Final month, Elon Musk posted on X that President Biden “clearly barely is aware of what is going on on.”
“He’s merely a tragic entrance for a far-left political machine,” Musk wrote. It was the twenty ninth time this yr that he posted concerning the president on X, previously referred to as Twitter, which Musk purchased in 2022.
Musk has steadily elevated his criticism of Biden because the marketing campaign season heats up forward of November’s presidential election. Musk has posted about Biden on X a minimum of seven occasions a month since January, attacking the president for every part from his age to his immigration and well being insurance policies. Earlier than that, he posted about Biden twice in December and no posts in November, in accordance with a New York Instances evaluation. In whole, Musk had posted almost 40 occasions about Biden this yr, in comparison with about 30 occasions all of final yr.
In distinction, Musk had posted greater than 20 occasions on X this yr about former President Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee. In these posts, Musk defended Trump, arguing that he’s a sufferer of media and prosecutorial bias within the felony instances going through the previous president..
Musk’s posts about this yr’s presidential race stand out as a result of he’s signaling his willingness to tip the political scale because the proprietor of an influential social media platform, one thing no different chief of a social media firm has achieved. And Musk wields huge affect over political discourse on X, the place he posts often to his 184 million followers.
Mark Zuckerberg, the founding father of Meta, has prevented endorsing candidates and barely posts political content material on Fb or Instagram. Satya Nadella, the pinnacle of Microsoft, and Sundar Pichai, the pinnacle of Google, have additionally not posted political feedback on their corporations’ social media platforms, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Bhaskar Chakravorti, dean of worldwide enterprise at Tufts College’s Fletcher College, stated Musk’s outspokenness about his political opinions might have penalties.
“He has house owners and the biggest fan base, and is a a lot larger-than-life character with virtually godlike standing” on one of many largest platforms for political debate, Chakravorti stated. “If she actually went out and supported a candidate and put her full weight in opposition to her, she might have an effect.”
The White Home, the Biden marketing campaign, Musk and X didn’t reply to requests for remark.
By bringing an ideological bent to stated Sarah Kreps, professor and director of the Tech Coverage Institute at Cornell College.
Murdoch “has a specific ideological valence and most of the people know what it’s, and that permeates by way of his completely different media,” he stated. “Individuals can decide in or out,” just like X. Some customers, postpone by Musk’s ideological bent, have migrated to competing social media platforms, he stated.
Nonetheless, Musk is unlikely to affect the November vote, social media specialists stated. A lot of his followers already agree along with his political stance, they stated, and the platform has shifted to the suitable since its acquisition.
Lately, Musk has been extra publicly supportive of right-wing candidates and views. As just lately as 2022, he described himself as a centrist and a reluctant Democrat. He stated he hesitantly voted for Biden in 2020. Political donation information present Musk has made no nationwide marketing campaign contributions since 2020, when he donated to Republican and Democratic Senate candidates.
However in June 2022, Musk stated he had voted for a Republican candidate for the primary time in a particular election for Texas’ thirty fourth congressional district. Within the nationwide midterm elections in November of that yr, urged voters vote Republican in congressional elections since a Democrat was within the White Home.
That evolution continued final Could when Musk hosted a buggy audio broadcast on X to announce and endorse Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for the Republican presidential nomination. Musk has made no different endorsement.
Musk has additionally repeatedly used X to overtly assist right-wing politicians world wide, together with Javier Milei, the president of Argentina; Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil; and Narendra Modi of India. He has then tried to make use of that goodwill to push for benefits in these nations for his different corporations, together with SpaceX, a rocket firm, and Tesla, which makes electrical automobiles.
Musk has courted Trump, who was kicked out of X when it was nonetheless referred to as Twitter, after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the Capitol. After buying Twitter in 2022, Musk acted shortly to revive Trump’s account, though the previous president has solely posted as soon as on the platform since then.
Though Musk has not endorsed Trump, he has had a number of conversations with the previous president. In March, Musk and Republican donors met with Trump in Palm Seashore, Florida, as the previous president sought election donations.
Subsequent, Mr. Musk conscious in X that “he wouldn’t donate cash to any of the candidates for president of the US.”
Musk has been sympathetic to Trump in his posts. “The extra unfair the assaults on Trump appear to the general public, the upper he’ll rise within the polls,” Musk wrote final week.
Musk has been criticizing Biden for a very long time. In 2021, the billionaire sharply criticized Biden for his selections on selling and subsidizing electrical autos, most of which favored unionized American automakers. Tesla, the place Musk is CEO, has resisted efforts to unionize its manufacturing.
“My desire for the 2024 presidency is somebody smart and centrist,” Musk posted in November 2022, weeks after buying Twitter, and simply as he introduced Trump again to the platform. He added that he had been hopeful concerning the Biden administration, however that to date he was “dissatisfied.”
In January, Musk stepped up his criticism of Biden. That month he posted seven occasions concerning the president, largely relating to immigration insurance policies, simply because the Biden administration sued Texas over a legislation that allowed native legislation enforcement to arrest immigrants.
“I do not see myself voting for Biden,” Musk stated, accusing the president of “facilitating unlawful immigration.”
In February, Musk stated Biden supported free immigration restrictions as a result of they might give him and the Democratic Celebration a bonus within the November elections.
“Biden’s technique could be very easy: 1. Carry as many illegals into the nation as doable. 2. Legalize them to create a everlasting majority: a one-party state,” Musk wrote. Because the variety of individuals crossing into the US has reached document ranges, Biden has referred to as for a harder crackdown on immigration and accused Republicans of hindering his efforts.
Musk has since stepped up his feedback about Biden, posting 12 occasions in March and complaining that the media is a “Biden cheer squad.”
Final month, at a dinner in Los Angeles, Musk together with different billionaires, together with Murdoch and enterprise capitalist Peter Thiel, mentioned find out how to oppose Biden’s reelection, in accordance with an individual accustomed to the occasion. who spoke on situation of anonymity to debate delicate subjects. Puck reported earlier concerning the dinner.
Throughout an interview In March, with former CNN host Don Lemon, Musk stated he would proceed to specific his opinion however didn’t wish to “put his thumb on the size that’s financial important” and that he might endorse a candidate throughout “the ultimate stretch”.
“I am shifting away from Biden,” he stated, laughing.