Elon Musk was forced to defend his decision to join President Donald Trump’s economic advisory council during an interview on the Recode Decode podcast with Kara Swisher. Musk argued that he took his opportunity to push for legislation regarding climate change, saying that the fight was “still worth trying” and “I did my absolute best,” according to reports from Business Insider .
While Musk made it clear that his intentions were good, he did acknowledge that Trump didn’t give him a proper chance on the council.
Swisher said to Musk, “I said you shouldn’t go ’cause he was gonna screw you, remember?”
Musk replied, “Well, you were right.”
Musk accepted Trump’s invitation to join the council shortly after Trump was inaugurated. However, he left in the middle of 2017, after the Trump administration removed the United States from the Paris Climate Accord. While he was on the council, Musk would regularly defend his decision, citing it as an opportunity to push for positive policy regarding immigrants and climate change.
Upon reflection in the interview, Musk admitted that he knew it was “unlikely” that he could cause those changes, but he had to make the effort because it was “worth a shot.”
Speaking about his decision to step down from the council after the Paris Climate Accord decision, Musk said, “If I stayed on the councils it would be saying (the Paris Climate Accord) wasn’t important, but I think it’s super important. The country needs to keep its word. There’s just no way I could stay on after that.”
Recode Daily: Kara Swisher interviews Elon Musk https://t.co/5cBr6BQgRV pic.twitter.com/IgVD3F5iXk
— Recode (@Recode) November 2, 2018
While Musk got burned with his first experience working with the Trump administration, he didn’t close the door on a possible return.
“I don’t know,” said Musk when Swisher asked if he would ever return. “Are there councils?”
While Musk couldn’t deal with some of Trump’s rash decisions, there are plenty of Tesla investors who may feel the same way — particularly when one of his tweets cost the company $20 million, as previously reported on by the Inquisitr .
Both Musk and Tesla were fined $20 million each after the entrepreneur took to social media in August with a bizarre tweet. In the tweet, Musk spoke of a potential plan to take Tesla private, and even inferred that funding had been raised to make it possible — neither statement being based in fact. The Securities and Exchange Commission accused Musk of creating market chaos with his tweet, levying the fines due to his treatment of his investors.
