California Gov. Gavin Newsom went after Elon Musk in an Axios interview released Friday, calling the Tesla founder "one of the great disappointments" of the era, even as Newsom's own administration has been working to exclude Tesla from a proposed state electric vehicle rebate program. The governor framed his criticism around national security and China's growing dominance of the global EV market, but the broader context tells a different story: a politician picking a fight with the most prominent EV manufacturer in his own state.
Fox News Digital reported that Newsom described Musk as a once-great innovator who has abandoned his own mission. The governor said he was among the first Tesla buyers and one of the company's "biggest proponents, supporters." Then he pivoted to the attack.
"One of the great innovators of our time. He's the Edison of our time. It breaks my heart."
That line from Newsom set the tone for a wide-ranging interview in which the governor accused Musk of hitting the brakes on EV innovation and shifting his focus to "robotics, humanoids." Newsom argued the result would be an American surrender of the electric vehicle market to China, what he called "one of the most significant own goals in the next decade."
Newsom made an extraordinary claim during the interview: that California's regulatory environment deserves the credit for Musk's fortune.
"It was regulation in California that created the conditions that allowed him to take the risk to become the multibillionaire, maybe trillionaire, that he's become."
Set that claim alongside what Newsom's office has actually been doing. The governor proposed creating a California EV rebate program to replace the $7,500 federal EV tax credit if the Trump administration eliminates it. But as AP News reported, the proposal could exclude Tesla and other automakers through market-share limits, a design choice Newsom's office said was meant to "foster market competition, innovation and to support new market entrants."
In other words, the governor who says California regulation made Musk rich now wants to structure a new regulation specifically to cut Musk out.
Musk responded bluntly on X. "Tesla is the only company who manufactures their EVs in California," he wrote, as the Washington Times reported. "This is insane."
The contradiction is hard to miss. Newsom says he fears for "American legacy automobile manufacturers" and warns that China controls 70% of the global EV market. He says the Chinese are "flooding the zone all around the globe," including positioning 49,000 cars near the Canadian border to exploit tariff advantages. Yet his own proposed policy would penalize the one major EV manufacturer that still builds cars in California.
This is not a one-off disagreement. The Newsom-Musk clash has been escalating for years. Musk moved Tesla's headquarters from California to Texas in 2021, a decision that followed what Musk described as frustration with California's COVID-era factory shutdown orders. As Breitbart reported, the proposed EV rebate exclusion fits into a longer pattern, one that some Democrats have warned could backfire.
Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna urged Newsom to reverse course and include Tesla in any state rebate program. His warning, reported by Just The News, was pointed: "Let's not play politics with keeping manufacturing in California. It would be foolish to exclude Tesla. Have we learned nothing from snubbing Elon Musk at the Biden EV summit?"
That reference to the 2021 Biden EV summit, where Tesla was not invited despite being the nation's largest EV manufacturer, is telling. It suggests a broader Democratic pattern of treating Musk as a political adversary rather than an industrial ally, even when the party's own climate goals depend on the company he built.
Musk himself has not been shy about the stakes. "You will not find a better friend than me, nor a worse enemy," he said, in remarks reported by Just The News. Whether that's a promise or a warning, it captures a relationship that has moved well past professional disagreement.
The Axios interview was not limited to EVs. Newsom also addressed his relationships with Kamala Harris, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden. When asked whether he and Harris get along, Newsom pushed back hard, calling the premise "preposterous."
"I actually was the one that got enough votes that gave her the nomination, and I had the privilege of speaking in front of the convention. So it was the ultimate affirmation of that relationship... that goes back 20-plus years."
That kind of careful image management fits a governor widely understood to be positioning himself for a 2028 presidential run. But recent polling shows both Newsom and Harris deeply underwater with voters as the next cycle's jockeying begins. Picking a public fight with Musk, the most recognizable name in American technology and manufacturing, may play well with progressive donors, but it does little to address the governor's standing with the broader electorate.
Newsom's frustration with Musk appears to be both personal and political, by his own admission. But frustration is not a policy. And the governor's record of clashing with prominent figures has not always worked out in his favor. He has been publicly challenged by the Trump administration on multiple fronts, and even members of his own party have undercut his positioning at key moments.
Tesla did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment on Newsom's remarks. The company's silence may reflect a calculation that the governor's attacks are more useful left unanswered, letting the contradiction between his words and his policy speak for itself.
Newsom framed his EV concerns in national security terms. He warned that China's 70% share of the global EV market represents "statecraft" and "supply chains," not just commerce. He said he fears what will happen to American automakers. Those are legitimate concerns, and they deserve serious policy attention.
But if the threat is real, why would the governor of the state with the largest EV market in America design a rebate program that punishes the company building those vehicles in Fremont, California? If China's dominance is a national security risk, why freeze out the American manufacturer best positioned to compete?
The answer, for anyone willing to look at the pattern, is that Newsom's quarrel with Musk is not primarily about EVs, national security, or innovation. It is about politics. Musk's public break with the Democratic Party, and his alignment with figures Newsom opposes, has made him a target. Critics have already questioned whether Newsom's combative public posture reflects genuine leadership or simply a governor auditioning for a bigger stage.
Newsom said Musk "put the brakes on his own innovation." But Musk still runs the company that manufactures EVs in California. Newsom runs the state that wants to exclude that company from its own incentive program.
The governor also took aim at the broader political landscape, suggesting the risk of "ceding the EV space to China" falls on both Musk and the current administration. That framing lets Newsom position himself as the adult in the room, the leader who sees the threat clearly while others fumble. It is a familiar posture. And it has not prevented California from running into repeated federal roadblocks on issues ranging from emissions policy to infrastructure spending.
Rep. Khanna's warning deserves more attention than it has received. A sitting Democratic congressman told his own party's most prominent governor to stop playing politics with California manufacturing. That is not a partisan attack. It is a plea from inside the tent.
Newsom called Musk the "Edison of our time" and then called him one of the era's great disappointments, in the same interview. He praised California regulation for creating the conditions that built Tesla, then proposed a regulation designed to exclude Tesla. He warned about China's dominance of the EV market, then moved to handicap the American company best positioned to fight it.
When a governor's words and his policies run in opposite directions, the policies tell you what he actually believes. And right now, Newsom's policies say this fight is about Elon Musk's politics, not America's cars.
