Elon Musk has been stringing a handful of podcast appearances to end his turbulent year in public life, and as expected he is cherry-picking shows that won’t interrogate him for any of that. And in his latest appearance on the Kate Miller podcast, where Musk was so far deep in his pandering act, he almost forgot that advocating for the end of immigrant voting would block him too.
Musk is everywhere these days — shows about business, tech, politics. With his vast wealth and interests, Musk needs to make sure his public persona is spic and span in so many different factions. And he’s had a year where he has botched a plan to “streamline” the federal government by somehow both missing his targeted reduced expenditure yet still cutting vital agencies.
So considering what people think of Musk these days, he decided to beat the same dead horse and add his weight to making Rep. Ilhan Omar a target. In the mounting pressure of Donald Trump’s health and the shaky economic times, the GOP has increasingly looked into turning Omar into their perfect villain.
Musk was making the argument on the podcast that Omar won despite being from “really far” from Minnesota. Musk bumbled his way through his soft complaint about immigrants being able to vote and lumped Omar’s success in politics with Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. According to Musk, these two only won because immigrants voted them in.
By Musk’s stated logic — because Omar comes from a place with thousands of Somali immigrants, she was able to garner many votes — but it’s very hard to see how that would translate to Mamdani. Mamdani was born in Uganda; there are obviously not enough Ugandan-born New Yorkers to swing an election. But still, Musk’s leaps in logic aren’t even the issue here.
Elon Musk, a South African immigrant born in Africa who votes in Texas, is annoyed that Somali immigrants born in Africa get to vote in Minnesota.
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) December 10, 2025
There's only one thing he doesn't have in common with his fellow African immigrants in Minnesota. https://t.co/kWqCDf9Lnf
Elon Musk was born June 28, 1971 — he moved to the US when he was well into his 20s. This is why the Trump immigration agenda has been very kind to Musk’s fellow countrymen, particularly of his heritage. It’s possible that Musk is not just pandering here but rather speaking of how he thinks. Politics of identity only make sense to people who practice it. Considering ballot boxes don’t have a section to write in why you voted for a particular person, Omar’s and Mamdani’s wins can be attributed to just about anything charlatans want to attach them to. But their campaigns presented a case for everyone they represent.
Musk likely separates himself from Omar by continuing the convenient myth of a good and a bad immigrant. He has no issue with more immigrants; he was just arguing to let more immigrants in a few months ago using the H-1B1 visa. But that mostly applies to his companies.
Tech industries are competing globally to make sure their latest applications are better than their competition on the other side of the world. So is probably the case with whatever company and industry you’re in. The only difference is the tech industries have convinced others that their particular industries should be exempt from rules they want to subject others to. And despite them claiming they only do this because it’s best for everyone, only the tech titans wealth keep ballooning while the regular American continues to struggle affording groceries.
