A Tesla Cybertruck joyride with Elon Musk’s biggest fans
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How can a group of climate-conscious, liberal-leaning Tesla superfans in Silicon Valley support the Trump-Musk alliance? Josh Marcus took a cruise in a Cybertruck to find out. The days leading up to Donald Trump’s inauguration, which featured multiple terrorist attacks and apocalyptic wildfires across Los Angeles, won’t be remembered as an especially hopeful time.
![[Elon Musk is in a historically unique position as both a billionaire businessman and a key White House ally advising on the federal budget]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/19/22/0da1e788f4f14c4c8c8cd5558f4d65a5.jpg)
However, there’s still plenty to look forward to with the growth of artificial intelligence in the coming years, according to Joe Jefferson, president of the Tesla Owners Club of NorCal-Reno. Last month, we cruised through traffic in Los Gatos, California, in the custom white and carbon-fiber interior of his all-black Tesla Cybertruck, letting the EV’s Full Self-Driving mode handle the controls.
![[Some Tesla owners are unhappy Musk allied with Trump, given his plans to ramp up fossil fuel production]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/07/11/18/Abandoned_Oil_Wells_Lawsuit_21360.jpg)
“To me it’s like experiencing the age of going from trains to automobiles,” he said. “That whole revolution, we’re in that now.”. Just minutes earlier, he’d punched our destination, a nearby Target, into the car’s computer. Then off we went, no humans required. As we chatted, he virtually never touched the wheel, gesticulating with a full cup of coffee instead. At first it felt uncanny, but soon totally normal.
![[Musk backers argue the Biden administration and California Democrats alike singled Musk out for unique insults, despite being aligned on climate priorities]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/16/08/d14aaffb0808444bb6b2a528296b3b3f.jpg)
His source of optimism is the man who helped create this space-age vehicle: Elon Musk. The recent election marked the moment that Musk, already the richest man in the world, became the most powerful private citizen in America. For the Tesla owners clubs of California, it’s a good time to be a Musk fan, even if their hero’s new allies are somewhat unexpected.
![[Tesla owners believe the Trump administration might be more supportive of Elon Musk’s plans to advance renewable vehicles and self-driving cars]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/21/01/DSC_0047.jpg)
