Elon Musk Is a Far-Right Activist
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
If there’s one tweet that will tell you everything you need to know about Elon Musk, it’s this one from early this morning:
In five words, Musk manages to mock transgender and nonbinary people, signal his disdain for public-health officials, and send up a flare to far-right shitposters and trolls. The tweet is a cruel and senseless play on pronouns that also invokes the right’s fury toward Anthony Fauci, the chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, for what they believe is a government overreach in public-health policy throughout the pandemic and an obfuscation of the coronavirus’s origins. (Fauci, for his part, has said he would cooperate with any possible investigations and has nothing to hide.)
Beyond its stark cruelty, this tweet is incredibly thirsty. As right-wing troll memes go, it is Dad-level, 4chan–Clark Griswold stuff, which is to say it’s desperate engagement bait in the hopes of attracting kudos from the only influencers who give Musk the time of day anymore: right-wing shock jocks. But that is the proper company for the billionaire, because whether or not he wants to admit it, Musk is actively aiding the far right’s political project. He is a right-wing activist.
Currently, Musk’s politics are a subject of debate in the press. On Saturday, The New York Times ’ Jeremy W. Peters attempted to offer a nuanced portrait of the Twitter owner’s ideologies, arguing that Musk “continues to defy easy political categorization.” But Peters’ laundry list of Musk’s recent lib-trolling and “woke” scolding—such as Musk’s November recommendation to his millions of followers to vote Republican—undermines the very thesis of the article. The nuance Peters is looking for does not exist: Musk’s actions and associations make a clear case that he is a right-wing reactionary.
Musk, for his part, has maintained that he is a centrist, that his politics have remained unchanged, and that it is the Democratic Party that has veered dramatically leftward. (Musk and Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.) Musk’s logic—that wayward leftism has given a lifelong moderate liberal no choice but to support right-wing causes—is a common trope among far-right activists. It has been employed by many in the so-called Intellectual Dark Web and influencers such as Dave Rubin, Joe Rogan, Glenn Greenwald, and others. The argument stretches far back in American politics. The neoconservative movement in the United States was originated by liberals who grew disillusioned with the Democratic Party, especially in relation to the left’s Vietnam protests.
Beyond Musk’s political affiliations, his actual political convictions—by which I mean the bedrock set of values, ideologies, and organizing principles through which he sees the world and wishes it to be structured—are a slightly different conversation. Here, I tend to agree with The Verge ’s Liz Lopatto, who wrote recently that Musk doesn’t really have political beliefs, only personal interests. But one can have vapid or nonexistent political beliefs and still be a political activist. Political activism is about actions. Here’s what those actions look like in practice:
Publicly, Musk appears deeply committed to the right’s culture war against progressivism in most forms. His purchase of Twitter was an explicitly political act couched in the notion of preserving free speech. But Musk’s notion of free speech is a broad course correction that involves amplifying and advancing the interests of right-wing reactionaries while trolling the left. Musk might argue that this is restoring balance to the system, but if we are judging based only on actions and outcomes, it is very hard to see his tenure at Twitter as anything other than a series of policies intended to benefit a particular ideology.
Musk also simply loves palling around with far-right influencers on Twitter. A scroll through his Twitter replies is a rather remarkable document of a man who has (or at least had ) more money than any other human being in the history of humanity, a fair amount of power, and an endless supply of options for how to spend his time, and who chooses to spend his time as a reply guy for prominent MAGA voices, such as a user who goes by the handle @catturd2 and Turning Points USA’s Charlie Kirk .
In a similar fashion, Musk’s “Twitter Files” project, for which he has been releasing Twitter’s old internal documents concerning controversial content-moderation decisions to independent journalists, is an attention spectacle dressed up in the style of investigative journalism designed to delight Musk’s Twitter friends. As I wrote on Friday, some of the internal conversations and screenshots from Musk’s company are fascinating documents that shed light on the intractable problem of content moderation at scale. But they are presented in a blatantly partisan and misleading manner, and have been released only to journalists who share Musk’s pet ideological issues: that the mainstream media is ethically bankrupt, that social media and most elite institutions are biased and colluding with the government.
The hypocrisy at the center of Musk’s Twitter tenure is crucial to the understanding of Musk’s political activism. He has championed ideals of free-speech maximalism and amnesty to those who’ve offended his rules. Twitter, under his management, has let back on organizers of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia; neo-Nazis such as Andrew Anglin ; and January 6–investigation personalities such as Roger Stone. At the same time, Twitter has suspended accounts that have mocked Musk or expressed left-leaning views. Whether intentionally or not, Musk has, in effect, been governing Twitter using the classic Frank Wilhoit maxim : “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.” Put differently, the billionaire has been advancing a long-running right-wing political project described recently by my colleague Adam Serwer as a “belief in a new constitutional right. Most important, this new right supersedes the free-speech rights of everyone else: the conservative right to post.”
Why is Musk doing all of this? The answer is reasonably simple. Musk’s far-right activism clearly seems to be, like all else in his life, personally motivated, not by a strong political ideology or value system but, as Lopatto argues, by the accumulation of money and “being perceived as a visionary who will reshape human society.” Musk is interested in preserving the political values and systems that keep him on top as a revered member of culture. It’s a philosophy that the writer John Ganz has described as “bossism” or “bosses on top.” For Musk, right-wing activism serves that role. Musk’s tweets—like his dismissive tweet this morning, or his concerning insinuations that, perhaps, his former trust-and-safety employees did not stop child-exploitation posts for motivated reasons—are cruel for the shallowest reasons: because they are likely to draw engagement to the platform that Musk has plunged into financial uncertainty , due to both his piling on of debt and his alienation of advertisers.
But even as a far-right shitposter, Musk is hapless. Unlike somebody such as Donald Trump, who remains the Twitter troll template, Musk is a try-hard. And although the Twitter shock jocks will happily lap him up because he triggers the libs and serves their purposes, Musk is still seen as a dilettante by the inveterate shitposters and bigots. Over on 4chan, the far-right message board, Musk’s Fauci tweet barely merited discussion. “Elon is just being controversial to drive traffic to his website,” one poster mused. Even in his thirsty attempts to be an edgelord, Musk is failing to be anything other than cringey.
Charlie Warzel is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of its newsletter Galaxy Brain , about technology, media, and big ideas.
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Cute ... the wingnuts have their very own Soros to fill the bucket and round out the bouquet. All to the 'good' as I'll soon be able to shorten all of my comments to a simple yet erudite "Fuck You!"
Simple. Elegant. To the point.
The simple minded like Musk because he owns the libs.
There is much more to it than that. Musk sees himself as a historical figure destined to lead the world.
He is not a Gandhi, a Churchill, or a Lincoln. He is a troll.
The richest man in the world doesnt have anything better to do than look like an idiot on twitter? Thats surprising.
whats the frequency kenneth?
The simple minded are obsessed with their 'free speech' and supposed 'religious freedom' aka legalized discrimination against those they label "sinners", along with their right to own an arsenal of firearms and military style assault rifles, not for home protection but for an ideological uprising if the country doesn't give them what they want which they believe is inevitable. They worship the 2nd amendment because they desperately need their arsenal to supposedly 'protect' themselves from the 'evil' liberals, progressives, Muslims, Jews, lgtbq community, minorities and undocumented immigrants who they see as 'lurking around every corner' in 'their' country. And they need the 1st amendment to protect their right to call for the discrimination, persecution and potential prosecution of those 'evil' liberals, progressives, Muslims, Jews, lgtbq community, minorities and undocumented immigrants who continue to refuse to kneel down to the white conservative Christian base.
Well said complex minded.
Well spotted. What a complex mind it must be to handle 25 incoherent thoughts simultaneously.
That's about what we expect of you. Who cares what Musk does or says?
From his tweet with over 1 million 'likes'? Take a guess ... you do know how to guess, right?
How convenient, I wonder if the lack of interest comes because of Musk's MAGA/conservative spirit? Now if/when Musk's spirit turns measurably to the Liberal/Left I am pretty sure some conservatives will utter 'karen sounds'!
As far as Twitter goes, liberals have the freedom and liberty to come and go, to support it or not support it appropriately. . . .
Wasn't his “spirit” there originally?
?
Is it the buying of the company that is causing some liberals' interest in Twitter to soften, or is it Elon's attempt at implicating liberals don't (really) have a home on the service once the rif-raff arrives to funk up the network and the enterprise becomes an internet 'dive' of underworld social media activity and unremarkableness. BTW, in which case, let YE back on the service. If Elon is going to take the time to manage and corral a 'stable' of potty-mouths, trust me, Ye, from the place he is coming from can put ASSES in seats too!
Just wait for the trust of the site to dip. Legitimate professionals won't trust themselves and their credentials to safely (that being the operative word) mingle with crusty, underhanded, seedy, domestic and international, types and profiles. Welcome to Twitter's underbelly!
Elon Musk will be a laughingstock and then what nation will touch his brand to be out of this world? Another billionaire player roaming around with waxed wings heading too close to the sun!
Exactly.
No, don't pivot away. Explain how much Elon Musk is influencing MAGA/some conservatives now in ways he could not before. BTW, you signing up for Twitter. . . sooner or later, Drinker'?
Well, all I can say is y'all are on NT and we're not getting owned, but Que sera sera! Twitter is a heavy investment and it got sold because it catered to one side and not all sides. . . looks like it may invert itself. We will see if Elon enjoys his investment after the newness wears off and the 'grind' begins. Or worse, government has not choice but to shut it down partially or in whole because its only direction to grow is horizontal!
Que Sera Sera!
You've got me, I can't explain how he is influencing conservatives now any more that I can explain how he influenced liberals previously, as I am neither.
I've had a Twitter account for 3-4 years but never used it.
Sounds pretty convincingly like the proverbial 'empty suit' and placeholder to be filled by any thing or something more specific. That you?
Again, you leave me clueless as to your meaning.
They certainly do! What I find amusing is that left wing media call him far-right and don't know that he voted for Obama, Hillary, and Biden. Perhaps their hatred centers on the fact that he respects the First Amendment and they don't.
So Elon tells you who he votes for? I bet you feel pretty special
What a silly, jejune comment! Reading all sides of media leads to knowledge, so try this ...
Gawd you're insufferable. That doesn't say that he voted for Obama, Hillary, and Biden. Just says he voted republican for the first time.
Well, that's not a very nice comment.
Sigh, the info is on the Internet, Trout. Even on a left-wing site.
Basta.
I'm not a nice person and not afraid to admit it. Being honest with oneself is one of the paths to happiness
If you make a claim don't expect other people to go looking for the proof. That's a bad debate tactic. But I give you credit for doing the legwork and proving your claim. You got one right this time
"Basta" = stop it
Use English when you want to tell someone to fuck off. You end up looking pretentious using words that you have a dubious understanding of
And be sure to flag this comment and the one where I call you insufferable. I want to beat dev this month
I won't be the one who flags your comments, because I found them humorous!
[deletedYou] don't find anything about me humorous merely annoying
"Bah humbug!"
Well, some of us know that it is nice to be important but that it is more important to be nice
I find it amazing that liberals are so afraid that their message can’t stand up to free speech.
A certain Florida governor has already shown what right wingers believe about free speech.
Deflection fail.
Can't handle the comparison between the right and the left, huh?
I can handle comparisons, I just don’t need to point and yell squirrel when I have nothing. Which republican squirrel are you whining about?
So you can’t handle someone asking you to back up your deflection?
You are the one deflecting, as usual gorge
that is all you both do
The word "amazing" indicates an element of surprise. What about this surprises you, exactly?
Oh boo hoo. Somebody made a statement that goes against what others THINK. Time to set our hair on fire and run around in circles.
Soros does a lot of that and is continuously condemned by the neo-righteous. Glass houses and all that sort of stuff.
Let us know when Musk starts giving millions to Republicans and far right radical groups.
We have all seen the havoc Soros backed prosecutors have caused.
Till then Musk is just someone tweaking perpetually outraged leftists for his own amusement.
When we see Musk conducting the same activity as Soros we'll talk. Until then you are just freaking out over somebody exercising their 1st Amendment right. Something that, until Musk's acquisition of Twitter, would have never been permitted.
Ditto for the "havoc" caused by Leonard Leo.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/leonard-leo-federalists-society-courts/?utm_term=.1d2008ed2d75
If you define laughing at as "freaking out" ...
Looks like he's given them a $40 billion soapbox.
Don't whine, it's not attractive.
Note that the majority of comments are by those on the right ... the 'they' is you.
If you were "laughing" about it, this seed wouldn't exist. I'll give you credit for trying to spin it.
“Let us know when Musk starts giving millions to Republicans and far right radical groups.”
Aside from allowing a platform to spew unequivocal, unedited hate? Priceless?
"More like leveled the playing field"
It's the truth, and apparently you are having fits of rage about it.
What hate....besides yours?
Utter nonsense ... however, keep up the 'good' work. In the meantime, I'm still laughing at the third to last paragraph and how it twins your comments.
“What hate....besides yours?”
…mirror, mirror…
Right, because getting Conservative judges in place is the same as getting liberal morons that won't press charges against minority criminals.
Oh agony he helped raised $250 million from donors for conservative groups. What, he just didn't give $250 million himself? Wait, he is not a multi billionaire? His net worth is only 5 million? Damn, so he can't fund whole movements by himself?
Now who would be a comparable lefty? The Clintons or Obamas, come easily to mind. Won't use their own money; but will raise millions in dark money for their own and other Democrat PAC's and super PAC's.
When he starts ghost banning and banning leftists on twitter let us know.
In case you missed Musk's information dumps- before he bought Twitter they were beholden to Democrats completely.
Democrats have no problem with free speech; so long as it doesn't conflict with their agenda and beliefs. When it does it must be censored at all costs!
Yep. Not a single left wing voice has been silenced. They are just mad they've lost the power to silence critics.
Getting 'radical' conservative judges into SCOTUS cost a 'red wave'.
Moving on ... top donors:
I'm not upset, just a tad surprised at how many are buying into his 'free speech' snakeoil.
That is all some have, incessantly
If he reads this, there will be no more dinners with his friend, Obama at Spruce in San Francisco or anywhere else.
Maybe those dinners will happen again if Elon learns how to jump.
that's clever!
Yes, Twitter that bastion of free leftist hate speech that banned anyone that had the temerity to question Democrat dogma.
Whatever will the left do now that one of their 3 platforms that silenced anyone on the right is now for free speech?
As evidenced by some of the comments on this thread they are doing just that.
But even as a far-right shitposter, Musk is hapless. Unlike somebody such as Donald Trump, who remains the Twitter troll template, Musk is a try-hard.
HAHAHAHAHAHHA.......The writer of this article has contributed nothing to society, and Musk is a try harder? The inferior always try to tear down those superior to them in every way. And Musk is superior in every way to this writer.
Then is the author better than you in every way?
No, any other stupid questions?
Musk posts an idiotic comment, gets criticized for it, and the easily triggered reactionaries rush to his defense. Not only do the reactionaries defend idiocy, they think only those who agree with them have the right to express an opinion. Not a surprise.
So they are acting the exactly the same as as leftists?
We've learned that twitter's former management censored and banned users based on political viewpoint, suppressed news stories for partisan reasons and whose head of "Trust and Safety" was an advocate of having minors participate on sex sites like Grindr (which explains Twitters indifference to child porn) and progressives are mad because Musk criticizes Fauci.
Laughable.
Elon has gone from a nerd icon, on the cover of Rolling Stone, Time, Vanity Fair and having dinner with President Obama to someone that has inflamed liberals to white hot hatred. He should never have hosted SNL, that pushed them over the edge.
On this liberal/libertarian/monarchist side merely to a lukewarm disdain. I'm not a fan of his Dorian Grey-ness.
I didn't know that Elon was into hedonism.
that is truly how guys like that see themselves (some god like image)
Musk welcomed neo-Nazis back onto Twitter. So, of course, reactionary cultists and reich-wingers are now effusive in their support and very protective of him. Witness the number of comments on here expressing frothing at the mouth outrage that anyone would dare criticize Musk.
Musk really got the neo Stalinists worked up. All this hate because they can’t handle a forum that doesn’t push their lies and suppresses reality.
It’s as if they know their bullshit won’t stand up to scrutiny.
Musk really got the neo-Fascists worked up. Now that he's welcoming neo-Nazis back on Twitter, they have another place where they can lie, spread their disinformation and spew their hatred and rage
Exactly, just like here, they are all a twitter.
Yep. The neo-Fascists, the Neo-Nazis, the white supremacists are all a twitter and their hearts are all a flutter. They LOVE Elon.
What does that mean?
“Far Right wing “ just means heretic at this point. Musk is not, in any conventional sense, a right winger. Just like the Washington post labeling journalists Matt taibbi and bari Weiss “conservative” for exposing the misdeeds at Twitter. It’s just signaling to leftists that they are dealing with an apostate who won’t mindlessly parrot the approved narrative and should be shunned, no matter how genuine their liberal Bonafides were prior to their transgression.
So does that make Elon MAGA, MAGA LITE, ULTRA MAGA, SUPER DUPER MAGA or NEW AND IMPROVED ULTRA MAGA?
A new record. 5 words, at least a million heads explode. Good work Elon.
Elon Musk is actually far from being a far right activist. He is a very progressive man that has become disenfranchised with some of the science lacking social movements we've seen the last few years. I find it surprising that so many of my peers feel compelled to speak poorly of him without knowing the man. We are after talking about a visionary who is the only person on the planet capable of formulating a science based plan for travel to Mars. He holds some of the most classified contracts with our pentagon. His navigation technology is 15 years ahead of anyone else.
The man actually has a carbon neutral plan to generate enough electricity to power the United States of America that would actually work. His issue with Democrats is the same reason I am having a hard time with Democrats. They aren't progressive anymore and frankly some of their key issues aren't science backed or even remotely reasonable.
I understand, we need intellectual liberals instead of these populist half wits who prey on bizarre and unimpactful mentally deranged special interest aliens.
Who the "h" are you and why do you wander in here and think your brand of insult will be accepted and suffered? Your 'second' impression is more awful than your first!
The issue for Elon Musk is what 'hue' he casts at any given moment of his political life. Donald Trump and MAGA are engaged in trying to spread hatred, division, and chaos through all the systems of this country and Musk has decided to thrust his Twitter input down on the side of MAGA and of course, he and his enterprise will have their collective 'butts" called up and out for 'examination.' Musk even instigated and called down 'fire' on a famous doctor (Fauci) for what? What the "h" has Dr. Fauci ever done to deprive Elon Musk of anything?
I don't know. Maybe Elon Musk should qualify his tweet against Dr. Fauci or accept that he just 'entered' a 'hotbed' of red-shot topics and no one will defer to him just because of his past successes. That is, if he just runs his business or better yet stop tweeting up 'stupid' he can maintain the respect of both sides and not enter this ongoing fray!
I am a fan of Elon Musk's successes, but I am not a fan of anybody's bull patty for bull patty sake!
Let me even clearer, no liberal on NT should/will kiss Elon Musk's ass, simply because he is Elon. Stupid is stupid no matter who speaks or writes it.