Elon Musk Vows To Intervene In San Francisco’s Local Elections

Photo courtesy of Heisenburg Media

I don’t want to endorse anyone in Bay Area politics because the reality of political life in the Bay is this: most politicians in the region have a bad habit of pursuing legislative priorities that veer far away from the campaign rhetoric that was utilized to get them elected. Regardless of that reality, the last thing I want is for billionaires dumping the money they usually reserve for national politics into San Francisco, and begin perverting things at the local level. Especially when that billionaire is as well-known and influential as Elon Musk. 

Dean Preston is a controversial figure in the SF political scene. He has sparred with London Breed, Brooke Jenkins and now he’s being portrayed as the face of the city’s problems by none other than Elon Musk. 

Musk replied to a tweet by Garry Tan, the CEO of Y Combinator, claiming that would double Tan’s $50k pledge to the “Dump Dean” political action committee. Now, I honestly don’t give a fuck what you think about Dean Preston or any politician in San Francisco. But the idea that some of the richest people in the city can spend $150k on a whim to remove a democratically elected representative is a huge problem. I don’t like London Breed. However, despite my distaste for her, I wouldn’t support some rich people, who I might agree with, using their money to steamroll the will of the people, and neither should you. It’s really terrible that this is the way electoral politics works in this country.  

Another thing you should consider, even if you dislike Dean, is that Elon Musk’s politics deeply contrast with the political preferences of most San Franciscans. San Francisco is the most childless major city in the United States. Most adults in San Francisco don’t have children. Elon Musk has vocally supported the idea of restricting voting rights for childless adults. This would essentially mean most current San Franciscans couldn’t vote.

On top of that Musk also emboldens white supremacists, spreads COVID misinformation, is anti-union, and is transphobic, among many other shitty things. Is this the kind of person you want funding your politicians? 

These are things you should think about. The obsession with crime in San Francisco is being utilized as a trojan horse to empower well-connected elites to shape legislation to support their own interests. San Francisco’s notoriously high property crime rate was blamed on Chesa Boudin, Chesa was replaced by Jenkins and there hasn’t been a meaningful difference in incidents of crime. All that happened was a few cops and a security guard, who killed unarmed minorities, were released without repercussion. Your cars are still getting broken into and people are still gathering on street corners to ingest fentanyl and every other drug you can imagine. 

I’m not excusing the chaos in certain neighborhoods. I understand seeing people kill themselves with drugs in large clusters is deeply unsettling. I’ve never walked through the Tenderloin or SoMa and have been like “this is great, things are going well!” 

The sad truth is those things will persist no matter who’s in power. But the notion that giving more power to the most powerful people without any meaningful pushback is fucking ridiculous. 

I don’t know that much about Dean Preston and I’m not going to pretend that I do, but if Elon Musk and other thin skinned (Garry Tan blocked me on Twitter because I made fun of him) elites want him gone, there’s got to be a reason, and it sure as hell ain’t fucking crime. 

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