'Smart Man, Finally!’: Elon Musk Praised Online For Plan to ‘Vote Republican Next Election’
09:53 GMT 18.05.2022 (Updated: 13:01 GMT 14.04.2023)
© AP Photo / Hannibal HanschkeTesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk arrives on the red carpet for the Axel Springer media award in Berlin on Dec. 1, 2020. As Twitter’s newest board member and largest shareholder, Musk is already floating suggestions for changes he’d like to see on the social media platform. In a series of tweets late Saturday, April 9, 2022, Musk said that the company should include an “authentication checkmark” as a feature of its Twitter Blue premium subscription service, which costs $3 a month.
© AP Photo / Hannibal Hanschke
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The world's richest man, multi-billionaire Elon Musk, recently delivered himself of some scathing criticism of Democrat President Joe Biden, saying: “It’s hard to tell what Biden’s doing, to be totally frank. The real president is whoever controls the teleprompter.”
Tesla founder and chief executive, Elon Musk, made a candid announcement about his voting intentions in an interview on 16 May. Speaking virtually at an event hosted by the All-In podcast in Miami, Musk, who had “voted overwhelmingly for Democrats, historically,” said he will vote for Republican candidates in the next election.
“Like, I’m not sure, I might never have voted for a Republican, just to be clear… Now this election, I will,” said the South African-born tech billionaire.
Elon Musk Says He Plans to Vote Republican for the First Time, Wants to Remove the Bias from Twitter pic.twitter.com/G7JVJqJLKz
— Ultra MAGA |Sam| 🇺🇸 | 🦅 | 📡 (@Rudio1John) May 17, 2022
He stressed that although he sees himself as a political “moderate” who never supported the GOP, he could no longer side with Democrats.
It was not entirely clear whether Elon Musk was referring to the looming November mid-term elections or the 2024 presidential election.
Speculating that his efforts to conclude his takeover of Twitter via a multi-billion-dollar deal amounted to a “right-wing takeover, as some people on the left fear,” Musk argued it was “a moderate-wing takeover”, and an “attempt to ensure people of all political beliefs feel welcome on a digital town square”. He claimed that at present Twitter has a “very far-left bias.”
Earlier, in a podcast interview, Musk weighed in on attempts by the administration of Democrat Joe Biden to deal with inflation levels which are reaching a 40-year-high.
“It’s hard to tell what Biden’s doing, to be totally frank,” said Musk referring to the 79-year old POTUS who has been repeatedly mocked for a whole host of verbal blunders.
Musk added:
“The real president is whoever controls the teleprompter, you know. The path to power is the path to the teleprompter.”
On Twitter, users were quick to voice their appreciation for Musk’s update on his voting plans.
Elon, welcome to the team! I used to be a democrat.. until 1980 and Ronald Reagan.
— Jim Patterson (@DesertProfPhoto) May 17, 2022
👍🏻What a wonderful idea !!!! 👆🏻
— bel (short for Isabelle) (@Americansoul14) May 17, 2022
🇺🇸@elonmusk 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/xMqME03tGc
Glad you came over to the right/normal side! 👍
— Pat Stormy Clay (@PatStormy) May 18, 2022
Welcome to the grown up side of politics Mr. Musk.
— I pledge allegiance 🇺🇸⚔️ (@to_the_flag) May 17, 2022
Well people with solid common sense do. The more Elon talks the more I love him. 😁
— Mike Allred (@MikeAll53815799) May 17, 2022
I started life as a democrat and changed to a republican when I saw the party deteriorate.
— Diane Blose (@DianeBlose) May 17, 2022
Earlier, the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive reached a deal to buy the social media platform Twitter for approximately $44 billion.
His plans to wrap up the takeover of the micro-blogging platform were, however, placed “temporarily on hold” because of a dispute over how many bots and spam accounts make up the platform’s total user base. Twitter claims such accounts comprise less than 5 percent of the total, although the tech guru has demanded a more detailed audit.