Elon Musk Goes Full Conspiracy Theorist, Blames Big Oil for Tesla’s Negative Media Coverage

Elon Musk’s list of people responsible for Tesla’s shortcomings – now inclusive of the NTSB, internet trolls and the financial media – and notably not inclusive of Elon Musk, continues to grow. Today’s addition? The conspirators running the big oil companies.

It appears that billionaire CEO Elon Musk is convinced that big oil executives have taken time out of their perversely cash generative work days to pin the financial media against him and his cash incinerating company. 

The latest surprising, yet oddly not surprising, news from the world of the Tesla media relations dumpster fire comes courtesy of Elon Musk once again taking to Twitter and raging about the powers that be who are holding Tesla back from its inevitable glorious zenith as the green energy company that will save the world.

In his latest installment of Tweets, Musk seems to have gone from agitated to full on nervous break down as he took to Twitter this afternoon in order to do several things, none of which had anything to do with addressing Tesla’s capital needs or bottlenecked Model 3 production.

As an apertif, he addressed the “holier than thou hypocrisy of big media”:

The holier-than-thou hypocrisy of big media companies who lay claim to the truth, but publish only enough to sugarcoat the lie, is why the public no longer respects them https://t.co/Ay2DwCOMkr

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 23, 2018

Then, as an entree, he lashed out at the media, suggesting that there was some type of conspiracy fueled by big oil companies to lop negative press on Tesla because they need to “get max clicks & earn advertising  dollars” from fossil fuel companies.

Problem is journos are under constant pressure to get max clicks & earn advertising dollars or get fired. Tricky situation, as Tesla doesn’t advertise, but fossil fuel companies & gas/diesel car companies are among world’s biggest advertisers.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 23, 2018

Then, as a digestif, Musk pitched yet another business idea – as if SpaceX, The Boring Company, his new proposed Buffett-trolling candy venture, oh and Tesla, weren’t occupying enough of his time – he suggested the idea of starting a company that would be used to rate the credibility of journalists, that he would call Pravda. 

Going to create a site where the public can rate the core truth of any article & track the credibility score over time of each journalist, editor & publication. Thinking of calling it Pravda …

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 23, 2018

Here, one alert Twitter reader noted that “one of Musk’s agents” had actually “incorporated Pravda Corp in California” in October of 2017.

And what better way to mainline some positive reinforcement to your cognitive dissonance than to poll your followers as to whether or not it’s a good idea, which Musk also promptly did, only winning over 88% of those following him. 

Create a media credibility rating site (that also flags propaganda botnets)

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 23, 2018

Musk’s shots at the media are an ironic alignment of gripes with the Trump campaign, who Musk has notably stated publicly he does not support, and who also has disparaged the media for negative coverage. In a delightful twist of irony, Donald Trump Jr. seemed to “feel” Elon’s pain:

Will be interesting to watch “journalists”/media paint him as Alt Right. Break out the popcorn in 3..2..1 https://t.co/O7izlkKWzS

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 23, 2018

Of course, we continue to believe that Elon should notice the three fingers pointing back to him every time he points the blame at somebody else. It isn’t the big oil companies, nor is it the financial media, that is preventing the Model 3 from rolling off the assembly line as promised by Musk. And it isn’t big oil or the mainstream media that is preventing Tesla from turning a profit. If Elon Musk really wants to get angry and assess blame to an entity that is painting a bleak picture of Tesla’s future, maybe he should just get off Twitter for a few days and take an unbiased look in the mirror: he would be delighted with the results.