As soon as Tesla CEO Elon Musk started talking about buying Twitter and the radical concept of free speech, it seemed inevitable that some virtue-signaling leftists who owned Teslas would suddenly be sickened by their “environmentally-friendly” vehicles and desperately search for a different vehicle to prove their wokeness to their progressive contemporaries.
So it was not at all shocking when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) announced that she wants give up her Tesla in the wake of Elon Musk declaring that he’d be voting Republican for the first time. AOC’s change of heart also followed a small dispute she had with Musk on Twitter while she was suffering PTSD from hearing about his planned purchase of the social media platform.
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“Tired of having to collectively stress about what explosion of hate crimes is happening bc some billionaire with an ego problem unilaterally controls a massive communication platform and skews it because Tucker Carlson or Peter Thiel took him to dinner and made him feel special,” she tweeted.
“Stop hitting on me, I’m really shy ☺️,” Musk replied hours later, epically referring to her past criticism of Republicans who mock her by saying they’re just mad they can’t date her.
According to AOC, she bought her Model 3 Tesla in 2020 to travel between Washington D.C. and her New York district during the pandemic.
“At the time, it was the only EV that could get me from New York to Washington on, like, one or one-and-a-half charges,” she told Bloomberg. “I would love to switch.”
She says she would now prefer to get a union-made electric car. She had the option to get a union-made electric vehicle in 2020—the Chevy Bolt—but went with non-union instead. Apparently, in 2020 it was okay to ditch her pro-union views for the cooler Tesla because, aside from the fact that the Chevy Bolt isn’t nearly as cool, Elon Musk wasn’t voting Republican back then.
Sad, isn’t it?
Some might point out that earlier this month, I decided to ween myself off Starbucks coffee—a brand I’ve been drinking for about 25 years. This, of course, is different. As I’ve previously noted, I’m generally against boycotts. I don’t let politics dictate my shopping habits. I’ve known Starbucks was a liberal company for years, but that wasn’t enough to make me consider an alternative. What finally did was their plan to reimburse employees for travel expenses they incur while seeking abortions or gender transition surgeries out of state for themselves or their dependents (read: children).
I would say that’s a better reason to boycott a company than Elon Musk’s commitment to free speech. If the CEO of Starbucks was similarly committed to free speech instead of paying for abortions and gender transition surgeries for kids, I wouldn’t have to embargo that company.
From where I sit, AOC’s claim that she wants to ditch her Tesla is just sad. According to Bloomberg, other Tesla-owning Democrats aren’t looking to give them up—but it wouldn’t shock me if that changes. AOC seems to be a trendsetter in the Democratic Party, and if she does actually trade in her Tesla for something less Musk-y and more union-y, she’ll certainly never shut up about it.