Tucker Carlson says Elon Musk is a ‘great’ influence on American society

In an exclusive interview with The National, Mr Carlson says that Trump’s re-election will bring about positive change

Tucker Carlson, one of America's most influential conservative journalists, told The National on Saturday that Elon Musk has a "great" and positive influence on American society.

"Elon Musk has been great for American society so far in that he's allowed uncensored news coverage on X for which he paid $44 billion," Carlson told The National at the 1 Billion Followers Summit in Dubai.

He said that in the United States "the citizen has a right to say what he thinks" but had not always enjoyed that freedom, and Mr Musk created the space for that when he bought X. The company was originally valued at $22 billion, causing Musk $22 billion in losses.

"I think because he thought the promise of America's free speech and we didn't have it, so that is a historic addition to the United States," he added.

In a separate speech at the three-day summit, at which major social media companies and content creators are gathered, Mr Carlson said that the US prides itself on the principle of free speech, giving its citizens the right of freedom of expression.

"Every country is different, but there's one country on the globe that allows, as a matter of core principle free speech on federal, and that's the United States of America. And so you cannot let that erode," he said.

In 2022, Mr Musk acquired Twitter and merged it into his own company X Corp, with the social platform now known as X.

US President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk at the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket in Texas in November, 2024. Reuters

With social media reporting and citizen journalism taking over the media landscape, Carlson said that mainstream media are undoubtedly partisan influencers.

"During the Covid pandemic in the US or Europe, where were you getting the more accurate information? Looking back now that we know a lot of what we didn't know," he said.

He claims that mainstream American media perpetuate lies, making it hard to trust the content or pay for it. But on social media, there is a diverse range of voices that could be closer to the truth than news produced by media outlets, he said.

"The partisans on social media are no more partisan than the institutions they are replacing," he said in his speech at the summit.

Trump re-election might bring about positive change

Carlson told The National that Donald Trump approaching the beginning of his second presidency on January 20 is a moment that presents an opportunity for "positive change".

"Trump got re-elected for the second time with a four-year gap at exactly the moment that a lot of trends are coming to their natural end, like neoliberalism," Carlson said.

He remains hesitant to declare which of Mr Trump's promises will come true, and claims that the escalation of the recent California fires were a result of the alleged poor response from America's liberal administrations.

"It's just this amazing confluence of events … the current system is tapped out, ineffective, discredited," he added.

In a speech he gave at the summit, titled 'The New Rules of Influence,' he said that he supports democracy, but does not believe it cannot be effective for long-term decision making.

Although the world has already experienced Mr Trump's leadership, Mr Carlson believes his second term could be transformative, bringing about positive change.

"Trump, I mean, I think a lot could happen, a lot of really good things. If there was ever a time for positive change, it's now, and I'm hoping for it, of course," he said.