Tesla CEO Elon Musk referred to government lockdowns as “fascist” during what has been described as an “expletive-laced rant” on Tesla’s quarterly earnings call. Musk also praised China for having “much better” infrastructure than the United States.
CNBC reports that Tesla CEO Elon Musk attacked government lockdowns as “fascist” during a rant on the firm’s Q1 2020 earnings call. Musk called lockdown orders “forcibly imprisoning people in their homes against all their constitutional rights.”
Musk stated that he was concerned about not being able to resume operations at Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California, stating that the possibility of not resuming production should be considered “a serious risk,” given that Tesla produces most of its cars there in addition to its production factory in Shanghai.
Musk attempted to continue operations at the Fremont facility but was ordered to close by the Alameda county Sherrif. Musk recently spoke out about government restrictions on Twitter but during Wednesday’s earnings call encouraged government officials to invest in infrastructure while praising China for having “much better” infrastructure than the United States.
“This is the time to think about the future, and also to ask, is it right to infringe upon people’s rights as what is happening right now?” Musk said. “I think the people are going to be very angry about this and are very angry. It’s like somebody should be, if somebody wants to stay in the house that’s great, they should be allowed to stay in the house and they should not be compelled to leave. But to say that they cannot leave their house, and they will be arrested if they do, this is fascist. This is not democratic. This is not freedom. Give people back their goddamn freedom.”
Musk added: “So the expansion of the shelter in place or as frankly I would call it forcibly imprisoning people in their homes, against all their constitutional rights, but that’s my opinion, and breaking people’s freedoms in ways that are horrible and wrong, and not why people came to America or built this country. What the fuck. Excuse me. It’s outrage, it’s an outrage. It will cause great harm not just to Tesla, but to many companies. And while Tesla will weather the storm there are many small companies that will not.”
In comparison, fellow Silicon Valley billionaire Mark Zuckerberg is worried that the lifting of lockdown orders could cause further issues. On a recent Facebook earnings call, Zuckerberg stated: “I worry that reopening certain places too quickly before infection rates have been reduced to very minimal levels will almost guarantee future outbreaks and worse longer-term health and economic outcomes.”
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com