It's driven by a policy created by the Obama administration, shifting NASA's spend from the public sector to the private.
They're really not. Some people actually have a wider view of life than that.
Trump is planning an aggressive trade war with China. With 40% of Tesla's sales now in China, growing almost 20% year on year, and recently getting approval for selling cars to the government, seems like an odd move to support someone who is planning on slapping a 200% tariff on chinese EVs. That will inevitably bring about a retaliatory equivalent tariff or charge to Tesla. The Chinese government is more than happy to destroy foreign competitors in their market, the communist party sets the laws, appoints the judges and owns a lot of the car companies.
Musk's main point of support appears to be around culture wars, not financial self interest. Here's his speech from the Trump rally recently:
"This is no ordinary election. The other side wants to take away your freedom of speech. They want to take away your right to bear arms. They want to take away your right to vote effectively. You got 14 states now that don’t require voter ID. California, where I used to live, just passed the law, banning voter ID for voting. I still can’t believe that’s real. So how you supposed to have a good proper election, if there’s no ID. It’s just meaningless. And free speech, free speech is the bedrock of democracy. And if people don’t know what’s going on, if they don’t know the truth, how can you make an informed vote? You must have free speech in order to have democracy. That’s why it’s the First Amendment. And the Second Amendment is there to ensure that we have the First Amendment. President Trump must win to preserve the constitution. He must win to preserve democracy in America.
...
Text people now, now. And then make sure they actually do vote. If they don’t, this will be the last election. That’s my prediction. Nothing is more important.
...
Just be a pest to everyone you know. People on the street, everywhere. Vote, vote, vote. Fight, fight, fight. Vote, vote, vote.
www.theguardian.com
