Elon Musk is the Left’s New Public Enemy #1
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If someone isn’t for us, are they really against us?
Elon Musk has more problems today than he did two years ago, and that’s saying something.
Two years ago, Musk began his battle against the forces of progressivism in America by refusing to shut his California Telsa factory down as a precautionary measure against COVID-19.
Arguing that all his employees were essential, Musk fought to keep his factory open; he both won and lost.
The Tesla factory floor may have never closed down, but Elon Musk was through with California. He relocated, as so many others have, to Texas.
The left, however, is not that easy to escape.
Musk’s latest and perhaps greatest transgression, greater even than refusing to toe the Democratic Party line on COVID-19 mitigation measures or expressing support for a peaceful solution to the Russia/Ukraine conflict, has been Twitter.
First, by expressing interest in buying Twitter — “How dare he buy Twitter!” — then by casting doubts as to the number of fake accounts on Twitter and trying to back out— “How dare he not buy Twitter!” — Musk has drawn down the fury of the left.
In so doing, Elon Musk has fallen afoul of the powerful cultural gatekeepers of progressivism. Using a combination of online pressure campaigns and more direct action, progressives upset about Musk’s plan to restore free speech on the social media platform have instigated an advertiser boycott of Twitter.
It’s easy to see why.
“Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic,” Elon Musk charged in a November 7 tweet that was unlikely to cure celebrities and Twitter-famous Democrats of their newly minted, “Elon Musk Derangement Syndrome,” as Allysia Finley christened the phenomenon on November 6 for the Wall Street Journal.
Elon Musk also started airing a good bit of Twitter’s dirty laundry — including reports that Twitter employees were previously selling the coveted “blue checkmarks” under the table for $15,000 each.