When Elon Musk announced dramatically that he was moving the headquarters of SpaceX and X businesses out of California in July 2024, he revealed that the 'final straw' was the passage of a bill that banned schools from being forced to inform parents that they had a trans child.
asserted
they → announce → child
'Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas,' Musk told his 54 million X followers to loud approval.
asserted
Musk → precede → approval
The message was clear: he was leaving the uber-woke, almost-broke Democrat nightmare of the Golden State for the conservative, low-regulation nirvana of the Lone Star state.
asserted
he → leave → state
And California would rue the day it forced out the world's richest man and his trillion-dollar business.
asserted
it → rue → man
Well, let's just say it hasn't quite worked out as planned.
asserted
it → let → ?
Musk's new US Senator in Texas, James Talarico, has strong views on the trans issue, too: He has said that 'God is nonbinary' and, although he has now slightly backtracked, long opposed any restrictions on trans student athletes competing in girls' sports.
asserted
he → have → sports
The billionaire who fled the Democrats running one state has now found himself surrounded by new ones about to run another, and the latest are not expected to go easy on one of their great tormentors.
asserted
latest → flee → tormentors
As Texas broke 30 years of Republican rule in this week's Midterms, electing its first Democratic governor, Gina Hinojosa, in more than three decades and Talarico flipping the Senate seat for the Democrats for the first time since 1988, Musk's decision to move himself and his businesses there in a burst of Republican righteousness looks to have been just a little ill-timed.
asserted
decision → break → righteousness
In fact, some are asking whether Musk may not turn out to be one of the elections' biggest losers.
uncertain
Musk → ask → losers
Not only has his conservative promised land turned overnight into – at least for now – a true blue bastion, but the carnage in the tech stock market two days after the election lost him billions, all while resurgent Democrats in Washington say he is high on the list of people they want to investigate.
asserted
they → promise → people
Elon Musk, who fled the Democrats running one state, has now found himself surrounded by new ones about to run another
Musk made a decision to move himself and his businesses to Texas in a burst of Republican righteousness
Not only has his conservative promised land turned overnight into a true blue bastion, but the carnage in the tech stock market surely lost him big money
It was surely no coincidence that shares of SpaceX tumbled 5.5 percent while Tesla – another trillion dollar plus company – was down 5.1 percent after the election shock – even as the markets generally went in the opposite direction.
However, it was hardly as if he hadn't seen it all coming.
asserted
it → flee → direction
The billionaire owner of electric car maker Tesla, social media platform X and rocket-to-AI company SpaceX spent nearly half a billion dollars to support Republican candidates, of which $224 million was spent on Texas, mostly on Talarico's flawed and unpopular rival, Ken Paxton.
asserted
million → spend → rival
On election day, Musk urged his army of X followers to vote Republican but later deleted the post.
asserted
Musk → urge → post
The midterms could now prove both a business and a personal nightmare for Musk, who has been baiting the Democrats for years and was Trump's biggest campaign donor in 2024.
uncertain
who → prove → 2024
Washington insiders familiar with senior Democrat thinking on Musk told the Daily Mail that there will be little appetite for any rapprochement with him.
asserted
insiders → tell → him
'They view him as a class traitor,' said a source.
asserted
source → view → traitor
'Elon was once their green hero for pioneering electric cars and leading the charge for getting rid of fossil fuels and he betrayed them…
asserted
he → pioneer → them
They want to make him hurt.
asserted
him → want → ?
However, it's always said that money talks and Musk, estimated to be worth as much as $865 billion, may be able to buy his way back into Democrat affections, some believe.
uncertain
some → say → affections
The party has a significant fund-raising problem while Musk's politics are not as trenchant as he makes out - he donated cash to Barack Obama's campaigns and endorsed Hillary Clinton for president in 2016.
asserted
he → have → 2016
'I could 100 percent see Elon donating to Democrats again, depending on their outreach,' said another insider.
uncertain
insider → see → outreach
'He could easily flip back to a more favorable position if they are willing to work with him.
uncertain
they → flip → him
'Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now,' Musk wrote sarcastically in a post on X early on Wednesday morning as the scale of the Republican defeat became clear.
asserted
scale → look → defeat
'Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn't work this time,' he added a few minutes later, referencing unproven rumors that he interfered in Trump's successful 2024 election campaign.
asserted
he → guess → campaign
After his ill-fated involvement in the Trump administration last year when, waving a chainsaw, he ran the chaotic DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) initiative to slash the size and cut of government costing 300,000 federal workers their jobs but barely curbed federal spending, Musk had stepped back from the political spotlight.
asserted
Musk → fat → spotlight
Musk has been baiting the Democrats for years and was Trump's biggest campaign donor in 2024
Musk had an ill-fated involvement in the Trump administration last year running the chaotic DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) initiative
The DOGE farce, which Musk claimed in an interview last December was 'a little successful,' sparked violent anti-Tesla protests across the US and Europe in which cars were sometimes set on fire.
In the future, Musk may indeed find it easier doing business in low orbit than in Texas.
uncertain
it → bait → Texas
The man who wants to colonize Mars may even want to consider moving there sooner rather than later.
uncertain
who → want → Mars
That's unlikely given Musk has been putting roots down in Texas since 2020.
asserted
Musk → give → 2020
After tiring of Covid-19 restrictions on the operation of his California Tesla factory, he announced he was moving the car company's HQ to Texas.
asserted
he → tire → Texas
He also moved there personally, choosing the state capital of Austin, which he called a 'mini-California' (a compliment apparently) which would become 'the biggest boomtown that America has seen in a half-century.'
The billionaire, who has fathered at least 14 children with four women, developed a luxurious compound in a gated community in Austin, where he was able to house his various offspring and their mothers in separate but adjoining properties.
asserted
he → move → properties
The adjoining homes, which Musk secretly bought for a total of $35 million, include a 14,400sq ft Tuscan-style villa and a six-bedroom mansion.
asserted
Musk → buy → villa
When he visits, Musk stays at a third mansion a ten-minute walk away.
asserted
Musk → visit → mansion
Meanwhile, Musk has come to rely heavily on Texas for the expansion of his business empire and even the fulfillment of his dreams of colonizing space.
asserted
Musk → come → space
He has already located Tesla's biggest US vehicle factory outside Austin while SpaceX launches its rockets into space from its Starbase complex in the southeastern corner of the state in Boca Chica near Brownsville.
asserted
SpaceX → locate → Brownsville
The rockets are also built in Texas, in Bastrop County.
asserted
rockets → build → County
All told, his companies employ more than 20,000 people in the Lone Star state.
asserted
companies → tell → state
And there were expected to be 3,000 more jobs when he opens a $16.8 billion Terafab chip plant elsewhere in the state, which SpaceX said it selected because of Texas's 'business-friendly climate.'
asserted
it → be → climate
That money he has vested in Texas could earn him favor.
uncertain
he → vest → favor
A Texas political strategist told the Daily Mail: 'There's no way Democrats want to completely crush Elon in Texas.
asserted
Democrats → tell → Texas
He employs tens of thousands of people in Texas.
asserted
He → employ → Texas
…and 61 more, not listed.
The Aporia
