Nathan Michael

Musk to Texas Democrats: Our Success Came From Freedom, Not Your Favors Elon Musk just slapped down a Wall Street Journal story claiming Texas Democrats plan to yank the "white-glove treatment" for SpaceX and Tesla now that they've flipped the state. He made it plain: the companies thrived here because the government stayed out of the way. "SpaceX and Tesla have prospered in Texas, because we were not constantly operating under an oppressive and extractive state government," Musk wrote. He explained the practical reasons too. Factories need hands-on leadership. "And I need to be close to the factories, so that I can walk the floor in person. That’s why the first major SpaceX factory was in LA and first major Tesla factory was in SF Bay Area." Then California turned hostile. "As California became increasingly difficult, due to extreme taxes and overregulation, we moved our major domestic expansions and HQ to Texas." This is the same pattern that hollowed out California's tech and manufacturing base. High taxes, endless rules, and politicians treating productive companies like piñatas drove the growth elsewhere. Texas offered the opposite: lower burdens, faster permitting, and room to build. Jobs followed. Investment followed. Rockets and cars got built instead of lawsuits. Now the new Democratic leadership is signaling they want to change the deal. They talk about ending special treatment, scrutinizing land deals, slowing data centers, and reviewing incentives. Translation: they see a successful employer and reach for the regulatory toolbox. The same approach that chased SpaceX and Tesla out of California is being imported to Texas. Musk is not asking for favors. He is stating the obvious. Companies locate where they can operate without constant extraction and interference. Texas gained by being less California. If Democrats reverse that, the next expansion, the next factory, the next launch complex will simply go somewhere else. Florida has already been mentioned. Other red states are open for business. The left celebrates the blue wave as a rebuke to Musk's spending. What they are actually celebrating is the chance to punish the companies that create the jobs and tax base they want to spend. History shows how that ends. California wrote the playbook. Texas is now being invited to copy it.