‘Do you really want another war?’: Elon Musk’s mission to moderate Donald Trump

THERE is a quiet battle being waged by some of the tech sector’s biggest names who are trying to change the White House from the inside.

KEEP your friends close and your enemies closer.

That seems to be the school of thought driving billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk as he tries to influence the agenda of US President Donald Trump from the inside.

The founder and CEO of tech giants SpaceX and Tesla is on the Presidential Advisory Forum — a position he’s been forced to defend after widespread criticism of the White House following the controversial immigration ban.

After the forum of business leaders met on Saturday (AEST), the CEO of Uber announced he would no longer participate in the meetings.

Like President Trump, Twitter is Mr Musk’s preferred outlet for voicing his thoughts and he was quick to point out why he is staying put.

“I understand the perspective of those who object to my attending this meeting, but I believe at this time that engaging on critical issues will on balance serve the greater good,” Mr Musk wrote in a statement posted to Twitter.

“I and others will express our objections to the recent executive order on immigration and offer suggestions for changes to the policy.”

In addition to voicing concern about immigration, Mr Musk said he will continue to raise the issue of climate change.

The president’s cabinet is filled with climate change deniers and his pick to lead the country’s Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, has previously said “what they do is a disgrace” and filed 14 lawsuits against the government body.

Mr Musk is claiming some success with his strategy of stirring from the inside.

At my request, the agenda for yesterday's White House meeting went from not mentioning the travel ban to having it be first and foremost

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 4, 2017

In addition, I again raised climate. I believe this is doing good, so will remain on council & keep at it. Doing otherwise would be wrong.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 4, 2017

President Donald Trump talks with Elon Musk, centre, and White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. Picture: Evan Vucci

Following the decision by a Washington judge over the weekend to block the immigration executive order, Mr Musk tweeted that the American people should be proud about how the country’s judicial system functioned.

The checks and balances were working.

He continued to receive criticism but as Mr Musk sees it, it’s paramount to have “moderate” voices counselling Mr Trump suggesting the leader was in danger of being surrounded by “extremists”.

“How could having only extremists advise him possibly be good?” he wrote.

Even those who agreed with his position thought it was counter productive if it helped Mr Trump win a second term as president.

However the billionaire entrepreneur was quick to point out that a lot can happen in four years.

“A lot of terrible things could happen in four years of extremism. Do you really want another war? That's where extremism leads,” he said.

Activists should be pushing for more moderates to advise President, not fewer. How could having only extremists advise him possibly be good?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 5, 2017

@trylks A lot of terrible things could happen in four years of extremism. Do you really want another war? That's where extremism leads.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 5, 2017

Mr Musk’s stance came after Uber CEO Travis Kalanick quit the council to signal his opposition to the current administration.

Mr Kalanick wrote to his employees that he’d spoken with Mr Trump on Friday (AEST) to “let him know that I would not be able to participate on his economic council. Joining the group was not meant to be an endorsement of the president or his agenda but unfortunately it has been misinterpreted to be exactly that”.

One activist, urging boycotts for all companies tied to Mr Trump, said only total resignation from the Trump business forum would satisfy her.

“This is not a ‘seat at the table’ moment. This is a flip-the-table moment,” Shannon Coulter, one of the organisers of the anti-Trump social media campaign Grab Your Wallet, told the Associated Press.

As noted last week by plenty of American sports writers, the current climate in the country has prompted political commentary from some unlikely people, whether their followers like it or not. And Mr Musk, evidently, is no exception.

A number of Twitter users complained they preferred that the SpaceX and Tesla CEO stick to technology-based messages.

For his part, Mr Musk seemed to agree replying to one such complaint that he “hoped to get back to regular scheduled programming soon”.

Signing off now. That was more than enough Twitter trouble for one morning!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 5, 2017

Elon Musk speaks to participants ahead of testing of their pods in the SpaceX Hyperloop competition. Picture: Gene Blevins