Has Musk’s endorsement of the Trump campaign softened its positions on energy and climate?

While Vice President and Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris has been mostly silent on her energy and climate positions — or as some media outlets are reporting it, she’s being “strategically ambiguous” — Donald Trump has made strong statements on his positions. 

Last month, the former president and Republican presidential nominee vowed to end the electric vehicle mandate on day one, if he’s elected. A month before he said he’d restart drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve, and he’s said he’d cut some funding that came out of President Joe Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act.   

Since then, Trump has received strong endorsements from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and the two of them held a live interview on X last Tuesday.  Besides making electric cars, Musk has been a crusader for solar, claiming that solar power coupled with batteries could power the world and expressing support for a carbon tax. The interview was seen by at least 95 million people, according to trade journal The Wrap, but the audience estimates vary widely.

How much Musk’s support for a second Trump presidency has changed Trump’s rhetoric on climate and energy depends on who you ask, but some analysts see a difference.

Climate change

Musk said in the interview that he doesn’t think we should “vilify the oil and gas industry,” and that if we stopped using oil and gas immediately, “we would all be starving the the economy would collapse.” 

However, he said, we’re eventually going to run out of oil and gas, so we should move to a sustainable energy economy. 

“It’s not infinite. And there is some risk. I think it’s not, the risk is not as high as, you know, a lot of people say it is with respect to global warming,” Musk said. He also said that he thinks that solar is going to be the primary source of energy generation in the future. 

Trump said we have somewhere between 100 and 500 years left, and we haven’t discovered all the oil there is to recover on Earth. He also boasted of getting drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve approved. 

“The first thing that Biden did was unapprove it to get rid of it. He ended it; his secretary [Interior Secretary Deb Haaland] went in and she ended it,” Trump said, adding that he would reverse the reversal if elected. 

Benji Backer, founder and executive chairman of the American Conservation Coalition (ACC), told Just the News that Trump has surrounded himself in this year’s campaign with people who are conservative, but also think you can be pro-climate and pro-environment. 

“I don't think he had people around him saying that until this election cycle. And Elon's [Musk] a perfect example of somebody who embodies this kind of what I think of as a middle of the road approach on climate. It's not saying that we're all going to die tomorrow, or that we need to mandate solar, wind and EVs, but it's also not saying that there's not a problem at all,” Backer said. 

Backer also said that Trump and the Republican Party have an opportunity to own a sensible path forward on the issue, which is okay with addressing climate change, but not at the expense of economic growth. This perspective, he said, can be seen in the Trump campaign’s support for nuclear energy. The benefit of this platform, too, Backer said, is that it appeals to younger voters, a demographic that’s key to winning the election. 

“There's very few young people who don't believe in climate change, and there are very few people who don't prioritize the issue. To some degree, it might not be the number one issue, but to a lot of young people, it's a litmus test if a candidate cares about their future,” Backer explained. 

He said the Green New Deal approach isn’t very popular among young people, and a more sensible approach would appeal to them. He said the Trump campaign so far has been more about attacking his opponent’s radical Green New Deal agenda, when it should be trying to differentiate itself from the mandates and regulations that “shove winners and losers down people’s throats.” 

“Instead of just criticizing them and their leadership, why not contrast it with a different vision that still has a very pro-environmental message, but just as reasonable and effective, and doesn't put American workers out of their jobs? That's a really compelling message that, again, touches on so much more than just the environment. That also touches on that issue, which young people care so much about,” Becker said. 

Electric cars

Steve Milloy, a senior legal fellow with the Energy and Environmental Legal Institute and publisher of “JunkScience.com,” told Just the News, he didn’t see Trump changing his positions on energy and climate. 

“He did not soften his stance on climate being a hoax. I mean, he didn't confront Elon [Musk], but that's fine. He just…’okay, whatever.’ He's like ‘let’s talk,’ and then they moved on. Elon said his piece. And that was fine,” Milloy said. 

In the interview on X, Trump and Musk discussed electric cars, and while Trump has previously stated he’ll do away with the EV mandate, his statements were toned down when speaking with Musk. 

“You do make a great product. I have to say, I have to be honest with you. That doesn’t mean everybody should have an electric car, but these are minor details. Your product is incredible,” Trump said. 

While the Biden administration has included EV mandates as part of its overall climate agenda, Trump discussed the role fossil fuels play in EVs. 

“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. And, you know, so you sort of can’t get away from it at this moment. I mean, someday you might be able to,” Trump said. 

Milloy said, as with climate change, he didn’t see any change in Trump’s position on EVs. 

“I don't see him wavering at all. EV mandates got to go. He said that,” Milloy said. 

Milloy said that Musk isn’t likely threatened by an end to the mandates. Tesla was doing well before the mandate was finalized. 

“He became the world's richest man without the EV mandate, because there's a certain demand for Tesla,” Milloy said. “The other [auto] makers do, because they're much clumsier than Tesla is, and they make much clumsier products.” 

Sticking to his guns

Energy analyst David Blackmon, said it’s more likely that Trump has influenced Musk’s positions more than the reverse. 

“He used to be a real fervent proponent of radical implementation of radical climate policies in the United States. The language he used in that interview was more, ‘gosh, we have a lot of time to do this. It just needs to be gradual change over time.’ And so really, I saw more softening from Musk than I did from Trump,” Blackmon said. 

Milloy said that Musk’s shifting perspectives might have to do with how the left has treated him. In the interview with Trump, Musk said he had stood in line for six hours to shake Obama’s hand when he was running for president. Since then, Musk has been vilified for transforming X, formally Twitter, into a free-speech platform. While Musk was an Obama supporter, Milloy said, he came to realize that Democrats aren’t his friends. 

For Trump, Milloy said, nothing has changed. “I thought Trump did magnificently. He stuck to his guns, and Musk clearly has no idea what he's talking about when it comes to climate,” he said.