Elon Musk: "I’m nauseatingly pro-American. I would have come here from any country. The U.S. is where great things are possible."

[Tammuz]

From this interview:

WATTENBERG: I got to think a lot of illegals add a lot of value to the United States. You have been quoted as saying that you are nauseatingly pro American.

MUSK: Yes, that’s true.

WATTENBERG: What do you mean?

MUSK: Well, I mean, I think the United States is the greatest country that’s ever existed on earth. And I think that it will be difficult to argue on objective grounds that it is not. I think the facts really point in that direction. It’s the greatest force for good of any country that’s ever been.

There would not be democracy in the world if not for the United States. We’re obviously falling in the recent few occasions -- maybe three separate occasions in the Twentieth Century -- democracy would have fallen with World War 1, World War 2 and the Cold War, but for the United States.

WATTENBERG: And perhaps the threat of terrorism would be much greater if it were not for the United States.

MUSK: Yeah, absolutely. I think it would be a mistake to say the United States is perfect, it certainly is not. There have been many foolish things the United States has done and bad things the United States has done.

But when historians look at these things on balance and measure the good with the bad -- and I think if you do that and -- on a rational basis and make a fair assessment -- I think it’s hard to [unintelligible] that the United States -- is there anything better [speaking over each other]

WATTENBERG: I have a reputation of interrupting my guests. But when they say exactly what I believe, I just let them talk and talk. I think you’re 100 percent right.

MUSK: And -- you know I wasn’t born in America -- I got here as fast as I could.

WATTENBERG: My sense is to use that old classical economic term, that perhaps the greatest comparative advantage we have in the United States is the fact we take in lots of immigrants, legal and to some extent illegal and we have the only really good assimilation factory in the world.

And that this provides us with such power and strength and influence -- as you said, unimaginable in human history.

MUSK: Yeah. Yeah. I totally agree. And I do agree with assimilation. I mean, it doesn’t mean erasing someone’s you know -- the culture that someone came from.

Because I think what actually happens is that the whole melting pot things with the cultures that people came from get added to the greater mix and actually enriches the diversity of the country more than if people simply retain their -- you know their original country’s culture unmodified, which seems like an odd thing to me.

Because if you want the unmodified culture of your original country, then why would you move.

WATTENBERG: Well, you know they say there’s a lot of public opinion [unintelligible] evidence to that effect that immigrants are more patriotic than Americans. Because those of us who were born here were born here and you know most Americans love their country, but they didn’t make the rational choice to say this is where I’m going to hang my hat.

And the levels of -- I mean, America -- all the transnational polling shows that this is the most patriotic country in the world, but at the top of that high rating, its immigrants were saying this is a great place.

MUSK: Sure absolutely.

I know some people here will share this sentiment, whereas others will fiercely disagree. Which should make for an interesting discussion!

 

[corpsman]

From this interview:

WATTENBERG: I got to think a lot of illegals add a lot of value to the United States. You have been quoted as saying that you are nauseatingly pro American.

MUSK: Yes, that’s true.

WATTENBERG: What do you mean?

MUSK: Well, I mean, I think the United States is the greatest country that’s ever existed on earth. And I think that it will be difficult to argue on objective grounds that it is not. I think the facts really point in that direction. It’s the greatest force for good of any country that’s ever been.

There would not be democracy in the world if not for the United States. We’re obviously falling in the recent few occasions -- maybe three separate occasions in the Twentieth Century -- democracy would have fallen with World War 1, World War 2 and the Cold War, but for the United States.

WATTENBERG: And perhaps the threat of terrorism would be much greater if it were not for the United States.

MUSK: Yeah, absolutely. I think it would be a mistake to say the United States is perfect, it certainly is not. There have been many foolish things the United States has done and bad things the United States has done.

But when historians look at these things on balance and measure the good with the bad -- and I think if you do that and -- on a rational basis and make a fair assessment -- I think it’s hard to [unintelligible] that the United States -- is there anything better [speaking over each other]

WATTENBERG: I have a reputation of interrupting my guests. But when they say exactly what I believe, I just let them talk and talk. I think you’re 100 percent right.

MUSK: And -- you know I wasn’t born in America -- I got here as fast as I could.

WATTENBERG: My sense is to use that old classical economic term, that perhaps the greatest comparative advantage we have in the United States is the fact we take in lots of immigrants, legal and to some extent illegal and we have the only really good assimilation factory in the world.

And that this provides us with such power and strength and influence -- as you said, unimaginable in human history.

MUSK: Yeah. Yeah. I totally agree. And I do agree with assimilation. I mean, it doesn’t mean erasing someone’s you know -- the culture that someone came from.

Because I think what actually happens is that the whole melting pot things with the cultures that people came from get added to the greater mix and actually enriches the diversity of the country more than if people simply retain their -- you know their original country’s culture unmodified, which seems like an odd thing to me.

Because if you want the unmodified culture of your original country, then why would you move.

WATTENBERG: Well, you know they say there’s a lot of public opinion [unintelligible] evidence to that effect that immigrants are more patriotic than Americans. Because those of us who were born here were born here and you know most Americans love their country, but they didn’t make the rational choice to say this is where I’m going to hang my hat.

And the levels of -- I mean, America -- all the transnational polling shows that this is the most patriotic country in the world, but at the top of that high rating, its immigrants were saying this is a great place.

MUSK: Sure absolutely.

I know some people here will share this sentiment, whereas others will fiercely disagree. Which should make for an interesting discussion!

There can be no doubt that most legal immigrants are overtly patriotic. They have a background to make a comparison. The problem lies with a large portion of the illegals, and some legals, who come from cultures whose values are overtly inimical to any culture than their own. Take a look at Europe. One might think the leaders of those nations that take in large numbers of Muslims are stupid. I don't buy that.

 

[untermensche]

Nobody doubts that the US is good for the very rich or the very talented.

But what really makes a nation good is how it is for the ordinary.

Do the ordinary have health insurance for instance.

 

[RVonse]

Let me apologize in advance for being OT of your thread.

That being said, corpsman you left out the best part of the interview:

WATTENBERG: What do you think of the President incumbent, George W. Bush?
MUSK: You know, George Bush is like Reagan without the brains.
[Laughter]

:laughing-smiley-014

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

MUSK: Well, I mean, I think the United States is the greatest country that’s ever existed on earth.

Pfftt....that isn't an endorsement at all. Have you seen some of the other countries on planet Earth?

A really pro-American person like me thinks that not only is the United States the greatest country that's ever existed in the Universe and ever will exist in the Universe, it's also the greatest country in all of the parallel and alternate Universes. So if our United States had to fight with another United States from a parallel Universe, our United States would win hands down. We'd kick their butts and suffer very, very few casualties. The other United States's out there are nothing because we're the True Red White and Blue.

 

[Debra Morgan]

I respect Elon but disagree with him to an extent. There is a lot to be critical of here, and unless we are critical of our country we cannot make corrections and govern ourselves as adults.