Elon Musk Unabashedly Provides Right-wing Election Campaign Support for Donald Trump
Published in Der Standard
(Austria) on 13 August 2024
by Gianluca Wallisch (link to original)
(Austria) on 13 August 2024
by Gianluca Wallisch (link to original)
Translated from
by Peter Carioca.
Edited by Michelle Bisson.
The influential owner of the internet social platform X leaves the lies and propaganda of the campaigning former U.S. president unchallenged in his "interview." Worse still, he promotes them.
Interviews should serve to scrutinize information, confronting claims with facts, and testing arguments for plausibility — in short, they should contribute to gaining knowledge and forming opinions.
None of this applied to the "interview" that billionaire Elon Musk conducted — or rather orchestrated — with Donald Trump. Nothing was called into question, or countered. Quite the opposite in fact: All that came from the owner of the wide-reaching internet social platform X was tendentious moderation to ensure that the interviewee was as comfortable as possible. This internet event had absolutely nothing to do with an interview, let alone journalism.
’Largest Deportation’
Musk, who was once celebrated as a champion of freedom of speech, has long since become an ultra-right-wing influencer with almost 195 million followers. And, as such, he leaves Trump's marathon of lies unchallenged and just nods along with these atrocities — such as when Trump calls for "the largest deportation operation in the history of our country" in terms of immigration policy.
Trump may be celebrating that he can now promote himself unabashedly on Musk's anti-social media bubble, after being banned on X for years. But on Nov. 5, voters will decide who wins and who loses in the U.S. — namely the millions of undecided voters — and they cannot be lured with propaganda and totalitarian opinion. Hopefully.
Interviews should serve to scrutinize information, confronting claims with facts, and testing arguments for plausibility — in short, they should contribute to gaining knowledge and forming opinions.
None of this applied to the "interview" that billionaire Elon Musk conducted — or rather orchestrated — with Donald Trump. Nothing was called into question, or countered. Quite the opposite in fact: All that came from the owner of the wide-reaching internet social platform X was tendentious moderation to ensure that the interviewee was as comfortable as possible. This internet event had absolutely nothing to do with an interview, let alone journalism.
’Largest Deportation’
Musk, who was once celebrated as a champion of freedom of speech, has long since become an ultra-right-wing influencer with almost 195 million followers. And, as such, he leaves Trump's marathon of lies unchallenged and just nods along with these atrocities — such as when Trump calls for "the largest deportation operation in the history of our country" in terms of immigration policy.
Trump may be celebrating that he can now promote himself unabashedly on Musk's anti-social media bubble, after being banned on X for years. But on Nov. 5, voters will decide who wins and who loses in the U.S. — namely the millions of undecided voters — and they cannot be lured with propaganda and totalitarian opinion. Hopefully.
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