Tulsa Prostrates Itself Before Elon Musk Shrine

Move over, people of Joplin — Tulsa, Oklahoma wants to host Tesla’s proposed second U.S. assembly plant, and it’s prepared to embarrass itself to see it happen.

On Wednesday, Tesla aficionados assembled their vehicles around the city’s famous, 75-foot-tall Golden Driller statue, which they deftly decked out to look like Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk. To Tulsa, Musk is the golden boy. Rumors abound that the sometimes unhinged executive has decided on either Austin, Texas or Tulsa for the new assembly plant site.

Some hope he’ll even move his company’s headquarters out of California.

Tulsa for @elonmusk Tulsa would be one of the best investments you’ve ever made. pic.twitter.com/himbsuXKuP

— Mike Collier (@MikeCollierWX) May 19, 2020

“We are trying to relocate this company from California to Tulsa to kind of grow our economic development here in the city.” Kimberly Honea told ABC7 News.

With low taxes and a skilled workforce, Tulsa is making a big pitch for the promised 10,000 jobs that would accompany any new plant. It’s the same thing we saw with another plant site hopeful — Joplin, MO — last month.

On May 9th, Musk tweeted that he planned to move his HQ and future products to either Texas or Nevada “immediately,” claiming that the decision to retain any manufacturing capacity in California would depend on how the state treats the company. This was widely seen as a crude threat designed to reverse a local decision related to coronavirus measures.

In an attempt to recruit Tesla to the city, Elon Musk’s face was painted onto the famous Tulsa Driller.

— Dusty (@DustinGiebel) May 20, 2020

As reported by CBS, Tulsa’s mayor, G.T. Bynum, has gone so far as to suggest the city’s police department will field a fleet of Cybertrucks if Tesla chooses his town. If you like your local police force’s vehicles to carry a dystopian flair, well, you can’t do better than the Cybertruck. Hopefully the city can arrange a competitive fleet buy, as the most capable version of said truck — slated to be built at the new plant — is said to carry a price in the area of $70k.

If @Tesla and team up to change the world, it would only be right to . @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/cQJ5baF1iN

— G.T. Bynum (@gtbynum) May 17, 2020

Tesla remains mum on its ultimate choice; no doubt it’s still in the process of seeing what a number of municipalities can do for it and weighing the financials. Musk, who recently sued California’s Alameda Country in an attempt to overturn a lockdown order that was keeping the company’s Fremont assembly plant shuttered (then forging ahead with a reopening anyway), all the while raging against what he saw as unconstitutional behavior on the part of county officials, seems preoccupied of late. Not just with personal liberty and a desire to rid himself of California bureaucracy, but with the first manned SpaceX launch — a historic event scheduled for May 27th.

Well, maybe it hasn’t been too much of a distraction.

Cancel Cancel Culture!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 19, 2020

[Image: Tesla]