The day before the midterm elections, he urged his more than 110 million Twitter followers to cast their ballots for Republicans.
McCarthy has been rejected by right-wing conservatives led by the Freedom Caucus several times this week in his attempts to win the position of House speaker. (It has been 100 years since a speaker candidate failed to win the first vote.) New lawmakers cannot take the oath of office until the post is filled. President Joe Biɗҽn described the political mess on Capitol Hill as “embarrassing,” and House Democrats compared the Republican drαmα to a big-screen extravaganza while posting pictures of popcorn.
Kevin McCarthy ought to be Speaker, tweeted Musk today.
McCarthy and Musk had already worked together. The Republican lawmaker’s district includes Bakersfield, California, where SpaceX has operations. Musk joined McCarthy for a fireside chat at a private Republican fundraiser retreat in Wyoming in August.
Early in 2020, Musk lamented that California, under Democratic control, where he was living and where Tesla was situated, had changed from being “the land of opportunity” to being “the land of taxation, overregulation, and litigation.” Later that year, he declared his relocation to Texas, which is governed by Republicans. In the meantime, Tesla has plans to increase the size of its gigafactory in the same state as SpaceX’s futuristic Starship car.
At the time, he continued, “In my perspective, Silicon Valley, or the Bay Area, has too much impact on the world. The Bay Area’s impact on the world is immense.
McCarthy charged the White House with unfairly targeting Musk, the new owner of Twitter, because of his political beliefs in November, saying, “The government is going to go after someone who wants to have free speech? What reason do they have to check Twitter? The American people have spoken on this issue, the First Amendment is still valid, and I believe Elon Musk should no longer be the target of personal attacks.
Musk responded “absolutely” when asked if he would back DeSantis running for president in the same month.
On November 25, he tweeted, “My preference for the 2024 presidency is someone sensible and centrist.
However, I have been let down thus far by the Biɗҽn administration in spite of my hopes.
Remember, I was a big admirer of the Obama-Biɗҽn administration and (reluctantly) chose Biɗҽn over Trump in the election, he continued.
When Biɗҽn names important EV manufacturers, Musk has already taken offense at what he sees as a slight against Tesla.
Although DeSantis has not declared his intention to run for president, many anticipate that he will do so following Florida’s legislature session in the spring or summer. He is currently ahead of Trump in several surveys as they compete for the GOP nomination.
DeSantis and Musk have both expressed their opposition to the “woke agenda.” DeSantis said in his midterms victory speech that “Florida is where woke goes to dιe,” and Musk tweeted last year that “the woke mind vιrᴜs is making Netflix unwatchable.” He also reinstated the Twitter account of the right-wing satire site Babylon Bee, which had been banned after the misgendering of Rachel Levine, the U.S. assistant secretary of health and a trans woman.
Musk’s ex-wife, Talulah Riley, has previously urged him to “do something to fight woke-ism” and was especially concerned about the suspension of the Babylon Bee account, asking, “Why has everyone become so puritanical?”
Just before the midterms, Musk wrote to his followers on Twitter: “To independent-minded voters: Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the presidency is Democratic.”
The much-anticipated “red wave” failed to materialize, however, with Democrats gaining a seat in the Senate, while Republicans eked out just enough votes to retake control of the House.