General Discussion

President Joe Biden’s warnings Wednesday night about social media misinformation, the tech-industrial complex and the concentration of wealth and power struck many as a not-so-subtle shot across the bow at Elon Musk, the world’s richest man who’s also become President-elect Donald Trump’s closest consigliere.

But within the White House, many officials are grappling with a missed opportunity to cultivate Musk as an ally, whose interests as an electric vehicle manufacturer often aligned with the administration, a staunch supporter of clean energy initiatives. Worse, some have wondered whether their actions to exclude Musk may have emboldened the entrepreneur to back Trump and pour a quarter-billion dollars into efforts to reelect him. Musk, a former Democrat, had not backed either candidate until Trump survived a mid-July assassination attempt.

As Musk’s criticism throughout the term grew louder, the White House clapped back instead of trying to quiet it.

“There were people excluded from conversations that they shouldn’t have done that to,” said one senior official of the decision to isolate Biden from people with opposing views. “They made a mistake. I think they miscalculated.”