Billionaire Elon Musk urged his followers to vote for Republicans in this year's midterm elections, reasoning that a Republican control of Congress will balance out a Democrat in the White House.
Twitter's new owner appealed to independent voters in particular, saying that shared power "curbs the worst excesses of both parties."
Musk added:
Hardcore Democrats or Republicans never vote for the other side, so independent voters are the ones who actually decide who’s in charge!
You can see Musk's tweets below.
\u201cHardcore Democrats or Republicans never vote for the other side, so independent voters are the ones who actually decide who\u2019s in charge!\u201d— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1667834536
Musk failed to take note of the fact that Congress was split between Democrats and Republicans when former Democratic President Barack Obama was in office, and that this outcome resulted in a political stalemate for much of Obama's presidency that stalled his agenda.
Musk's tacit endorsement of the Republican Party comes after he was reportedly a VIP guest of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy at his annual donor retreat. During the event, Musk openly complained about an $11 billion tax bill he incurred last year after selling Tesla stock.
However, Reuters journalist Kanishka Raj Singh dug up an older tweet of Musk's, noting that in April—shortly after news outlets reported his intention to purchase Twitter for $44 billion—he'd claimed that Twitter should be a "politically neutral" space.
You can see that tweet below.
\u201cFor Twitter to deserve public trust, it must be politically neutral, which effectively means upsetting the far right and the far left equally\u201d— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1651091900
Singh tweeted to Musk directly and asked him the following question:
"How would you, as the head of Twitter, justify recommending which party people should vote for after you advocated for political neutrality for the platform?"
\u201c@elonmusk Hi @elonmusk, in this tweet in April, you said Twitter should be politically neutral https://t.co/XHo9gPR2b5\n\nHow would you, as the head of Twitter, justify recommending which party people should vote for after you advocated for political neutrality for the platform?\u201d— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1667834536
Musk has not responded to Singh's request.
Many have criticized Musk for openly conradicting himself.
\u201clol, lmao\n\ntweeting this and then tweeting support of either party is an incredible show of not standing for anything at all\u201d— foshed (@foshed) 1667884130
\u201cWhat a poorly aged and changed-mind tweet.\u201d— Mikah (@Mikah) 1667870338
\u201cDON'T preach what YOU can't practice\u201d— sunnyB (@sunnyB) 1667859945
\u201cJust another maga liar apparently.\u201d— Mark Pyron (@Mark Pyron) 1667913461
Others criticized Musk for openly endorsing Republicans, noting that he is doing it for his own self-enrichment.
\u201cI wonder why a billionaire is urging people to vote for a party that is notorious for giving tax cuts to billionaires \ud83e\udd14\ud83e\udd14\ud83e\udd14\u201d— Viced Rhino \ud83e\udd8f \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Viced Rhino \ud83e\udd8f \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1667909841
\u201cI don\u2019t take my orders from billionaires, especially when the motive is purely self-aggrandizement and self-enrichment.\u201d— Colonel (fmr.) Vindman \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Colonel (fmr.) Vindman \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1667886864
\u201cThe billionaire would like you to vote for the party that will cut his taxes.\u201d— Heidi (@Heidi) 1667865263
\u201cImagine the outrage from Republicans if Mark Zuckerberg posted this in favour of Democrats on Facebook? They would lose their collective sh*t. The silent glee from Republicans is deafening. \n\nThey are so happy to have their pawn, Musk, to help fix it for them.\n#FreshResists\u201d— \u1455\u15e9T \ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@\u1455\u15e9T \ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1667884977
Musk has repeatedly insisted that Twitter needs to go private if it wants to become a platform for free speech, though he has already come under fire for silencing his critics and spreading misinformation.
Criticisms about Musk's leadership style have been magnified in light of his decision to layoff roughly half the workforce, including employees who were on work visas. There was no advance warning for who would or would not be subject to the cuts, and at least one Twitter employee told reporters that they were booted from company systems in the middle of a meeting.
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