In This Story
Elon Musk has once again proved that some things are better left off of social media.
The billionaire, who owns social media platform X and leads companies including Tesla (TSLA-0.55%) and SpaceX, on Sunday posted some of his thoughts regarding the second attempted assassination of Former President Donald Trump. Musk endorsed the Republican presidential candidate in July after an earlier assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally.
“Why they want to kill Donald Trump,” wrote @cb_doge on X, an account Musk often retweets and interacts with, Sunday. “And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala,” Musk replied in a since-deleted tweet, referring to the sitting president and vice president, the latter of whom is running as the Democratic nominee for president. It was viewed over 30 million times and netted 151,000 likes before it was deleted.
Musk later replied in favor to a post from a Tesla influencer calling President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris “the machine” and that Trump “threatens” that machine. Musk also asked “Why are so many people raging FOR the machine?” along with a laughing emoji.
In subsequent posts, Musk said his post was made in jest, writing that it “turns out that jokes are WAY less funny if people don’t know the context and the delivery is plain text” and that “just because I say something to a group and they laugh” doesn’t mean it will translate well to social media.
Regardless of his intention, the post drew instant backlash from some on social media. Carl Quintanilla, a veteran journalist and anchor for CNBC’s (CMCSA+1.27%) “Squawk on the Street,” for example, told Musk to delete his account, while The Dispatch Editor-in-Chief Jonah Goldberg called it “appalling and indefensible.”
“Elon knows this to be untrue. Elon has had assassination attempts by deranged individuals that he has publicly spoken about. One of those individuals also threatened to kill President Biden,” wrote Rohan Patel, Tesla’s former vice president overseeing public policy. “The secret service has likely thwarted many attacks on Biden/Harris that we don’t know about,” adding that he is “truly disappointed.”
It’s Musk’s second social media faux pas in about a week, coming just days after he offered to give Taylor Swift a child after the singer-songwriter and economic titan endorsed Harris’s bid for the White House. That post drew swift condemnation from her supporters and Democratic-leaning people across social media.
Although, by far, is this not Musk’s biggest social media controversy. That would be when, in 2018, he suggested taking Tesla private at $420 a share, writing “funding secured.” That tweet raised many questions — namely, who would fund his sudden push for privatization — and triggered suspicion from the SEC and shareholders.
Subsequent lawsuits cost Tesla and Musk $40 million, and a settlement with the SEC forced Musk to step down as Tesla’s chairman and have his social media posts supervised by lawyers.