.”

Musk interviewed Trump on his social media platform, the place the livestream was delayed over 40 minutes due to technical difficulties. After lengthy, rambling discussions about immigration, inflation, and international coverage, Musk and Trump lastly got here to the topic of vitality and local weather change — the place Musk surprisingly got here to protection of the fossil gasoline business.

“I don’t suppose we must always vilify the oil and gasoline business and the people who have labored very arduous in these industries to offer the required vitality to help the financial system,” Musk stated.

The Tesla CEO, who described his views as “fairly reasonable” on vitality regardless of proudly owning an EV and residential vitality firm, claimed the financial system “would collapse” if oil and gasoline companies had been compelled to shutdown. Musk additionally stated that the planet can transition to a sustainable vitality financial system in “50 or 100 years” — regardless of the scientific neighborhood warning that humanity is rapidly reaching a tipping level on the local weather. (Trump later modified it to “500 to 1000 years,” which Musk didn’t right.)

“So it’s not like the home is on fireplace instantly,” Musk stated. “However I feel it’s one thing we have to transfer in the direction of… It’s most likely higher to maneuver there quicker than slower. However like with out vilifying the oil and gasoline business and with out inflicting hardship within the brief time period.”

However he rapidly contradicted himself. Musk acknowledged that the air will develop into tougher to breath with the continued use of fossil fuels, inflicting folks “complications and nausea.” However that was no purpose to rapidly transition away from the usage of planet-heating fuels. In line with Musk, we will casually stroll right into a extra sustainable future.

“We nonetheless have fairly a little bit of time,” he stated. “We don’t must rush.”

Trump, who usually appeared like he was slurring his phrases, quipped that rising sea ranges means folks would have extra “oceanfront property.” That remark was rapidly blasted out by Vice President Kamala Harris’ marketing campaign.

Trump then briefly touched on considered one of his favourite matters, electrical automobiles, claiming that fossil fuel-powered vitality technology is what powers Tesla’s automobiles. “[We] can’t get away from it at this second,” he stated.

However the EV dialogue didn’t go a lot additional than that, despite Trump’s vows to end subsidies for plug-in cars that would severely impression Tesla’s gross sales. Trump urged Musk to place photo voltaic panels on the roof of his vehicles. (Tesla filed a patent for a photo voltaic panel-covered tonneau cowl for the Cybertruck, however didn’t observe via.)

“Folks speak about international warming, or they speak about local weather change, however they by no means speak about nuclear warming,” Trump stated. “A right away drawback.”