In his latest dalliance with supporting far-right fascism, Tesla CEO Elon Musk voiced his support for the Canadian trucker protest by comparing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Hitler on Twitter.
Trudeau has recently cracked down on the protests, which have held the Canadian capital of Ottawa and several other cities hostage for weeks as truckers used their trucks to cripple Ottawa's downtown and block access to bridges and U.S./Canada border crossings while harassing and assaulting citizens.
To Musk, Trudeau not allowing this to continue is on a par with the systematic mass murder and genocide of at least 17 million people by Hitler and his Nazi regime in the 1930s and 1940s.
Naturally, this absurd sentiment has left many outraged, and Musk has since deleted the tweet. But screenshots live forever, as they say.
You can see his tweet below.
Imagine any other CEO of a public company tweeting this and everyone shrugging it off.pic.twitter.com/xJIQUWFT7a— Sleeping Giants (@Sleeping Giants) 1645113224
Musk's tweet included a meme bearing the ghoulish face of Adolph Hitler himself along with the text:
"Stop comparing me to Justin Trudeau. I had a budget."
Musk's joke, if you can call it that, is in reference to Trudeau's federal spending, which many conservative Canadians oppose.
Musk has repeatedly heaped praise on the trucker convoy, which was organized in protest of COVID-19 vaccine requirements for truckers carrying cargo over the U.S./Canadian border. But as with most right-wing protests nowadays, the trucker convoy has been found to be about far more than vaccine rules.
The protest is closely aligned with far-right white nationalist, Nazi and QAnon groups. Participants have explicitly said it was designed to be a January 6-style attack on the Canadian Parliament. Interference from far-flung countries like Vietnam and Bangladesh has been instrumental in the planning and fundraising for the protest. And nearly half of the protest's funding has come from far-right and evangelical Christian Americans.
Musk seems to think that's all really cool, and that opposing it is akin to the genocidal fascism of Adolph Hitler. Which is par for the course for him nowadays--he's been slyly tweeting affinity for the far-right for years now.
On Twitter, people were reviled by Musk's tweet.
Elon Musk declaring admiration for Hitler's "budget"\nwhich earmarked many millions of dollars to pursue & execute the "Final Solution" = Elon Musk either profoundly ignorant or profoundly fascist though likely both. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1494216634822766594\u00a0\u2026— Joyce Carol Oates (@Joyce Carol Oates) 1645122593
.@ElonMusk has exercised extremely poor judgment by invoking Hitler to make a point on social media.\n\nComparing @CanadianPM Justin Trudeau to a genocidal dictator who murdered millions is not an appropriate way to criticize policies.\n\nHe must apologize immediately. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1494216634822766594\u00a0\u2026— American Jewish Committee (@American Jewish Committee) 1645109605
The use of Nazi imagery and symbols in this debate needs to end. Canada is not Nazi Germany. Nobody here can fairly be compared to Jews in the Holocaust. We are a Democratic nation governed by a Charter of Rights. To the small minority that is doing this please please stop now. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1494216634822766594\u00a0\u2026— Anthony Housefather (@Anthony Housefather) 1645120612
To see this face staring back at us, with a message like this, is absolutely beyond the pale of any civilized communication. I think of the millions dead. I think of a world destroyed. I shake with anger. The pit of my stomach is sick. I am deeply saddened. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1494216634822766594\u00a0\u2026— Dan Rather (@Dan Rather) 1645121481
Growing up, it was ingrained in me that American Jews simply do not buy Volkswagen cars because of the company\u2019s ties to the Third Reich. Here, you have one of the leading electric car manufacturers casually comparing a world leader to Hitler, an act of minimizing that atrocity https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1494216634822766594\u00a0\u2026— Sam Stein (@Sam Stein) 1645120925
Elon Musk deleted a tweet comparing Justin Trudeau to Adolf Hitler over Trudeau\u2019s opposition to the trucker protest in Canada. I wish I could find the words to capture how disgusting this is.pic.twitter.com/YLRc5wYsgR— Frederick Joseph (@Frederick Joseph) 1645125552
Adolf Hitler is responsible for the murder of six million Jewish people, as well as millions of Roma, homosexuals, and people identifying with other minority groups.\n\nMusk\u2019s tweet is disgusting and indefensible.pic.twitter.com/gN0BgaQ11M— Pabst Street Capital Management (@Pabst Street Capital Management) 1645090375
Elon and also Elonpic.twitter.com/J3JTMCJMPm— Yaya (@Yaya) 1645140514
Elon Musk using Hitler memes. I'm not going to grace it with a quote-tweet.\n\nDespicable.— Peter Daou (@Peter Daou) 1645122604
The people casually overlooking Elon Musk comparing Trudeau to Hitler, are the same people who casually overlooked the Confederate flags and swastikas in Ottawa.— Ahmed Ali (@Ahmed Ali) 1645122338
Canadian police have begun arresting participants in the Ottawa branch of the trucker convoy after arresting two of its leaders last night, bringing the protest toward its end after more than three weeks. A copycat American version from California to Washington D.C. is already planned to launch on February 23.
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
@arianagrande/Instagram
@arianagrande/Instagram