Elon Musk deletes his ‘dangerous’ post on Donald Trump assassination: ‘One lesson I’ve learned is…’
Elon Musk took a U-turn after receiving intense criticism for his recent social media post on Donald Trump's second assassination attempt.
Elon Musk, who has been always vocal about his opinions on various subjects, took a U-turn after receiving intense criticism for his recent social media post on Donald Trump's second assassination attempt.
In response to a post questioning why someone would wish to kill Trump, Tesla CEO Musk stated, “And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala,” along with an emoji of a pondering expression.
Responding to one user who urged him to take down or edit the post because “people like misinterpreting your obvious intent”, Musk said: “Fair enough.”
“I don’t want to do what they have done, even in jest,” he added.
Musk's post was deemed “literally incitement” by grassroots political organisations DemsMight. Former Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) urged the billionaire to "get help," calling his statement “unhinged and dangerous,” while conservative pundit Jonah Goldberg denounced Musk's perspective as “appalling and indefensible.”
“Every time you think this guy could not be more irresponsible, he outdoes himself,” stated former Barack Obama senior adviser David Axelrod. “What a dangerous, asinine thing to post.”
Musk justifies his actions after removing offending post
Musk deleted the misleading post and then posted a few more, seemingly trying to defend his actions by framing them as an attempt at satire that went completely wrong.
“Well, one lesson I’ve learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh doesn’t mean it’s going to be all that hilarious as a post on X,” the billionaire wrote.
Musk stated it seems that jokes delivered as plain text are far less entertaining if people don't understand the context.
Reacting to his current post, several X users sought clarification, with one writing: “Please explain the full context of the joke and delivery. Post a video so we can understand better.”
“Nothing is funny about sending a tweet about assassinating the President and Vice President. He deleted his tweet, but the targeted audience received the message. He knows exactly what he’s doing,” another commented.
As of Monday morning, Musk's now-deleted post had received 34.7 million views and 151,000 likes.
According to the FBI, a gunman tried to kill the Republican presidential contender on Sunday night at his West Palm Beach, Florida, golf course. The Associated Press, citing a Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office official, stated that no injuries had been reported.
The 58-year-old suspect in Sunday's shooting, Ryan Wesley Routh, seems to have been driven by dissatisfaction with Trump's recommended strategy regarding the conflict in Ukraine. Routh's X account has been suspended since the incident.