A profane tweet aimed at Elon Musk that eventually led him to leave California has resurfaced after the SpaceX founder became a trillionaire with his company’s record-breaking IPO.
Experts say the Golden State lost out on billions when Musk relocated his multi-trillion business empire, which includes Tesla and X, to Texas.
Now, a six-year-old tweet by the head of California’s labor unions is getting new attention for the effect it had on Musk taking his electric-car company out of the state.
“F— Elon Musk,” California Federation of Labor Unions President Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher tweeted in May 2020.
A day later, Musk replied simply: “Message received.”
He later appeared to confirm that Fletcher’s post convinced him to relocate Tesla to Texas, replying “Exactly” to an article stating that her attack caused him to make the move.
“This single tweet cost California hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes, revenue, and jobs,” investment banker John LeFevre wrote on X Friday.
“Costliest tweet in California’s history,” another said.
“‘Message received’ may be the most expensive political own-goal in California history,” a third wrote.
“How you feeling about this post today, Lorena? You screwed California,” another chimed in.
Musk left the Golden State for a variety of reasons as his politics diverged away from Democrats. He said California had become too “complacent” in trying to win over businesses and claimed the “final straw” was a California law banning school districts from requiring parents to be notified of a change in their child’s gender identification.
He also had a spat with California lawmakers over restarting his Tesla factory in California during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Friday, California Democrats including Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized Musk’s new trillionaire status.
“Americans are struggling to pay for groceries and gas while Elon Musk becomes a TRILLIONAIRE,” Newsom posted on X. “When the federal government is for sale, the rich get richer and everyone else gets shafted. The system is rigged.”
On Saturday, Fletcher praised Newsom’s attack.
“I like THIS Gavin Newsom,” she wrote on X. “Now, what are we going to do about it?”
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