[3pt14159]

How fast things change. November 4th:

“I think a bit strongly that Trump is probably not the right guy” for the presidency, and wouldn't be the best candidate to represent the U.S. abroad, he told CNBC.

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s economic and environmental policies “are the right ones,” Musk said.

From: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/elon-musk-on-donald-trump-j...

[camiller]

It is said that Trump is not afraid of having advisors the disagree with him. Trump making Musk an advisor does no invalidate Musk's earlier position on Trump.

[bargl]

I personally would want to advise someone I disagree with more than someone I agree with. If I agreed with them I'd let them do their thing...

[Mwatson10]

I'm curious how things changed? Advising someone doesn't mean you have to agree with them. In fact wouldn't you want to advise someone you don't agree with? Try and direct them more towards your opinions?

[edblarney]

"I'm curious how things changed?"

It would be one thing to prefer one candidate over the other.

But Musk's remarks are very strong.

Basically: "This man is not qualified for the job" is a very string rebuke.

And then to go on his panel? It's a little hypocritical.

Trump knows that these guys value their careers more than their credibility, and he's making Elon Musk, Mitt Romney etc. 'kiss the ring' and 'eat their own words'.

They will likely have to say positive things about Trump in the future, coming out of meetings etc..

I'm by not means a Trump fan but there are shades of brilliant Machiavellian bits about this.

[thwarted]

Trump knows that these guys value their careers more than their credibility, and he's making Elon Musk, Mitt Romney etc. 'kiss the ring' and 'eat their own words'.

You really think the likes of Musk and Bezos can't sleep at night because of risk to their careers? These guys don't worry about credibility because they make their own credibility. This is more of a position of "I'm a captain of industry, if the President wants to call me to ask a question, I'll take the call". Doing so is both good business (good for their businesses at least), and is compatible with a position of "this man is not qualified for the job", because "that's why he's got me on his advisory board". If anything, it's a subtle, shrewd move on the part of Musk.

[dragonwriter]

> Basically: "This man is not qualified for the job" is a very string rebuke

It's a lot more mild than the statements made by politicians to whom Trump has granted substantive positions.