According to his old friends, Elon Musk is a few tires short of a Tesla.
Tech journalist Kara Swisher said that Elon Musk is “losing his fucking mind” on the latest episode of her podcast “On”. A former friend of Musk, Swisher said that Musk’s penchant for mockery has reached abysmal new lows.
“I think he’s trolling us with these fascist salutes, and now he’s been tweeting Nazi-related puns,” she said of Musk – who recently tweeted “bet you did nazi that coming” alongside other unfortunate attempts at humor in a recent post. The tweets come alongside the recent controversy Musk courted after making a straight armed salute during an inauguration day speech that bore disturbing resemblance to a Nazi hand gesture.
Musk responded to the accusations of fascism with more trolling, writing “”frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired” in a post on X.
“I often say that X has turned into a Nazi porn bar, and today it really is” said Swisher on her podcast. Musk, who styles himself as a “free speech absolutionist,” cited what he believed to be Twitter’s free speech violations as his impetus for buying the company. Twitter moderated its users posts in an effort to prevent hate speech, and banned accounts in violation of its policies. Musk upended Twitter’s content moderation policies, and unbanned previously suspended accounts, including those created self-identified white supremacists.
Since Musk’s Twitter takeover, far-right accounts have flourished on the platform. An NBC news review identified 15o verified accounts that reposted pro-Nazi content, along with thousands of unverified accounts that have amplified Nazi sentiment. The seven most widely shared pieces of Nazi content garnered a combined 4.5 million views across the platform.
Musk is fanning the flames. The billionaire recently expressed his support for Germany’s far-right political part AfD, and told a crowd that Germany should get over “past guilt” while speaking an AfD rally. Musk has also shown support for far-right wing groups in other parts of Europe as well, including the Reform U.K. party – an anti-immigrant party led by Trump-ally Nigel Farage. Musk has recently criticized Farage, saying that he “doesn’t have what it takes” to lead the party. The schism came from Farage’s lack of support for Tommy Robinson, an even further-right U.K. activist who is currently serving a jail sentence for contempt of court. Musk has since announced that he will be contributing to Robinson’s legal fund. Musk’s geopolitical meddling has earned him censure from prominent figures in tech, including Bill Gates, who called Musk’s support for far-right European political parties some “insane shit.”
The insanity doesn’t stop there. Musk has used his unprecedented level of political influence in order to meddle in the day to day affairs of the U.S. government, despite not being an elective official. Through a series of tweets, Musk was able to tank a bipartisan spending bill set to avert government shutdown. The billionaire’s influence was so concerning that his critics gave him the sinister label of “Shadow President,” and questioned whether or not Trump was merely a puppet on Musk’s strings. The rumors proved to be such a headache for the nascent Trump administration that Donald Trump himself had to publicly call them a hoax.
But the damage was done, and the internet has since been flooded with “President Musk” memes, which tend to pictureTrump groveling in subservience to the billionaire. While Musk has since downplayed his influence in the Trump administration, his Inauguration Day antics prove that he remains a dangerous political mind that, according to former friends, is slowly unraveling.
Published: Jan 28, 2025 02:35 am