David Dunn, Professor of International Politics at University of Birmingham spoke to CGTN Europe about Elon Musk’s political involvement and its impact on Tesla’s business. Musk's political involvement and extreme stances have led to a drop in sales, particularly affecting his companies like Tesla and SpaceX.
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00:00Let's talk now to David Dunn, who's Professor of International Politics at the University of Birmingham.
00:05Good to see you again, David. Welcome back.
00:07So let's talk about Tesla first. Musk has said he will stay in charge of this company,
00:11but as we were just hearing there, share prices dropped, people boycotting the brand.
00:15Being politically involved can be risky for a business leader, can't it?
00:20Yes, absolutely. And this is the clear case of that.
00:24Particularly the case when your product is attractive to one section of the electorate.
00:30In this case, it tends to be left-leaning people, environmentally concerned, who buy Teslas.
00:36And of course, they're the ones who've been outraged by the stances that Musk has taken on a variety of topics.
00:43And another aspect of that is that you can be involved politically,
00:47but actually, if you're so extreme as Musk has been, doing the Nazi salutes,
00:52supporting the AfD in Germany and the like, that is going to alienate large sections of the population.
01:01And of course, they're potentially buyers of your cars.
01:04So that's why we've seen the massive drop-off in sales in particular markets, in particular sectors.
01:10It's not just Tesla that he runs, of course. He's got other companies, including SpaceX,
01:14some of which work with the U.S. government.
01:16And this is really perhaps a potential conflict of interest when it comes to shaping government policy.
01:22Yes, and we've already seen legal action taken against him because of his oversight of the Federal Aviation Authority,
01:29at the same time as his Starlink company is trying to win contracts away from Verizon in that market.
01:37So there really is a very clear issue here of a conflict of interest,
01:42because his overall role as being in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency
01:48has a hand in every area of American government.
01:51And that's clearly a problem in terms of actually them being a conflict of interest.
01:58So he has this specific role, of course, but he's not the only billionaire who's influenced the government.
02:03Do you think there could be tougher regulation around this?
02:07Well, there are existing rules and regulations within the U.S. government.
02:12You're supposed to recuse yourself from any involvement where you have commercial interests.
02:17Well, that's clearly not happening.
02:19You're supposed to actually, if you do take a job in government,
02:22put all your investments into a blind trust and step down from being directly involved in businesses.
02:28And that hasn't happened either.
02:30And it's partly to do with the fact that this role is an anomalous one.
02:34It hasn't existed before.
02:36It sits in an odd position.
02:38It hasn't had any senator approval.
02:40But nevertheless, it is having a major impact.
02:43And therefore, it seems to be flouting existing regulations,
02:47which is why there have been legal action taken against him specifically to try and test this legally.
02:54But also, there have been calls for either for him to step down
02:59or for there to be new regulations that are meaningful
03:03and will stop him having these very obvious conflicts of interest.
03:07And he has himself hinted that he's actually struggling to run all of these companies,
03:11as well as this government, the Doge Department.
03:14Something has to give, perhaps.
03:17Yes, I mean, he has an enormous range of commitments.
03:22We haven't even talked about the fact that he's the CEO of Twitter or X
03:27and that he has various other businesses, other ones we've talked about.
03:33And he can't possibly do all those while at the same time being involved in the minutiae of government.
03:39And we have heard that he's been camping out, staying overnight in government departments
03:44so that he can work his famous 18-hour days in order to focus on the government efficiency.
03:50So he can't do all those things and keep a hand in the businesses that he owns or is involved with.
03:56And of course, that's partly why there is a concern among shareholders and Tesla
04:01and indeed the other businesses that actually they would like to see him step down from the government role
04:07to focus on his business, to recover the share price.
04:11And there's also great speculation, of course, that actually given how unpopular he is,
04:16that Trump may get rid of him sooner rather than later.
04:20And in fact, many people wonder how he survived so long,
04:24given the fact that he is such a lightning rod for concern in the Trump administration.
04:30Professor, great to talk to you as always. Thank you so much for coming back on the programme.
04:33That's Professor David Dunn from the University of Birmingham.