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CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Tuesday that he is on Elon Musk’s side in the Tesla CEO fight with local officials over the reopening of the company’s car manufacturing plant in Alameda County, California, south of San Francisco.
“I think he is absolutely right,” Cramer said, in reaction to Musk saying that Tesla restarted production at its Fremont factory on Monday, in violation of a county coronavirus mitigation order against reopening nonessential businesses.
Cramer admitted that Musk is a “fanatic” referring to complaints about state orders to stay home since the company’s first-quarter earnings were released late last month. Musk described the restrictions designed to curb the spread of Covid-19 as fascist, and urged governments to ease the restrictions.
However, the “Mad Money” host, who was wrong to comment on the need for Americans to return to work and avoid further loss of life, said it is time to open the Tesla factory in Fremont.
Shortly after Cramer’s comments about “Squawk on the Street,” President Donald Trump tweeted that “California should allow Tesla and @elonmusk to open the plant, NOW. It can be done quickly and safely!”
On Monday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin backed Musk in an interview on CNBC. “It is one of the largest employers and manufacturers in California, and California should prioritize doing whatever it takes to solve those health problems so it can open quickly and safely,” Mnuchin said.
For Alameda, county supervisor Scott Haggerty said, “I wish Elon had waited another week. So we could have done this in a methodical way that really got people back to work safely.”
Musk, in a tweet confirming the resumption of production, practically defied authorities to arrest him.
Tesla’s Fremont plant had been closed since March 23.
Monday’s restart came days after Tesla sued the Alameda County Health Department seeking to overturn his order and after Musk threatened to move Tesla’s manufacturing operations and headquarters out of California.
– Associated Press contributed to this report.
