Will the Libertarian Troll Push to Bring Back Former Commander-In-Tweet
Musk buys some of Twitter and makes Republicans giddy for a Trump second term via tweet.
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ISSUE #14
April 12, 2022
Hello, Wonderful!
The following post was written before Musk decided (or someone decided for him) not to join the board at Twitter (4/10/22) after he bought 73 million in shares, making him the largest shareholder. Musk’s decision not to join Twitter’s board means he’s no longer limited to owning just 14.9% of the company. His reversal opens the door to a hostile takeover. The post is still relevant. Also, I had to be able to use the above doctored photo my good friend Carey made for me (and a guy I met at a restaurant) as Time's Person of the Year.
An employee in a private Slack channel asked,
“Quick question: If an employee tweeted some of the things Elon tweets, they’d likely be the subject” of an investigation from HR, according to a Slack message viewed by The Post. “Are board members held to the same standard?”
Relevant question.
Elon Musk’s acquisition of a 9.2% stake in Twitter lands him a seat on its board, making him its largest shareholder. Of course, he bought the shares illegally in Musk style, skirting the rules (his late filing netted him 156 million, violating securities law).
A Recap.
Trump was finally banned from Twitter after the January 6 Capitol insurrection, a watershed moment in the history of social media and American politics after much vacillation from Jack Dorsey (Dorsey has stepped down as Twitter’s CEO).
Trump’s removal from Twitter didn’t happen until Dorsey’s employees banned together while he was soaking up rays on his private island. They insisted — sent their boss a letter with signatures from those in the company saying they wanted Trump banned.
Twitter’s ban went further than Facebook and YouTube, whose indefinite suspensions left the door open for Trump to return to those platforms for a 2024 presidential run.
Musk tweeted not long after on January 11, “A lot of people are going to be super unhappy with West Coast high tech as the de facto arbiter of free speech.”
Before the announcement last week that Musk spent 73 million to get a 9% stake, he had already polled his millions of followers, asking them if they think Twitter does enough to uphold the principle of free speech.
Not surprisingly, 70% voted no.
As soon as it was public knowledge Musk bought a say in how Twitter operates, Republicans’ giddiness was palpable across the Twitter-verse.
Source: Musk via Musk Tweet
The news was like manna from heaven.
Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, the second QAnon congresswoman elected after raging anti-choice Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, exhorted in a tweet,
“BRING BACK TRUMP!”
Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, who lied about if, and then when, he talked to Trump during the January 6 insurrection, and then lied about what he talked about with Trump, added, “Musk. Free speech.”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, tweeted, “Elon Musk has made it clear he opposes big tech censorship, and that’s something all freedom-loving Americans can get behind.”
Free speech and the First Amendment.
While it’s not surprising that Musk doesn’t understand the First Amendment, it should be disturbing to every American that elected representatives don’t understand it.
Or rather, understand it *and* choose to manipulate its meaning, as if Twitter were the government.
Here is the First Amendment and how it relates to companies explained,
Source: Twitter
Musk and QAnon Conspiracy Nuts.
Qanon believers, who find conspiracies in every thing and win the award for most gullible users on the internet, now believe — with no evidence — Musk is going to merge Twitter and Truth Social (Trump’s fledgling social media platform).
This is not true.
But it’s rational to question how much power one board member with many followers will have, even if that pressure comes in whatever harebrained tweet Musk may fire off on a given day.
Since Musk is the self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” what policy changes will he push for besides an edit button?
He polled his followers two Mondays ago, asking if they’d like an edit button.
Not surprisingly, 73% said yes.
Inside Twitter.
Those inside and outside of the company worry about what degree of influence he will have.
Musk’s recent purchase of power on Twitter has caused some to speculate that’s exactly what Musk plans to do, bring crazy back, after employees at Twitter have worked hard to regulate hate speech and violence for years.
Employees who spoke with Reuters and asked not to be named for fear of retribution voiced their concerns about Musk having more influence over the company’s direction.
Despite Twitter’s reiteration last week that the board does not make policy decisions.
They point to Musk’s history of using Twitter to attack critics, as he did in 2018 when he accused a British diver who had helped rescue children trapped in a cave in Thailand of being a pedophile.
“Some people are dusting off their resumes,” one person said. “I don’t want to work for somebody (like Musk).”
The Rule Breaker.
Musk has a pension for not caring about rules we all must follow; he can hide behind a roomful of expensive suits who work tirelessly to keep him out of court. And jail.
In 2018, he entered into a consent decree with the SEC for allegedly misleading investors when he tweeted he had gathered enough funding to take Tesla, where he’s CEO, private.
He paid a hefty fine — 20 million — for that tweet. But that is nothing to a man worth nearly 300 billion.
I’m not sure which dysfunction that displays: Definitely a problem with authority and admiration for it, lack of respect for rules, lack of respect for his employees/shareholders, a total disrespect for money, a huge ego, a need to be seen, “Peter Pan Syndrome,” lack of emotional intelligence, a need to be seen as “right,”narcissistic personality disorder, all of the above, the list goes on.
Trump must be so jealous.
Trump would love to buy a seat on the board to reinstate his Twitter account and get back to fooling the masses via tweet if only he were as wealthy as he claims to be, or half as smart as be thinks he is.
Trump used Twitter effectively (although not before he was elected), as does Musk. Musk has nearly as many followers as Trump had before he was banned.
I mean, 80 million people can’t be wrong…right?
But alas, Trump has money problems on top of money problems. And has never been as rich as he claims to be.
Me and Tesla.
Full disclosure: Tesla is my favorite car. I’m a car girl. It’s a beautiful car and the smoothest ride. But it was designed by this hottie below, as all Telsa models are, not Musk. ↓😍
Source: The Man Behind the Model 3: Franz von Holzhausen — Tesla’s Chief Designer
I own Telsa stock, one in a handful of stocks in my portfolio still performing above my buy, well above (I have more significant ethical issues with Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, than I do Musk. Musk just seems like an ass, while Amazon is ruining life as we know it for everyone. Amazon stock is my line, I buy Shopify instead).
No. Musk can’t bring back Trump.
According to The Washington Post, it would be unusual for a single board member to unilaterally change its policy on something as huge as the Trump ban. Musk would have to get Parag Agrawal (the new CEO of Twitter), his staff, including policy chief Vijaya Gadde on this side.
Not an easy task.
Gadde, the company’s top lawyer, was the first to pitch to Dorsey that Twitter should just stop selling political ads after the fallout from Russia hacking the 2016 election tilting it to Trump. Dorsey wasn’t immediately sold but then acquiesced. She was his right-hand woman (inside Twitter’s headquarters, Gadde and Dorsey worked from spaces next door to each other), and according to company insiders, while Dorsey was CEO, he rarely said no to her.
“Gadde was a lead architect of the policy approach that led Twitter to clamp down on everyone from everyday harassers to the Proud Boys to President Donald Trump, and she’s been out front in defending it, arguing that the shift makes sense as corporate strategy. “
If Gadde resigns, that would be an indication of bad things to come, like, maybe Twitter returning Trump’s digital megaphone of choice.
Even if Gadde were to leave (although, she doesn’t seem like the type to be pushed around by Musk or his off the cuff tweets), overturning the policy would require Musk to win over Agrawal, who has indicated his support for the ban, or persuade his fellow board members to oust Agrawal.
Neither seems particularly likely.
Musk has more in common with Trump than just erratic tweets and a love for likes and retweets.
Both tweet emotionally and unplanned.
Both are cults of personalities with rabid fans ignorant on subjects like politics and free speech arguments.
Both are retaliatory via tweet, which is a kind of bullying because of their high follower count. It’s not a fair fight when they sic 80 million followers on their critics.
Both are hyper-sensitive to criticism. Musk once called a man who rescued children a pedophile in a three consecutive tweet rant when he found out the man insulted him on CNN.
Both attract the angry white male who struggles financially and looks to Trump/Musk as heroes and what they think is possible for themselves. It’s not. Their fans are under the delusion they can one day amass enormous wealth and set up their own rules. They have the false belief money is the only measure of success. Here are some not very bright or well thought out responses from Musk zealots to my tweet below replying to Sen. Warren. I received 54 responses. Most negative. Obviously, I don’t make more money than Musk (or I would be on the cover of Time, see above photo). Percentage is then implied. They didn’t seem to get that.
Both are thin-skinned. I won’t go into all the examples of Trump being thin-skinned. Just look to any video of Trump talking about anything, especially in his debates with Hillary Clinton. He was physically squirming; so far out of his league. Musk tweeted three times in a few hours when Sen. Elizabeth Warren called him out for “freeloading off everyone else.”
Both act as though they are above the law; the rules don’t apply to them. Both hide behind their expensive attorneys, attorneys plural. They know they can buy their way out.
Both seem highly threatened by an intelligent, educated woman who can talk circles around them regarding law, politics, and policy.
Both married multiple times — more than three times each. Musk is only 50. Money isn’t the only measure of success.
Both have a lot of children with several women. Neither are involved parents. Money isn’t the only measure of success.
Musk and Trump are both grossly immature for 50 and 80-year-old men, respectively. I remember something I heard years ago that Obama said to Marc Maron on the WTF Podcast, “if you don’t have it together by 50, you aren’t going to.”
Both are not good-looking. Not sure if this is because their personalities are jerk-ish, or they’re both empirically not very good-looking. Looks aren’t everything; you have to have a decent personality too. I find them both unattractive and shallow. Musk and Trump seem aware the only way they attract/marry/have sex with models or any woman is due to their vast wealth and not owed to the content of their character or looks.
My prediction.
Musk will get bored with Twitter once he realizes he can’t make unilateral decisions via tweet. At Twitter, in seems decisions are determined by consensus among the higher-ups and within teams. When his term ends, he will exit. Not quietly, because he never does anything quietly.
I would like that edit button, though.
Thank you for those of you who continue to pay for this newsletter. If you haven’t yet consider becoming a member.
See you next Tuesday. Have a great week.
Jessica,
xoxoxox
I want an edit button too. And a date with your gay cover mate. LOL
You said it first!
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/11/technology/twitter-elon-musk-problem.html