A lot of folks aren’t thrilled with billionaire and public menace Elon Musk using the visibility of owning and leading Twitter to spread right-wing propaganda.
This weekend, Musk posted on Twitter in support of prosecuting Dr. Anthony Fauci, the official at the National Institutes of Health who for some odd reason became a primary target for conservatives outraged at the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic — outrage that has largely centered on mildly inconvenient restrictions, like wearing masks. “My pronoun is prosecute @elonmusk!” ret. Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman pushed in response to the billionaire advocating on behalf of criminal consequences for Fauci, using the phrasing Musk employed. “@Twitter is dying. That’s okay. If anything it needs to be killed off soonest. @elonmusk cannot be allowed to promote dangerous radical views… hate speech. Imagine [Goebbels] with a bigger platform and wider reach. I’d put Fauci’s reputation up against this fool @elonmusk any time.”
Vindman also encouraged his followers to move to one of the alternatives to Twitter that have been promoted as concerns about Musk’s handling of the site have persisted. He also observed how businesses with which Musk was involved were vulnerable to his erratic and antagonistic behavior. “@Twitter @Tesla @SpaceX, and all of @elonmusk‘s holdings are all extremely exposed to his toxicity,” Vindman said in a Twitter post. “It’s just a matter of time before he drags those assets down. Advertisers, investors, stockholders, etc. must be getting very nervous.” Musk generally aligns himself with right-wing viewpoints, like complaints about restrictions tied to the spread of COVID-19 and newspapers going “woke” — a word that many on the Right seem oddly obsessed with using to describe those ideologically opposed to them. It seems those self-righteously complaining about going “woke” and “wokism” use the phrasing more often than those it supposedly describes.
Musk has drawn scrutiny from Senators for the lax standards by which Twitter users could at least previously secure a verified account in the name of a public figure and over Saudi investments in Twitter originating with a member of that country’s royal family. He agreed to go through with his originally proposed deal to purchase Twitter after facing litigation from the company over his sudden departure — or at least attempted departure — from negotiations, and since taking over, he’s embarked on campaigns of mass firings and overseen sometimes rapid changes to basic policy at Twitter. Donald Trump’s account was reinstated, undoing the ban under which he was placed following the Capitol riot, although Trump hasn’t gone back to post on it yet — despite public gesticulations from Musk, hoping he’ll return.
My pronoun is prosecute @elonmusk ! https://t.co/tR2apC6jW0
— Alexander S. Vindman (@AVindman) December 11, 2022
