Billionaire-turned-political insider Elon Musk struck a sour chord Sunday in a post on X, the company he bought and changed the name from Twitter. His comment on the second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump outraged followers on both sides of the political aisle.
“And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala,” Musk posted on X before eventually deleting the comment. He finally reacted to pressure to remove the inflammatory post on Monday.
Musk, who has been actively supporting Trump’s 2024 campaign after multiple fallouts with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ administration. His defense sounded like the latest conspiracy theory he has been spreading on X.
“No one has even tried to do so is the point I’m making and no one will,” Musk posted before being persuaded that some might misinterpret his post as an invitation. He finally deleted the post on Monday, explaining, “Fair enough. I don’t want to do what they have done, even in jest.”
Musk’s post came after a second assassination attempt on Trump on Sunday at Trump International in West Palm Beach, Fla. A Secret Service agent spotted the alleged gunman, who fled by car but had his license number taken by a witness and he was apprehended on Interstate-95 a short time later.
The post is the latest in a series of controversial commentaries from Musk and Trump allies, including debunked theories that undocumented immigrants illegally vote in U.S. elections along with AI-generated images of Biden and Harris. He openly endorsed Trump in July after the first assassination attempt and interviewed the former president on X.
The controversial posts come after Musk purchased the social media site in 2022 and immediately took down guardrails that had been put in place to stop the spread of disinformation. The result has been a flood of false claims aimed at helping Trump win election in November, and a job offer from Trump to audit the federal government.
