What’s more, Mr. Musk says he would have complied if President Biden ordered him to turn on his privately owned network for Ukraine: “While I’m not President Biden’s biggest fan, if I had received a presidential directive to turn it on, I would have done so. Because I do regard the president as the chief executive officer of the country. Whether I want that person to be president or not, I still respect the office.”
This is from Dennis Kneale, “Elizabeth Warren Owes Musk an Apology,” Wall Street Journal, September 17, 2023 (September 18 print version.)
I agree with Kneale that Elizabeth Warren owes Elon Musk an apology.
But I strongly disagree with Musk’s view of the role of the U.S. president. The U.S. president is not the CEO of the United States. Fortunately, there is, at this time, no such entity. The president is not even the head of the federal government; he’s the head of one of the three branches of the federal government.
By the way, I also agree with Musk’s decision not to put his Starlink in the service of war. Unlike Musk, though, if I had his position and had received a directive from Biden to aid in this war, I would have refused. But who knows? I’m not in his position. Musk might fear certain sanctions from Biden that I can only imagine.
