Former President Donald Trump claimed last week that California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) never made an effort to persuade Tesla CEO Elon Musk to keep his company in the state before it set up its headquarters in Texas in 2021.
As Breitbart News noted at the time, Musk moved Tesla’s corporate headquarters to Texas in 2021. The company still maintains some production facilities in the state, but — like Musk’s other companies — has been steadily leaving.
The UK Daily Mail noted:
In an interview with entrepreneur and podcaster Patrick Bet-David, the former president revealed that he asked Musk whether Newsom had tried to persuade him to keep the automaker in the state.
‘I said did Newsom call you at all? Did he call and say ‘can we have dinner, I’d love you to stay here and we’ll work out some tax benefits or some incentive to stay?,” Trump said.
‘He said he never called. I was amazed at that. You’re talking about thousands of workers and prestige,’ he added.
Newsom has often boasted of the prestige of California companies, which remain among the world’s leading firms, especially in high-tech. But many companies have been leaving the state due to taxes, regulations, and living costs.
Unlike Texas and other states, California does not invest much effort into persuading companies to stay, or to move to the state. Former Gov. Jerry Brown even once mocked companies that leave: “Tell me: Where are you going to go?”
Brown once admitted, while in office, that the state was tough for business: “We’ve got a few problems, we have lots of little burdens and regulations and taxes,” he said in 2014. “But smart people figure out how to make it,” he added.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
