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‘This Is Not Freedom’: Elon Musk Blasts ‘Fascist’ Government Imposed Lockdowns

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BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Scott Morefield Reporter
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Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk blasted mandated government imposed lockdowns as “fascist” during a Wednesday first quarter Tesla earnings call.

The Tesla founder was responding to questions about his company’s liquidity when he called on leaders to “give people back their goddamn freedom,” CNBC reported.

“This is the time to think about the future, and also to ask, is it right to infringe upon people’s rights as what is happening right now?” he said, according to CNBC’s transcript. “I think the people are going to be very angry about this and are very angry. It’s like somebody should be – if somebody wants to stay in the house that’s great, they should be allowed to stay in the house and they should not be compelled to leave. But to say that they cannot leave their house, and they will be arrested if they do, this is fascist. This is not democratic. This is not freedom. Give people back their goddamn freedom.”

Later in the call, Musk called shelter-in-place orders “forcibly imprisoning people in their homes, against all their constitutional rights” and “breaking people’s freedoms in ways that are horrible and wrong, and not why people came to America or built this country.” (RELATED: ‘We Are Losing Lives Because Of This Shutdown’: Heather Mac Donald On Why ‘Irrational’ Coronavirus ‘Paranoia’ Can Be Deadly)

“What the fuck?” Musk asked. “Excuse me. It’s outrage. It’s an outrage. It will cause great harm not just to Tesla, but to many companies. And while Tesla will weather the storm there are many small companies that will not.”

Lending his voice to many others who have questioned the severity and necessity of continued lockdown measures as coronavirus rates decline across most of the country and deaths fall well below initial dire predictions, Tesla tweeted “Free America Now” on Tuesday.

The billionaire businessman included several more tweets on the subject this week:

The entire call can be found below: