{"id":210721,"date":"2025-01-08T15:11:12","date_gmt":"2025-01-08T15:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/08\/as-elon-musk-embraces-the-far-right-some-of-its-leaders-reject-him\/"},"modified":"2025-01-08T15:11:12","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T15:11:12","slug":"as-elon-musk-embraces-the-far-right-some-of-its-leaders-reject-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/08\/as-elon-musk-embraces-the-far-right-some-of-its-leaders-reject-him\/","title":{"rendered":"As Elon Musk Embraces the Far Right, Some of Its Leaders Reject Him"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/06\/multimedia\/00musk-revolt-loomer-bhqz\/00musk-revolt-loomer-bhqz-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"As Elon Musk Embraces the Far Right, Some of Its Leaders Reject Him\" title=\"As Elon Musk Embraces the Far Right, Some of Its Leaders Reject Him\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/09\/13\/us\/politics\/who-is-laura-loomer.html\" title=\"\">Laura Loomer<\/a>, a far-right activist, regained control of her Twitter account in late 2022, she knew whom to praise for her reinstatement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThank you, Elon!\u201d she <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/LauraLoomer\/status\/1600864564417265666\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">wrote<\/a> to Elon Musk, who had recently bought the social network. In another <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/LauraLoomer\/status\/1600944669009281024\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">post<\/a>, Ms. Loomer, who had been booted from the platform in 2018 for writing an anti-Muslim message, complimented Mr. Musk\u2019s commitment to \u201cfree speech.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Loomer is now sharing a different message about Mr. Musk. She and a prominent group of right-wing figures \u2014 many of whom have enjoyed more visibility on the platform, renamed X \u2014 are increasingly raising alarms about Mr. Musk\u2019s influence over President-elect Donald J. Trump and what they characterize as his willingness to silence critics on his social network.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Apart from Ms. Loomer, high-profile conservatives including Charlie Kirk and Stephen K. Bannon have started speaking out against Mr. Musk or his policy positions. Batya Ungar-Sargon, the conservative opinion editor of Newsweek, recently called Mr. Musk a \u201cshill\u201d who censors opponents. Mike Davis, a lawyer close to Mr. Trump, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/mrddmia\/status\/1872510662246813857\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">told Mr. Musk<\/a> on social media to \u201cstay in your lane.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Their criticism followed X\u2019s moves to suspend or otherwise restrict dozens of accounts that raised concerns about Mr. Musk and blocked links to articles about him, citing violations of its terms of service. Over the weekend, Mr. Musk drew further ire from conservatives for using his X account to attack Nigel Farage, an ally of Mr. Trump and the head of Britain\u2019s far-right Reform UK party.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Musk, 53, has rapidly vaporized some of the good will he built with Mr. Trump\u2019s supporters after campaigning heavily for the Republican presidential candidate last year. Some right-wing personalities who championed Mr. Musk\u2019s foray into Republican politics now say they feel deceived and worry that their agenda may be sidelined in favor of his own.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cAs a loyal supporter of President Trump, I support him enough to sound the alarm on what\u2019s becoming a liability,\u201d Ms. Loomer said in an interview. Ms. Loomer, whose X account was temporarily suspended last month after she <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/12\/27\/technology\/trump-musk-immigration-h1b-visa.html\" title=\"\">criticized Mr. Musk\u2019s views on immigration<\/a>, added, \u201cYou\u2019re not allowed to question Elon, it seems, and the looming question is: Is Donald Trump going to step in before it creates a crisis for his administration?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Musk and X did not respond to requests for comment. On Tuesday, Mr. Trump said Mr. Musk had \u201csaid some negative things\u201d about politicians in Europe \u2014 the president-elect did not name Mr. Farage \u2014 but was \u201cdoing a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Musk\u2019s falling-out with some on the far right stands out as he increasingly embraces more extreme parties and figures globally, including in Germany, where he has <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/12\/20\/world\/europe\/elon-musk-afd-germany.html\" title=\"\">backed a political party<\/a> with ties to neo-Nazis and plans to host a livestream with one of its leaders on Thursday. Some Trump fans, such as Alex Jones, the founder of the conspiracy-theory site Infowars, remain supportive of Mr. Musk and have said any dissent is aimed at undermining the incoming administration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Still, the split raises questions about whether the billionaire and right-wing Trump supporters are allies of convenience. In some ways, Mr. Musk has become a target of the principles he has championed on X by allowing Ms. Loomer and others who were barred from the platform to return.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cSpeech suppression on Elon Musk\u2019s X is nothing new, and the claims of \u2018free speech absolutism\u2019 were always performative,\u201d said Evelyn Douek, a Stanford Law School professor who studies the regulation of online speech. \u201cIt\u2019s especially poetic that these charges are coming from someone like Loomer, whose account reinstatement was supposedly emblematic of the dawn of a new era on Twitter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/04\/07\/us\/politics\/trump-laura-loomer.html\" title=\"\">Ms. Loomer<\/a>, a two-time Republican congressional candidate who has described Islam as a \u201ccancer,\u201d broke from Mr. Musk a few days before Christmas after posting on X about her unhappiness with Sriram Krishnan, an Indian American venture capitalist whom Mr. Trump picked to advise on artificial intelligence. She said Mr. Krishnan supported expanding the use of H-1B visas to bring skilled foreign workers to U.S. companies, which she decried.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Musk, who has used the visas to hire workers at his companies, including Tesla, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/12\/27\/technology\/trump-musk-immigration-h1b-visa.html\" title=\"\">defended the program<\/a> as a way to attract top talent from around the world. \u201cI will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend,\u201d he <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1872860577057448306?lang=en\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">said on X<\/a> on Dec. 27.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As the argument escalated, Ms. Loomer and Mr. Bannon framed Mr. Musk\u2019s views on foreign workers as an insult to Mr. Trump\u2019s \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d base. They said Mr. Musk was beholden to his business interests, including <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/27\/world\/asia\/elon-musk-tesla-china.html\" title=\"\">Tesla\u2019s ties to China<\/a>, and questioned if it was appropriate for someone to hold such financial sway over their party. Mr. Musk spent <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/12\/05\/us\/politics\/elon-musk-trump-rbg-election.html\" title=\"\">more than $250 million<\/a> to help Mr. Trump win the election.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Musk \u201cbecame addicted to the adoration the rallies gave him in the run-up to Election Day,\u201d Mr. Bannon said in a message to The New York Times. \u201cBut that quickly turned to derision when MAGA saw he thought of them as lazy and mediocre.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Dec. 26, X suspended Ms. Loomer\u2019s account for 12 hours. In messages to Ms. Loomer, X said she had violated its terms of service by posting an image from the Federal Election Commission website that included the home addresses of political donors. X prohibits some personal information from being shared without a person\u2019s permission, even if it can be publicly obtained.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Without additional explanation, X also removed Ms. Loomer\u2019s check mark, which X users pay for so their accounts can get increased engagement and, in some cases, so they can receive a share of ad revenue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That same day, Preston Parra, the chairman of Conservative PAC, a political action committee formed to support Mr. Trump\u2019s policies, discovered that his X account had also lost its check mark.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He and Ms. Loomer were among more than 50 members of a group on X connected to Conservative PAC, many of whom had blasted H-1Bs or Mr. Musk. Every member\u2019s account lost its check mark, suggesting that it was a \u201ccoordinated\u201d move, Mr. Parra said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI voted for Trump \u2014 I didn\u2019t vote for Elon,\u201d he said in an interview, adding that many of the check marks were restored last weekend. Ms. Loomer said hers was restored Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Anastasia Maria Loupis, a doctor in Denmark with more than 1.3 million followers on X who has called immigrants \u201cterrorists,\u201d said her account also lost its check mark on Dec. 30 after she criticized H-1B visas and Mr. Musk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Monday, she wrote that she would take legal action against X. Mr. Musk \u201cacts like the grand savior of free speech,\u201d Dr. Loupis said in a post, but bases decisions only on \u201chis selfish ambitions for money &amp; power.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a message to The Times, Dr. Loupis said there \u201cis no valid reason for what they did to me,\u201d adding that \u201cit\u2019s awful what\u2019s been going on here the past weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Over the weekend, Mr. Musk faced fresh criticism for censorship when X blocked links to an investigative article by The Spectator, a conservative British publication, about an X account that some believed Mr. Musk secretly controlled. The article suggested that the account, @AdrianDittmann, was operated by a man in Fiji.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Sunday, X suspended the accounts of the article\u2019s author and two researchers who contributed to the piece. X had identified the article as \u201cpotentially harmful,\u201d and messages sent to the journalist and researchers showed that X said they had violated its rules on sharing people\u2019s personal information.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">X has faced accusations of opposing free speech and acting like the site\u2019s previous management, which blocked a New York Post article about Hunter Biden before the 2020 election.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThis is what old Twitter did to the New York Post,\u201d <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/redsteeze\/status\/1875999794902229500\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">wrote<\/a> Stephen L. Miller, a right-wing commentator.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Matt McDonald, the U.S. managing editor at The Spectator, said there was an irony to Mr. Musk\u2019s actions, particularly as he was \u201cturning the world upside down in the name of free speech.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cPerhaps X is not the free-speech paradise its more ardent fans believe it to be,\u201d Mr. McDonald said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/05\/world\/europe\/musk-farage-starmer-uk.html\" title=\"\">Mr. Musk turned on Mr. Farage<\/a> after the politician pushed back against Mr. Musk\u2019s support of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/10\/28\/world\/europe\/tommy-robinson-sentenced-uk-far-right.html\" title=\"\">Tommy Robinson<\/a>, an anti-immigration agitator with several criminal convictions who is currently in prison for contempt of court.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe Reform Party needs a new leader,\u201d Mr. Musk wrote on Sunday. \u201cFarage doesn\u2019t have what it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Over the weekend, Mr. Farage told news outlets that he had a good relationship with Mr. Musk, but hinted at some disagreements. A spokeswoman for Mr. Farage did not immediately have a comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Musk\u2019s comments about Mr. Farage incensed Mr. Bannon and others who see the Briton as perhaps the best way of introducing populist policies in that country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cNigel Farage is the greatest living Englishman, having fought for 20 years to get his country\u2019s sober sovereignty back,\u201d Mr. Bannon said in a message.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Raheem Kassam, a former adviser to Mr. Farage and the editor of The National Pulse, a right-wing U.S. news outlet, responded more succinctly to Mr. Musk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cYou\u2019re a moron,\u201d he <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RaheemKassam\/status\/1875906841005490611\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">wrote<\/a> on X, using an expletive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/08\/technology\/elon-musk-far-right.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Laura Loomer, a far-right activist, regained control of her Twitter account in late 2022, she knew whom to praise for her reinstatement. \u201cThank you, Elon!\u201d she wrote to Elon Musk, who had recently bought the social network. In another post, Ms. Loomer, who had been booted from the platform in 2018 for writing an [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/06\/multimedia\/00musk-revolt-loomer-bhqz\/00musk-revolt-loomer-bhqz-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[73665,26574,145221,164768,163575,2534,32890,23751,166301,164426,4945,6118,166300,6039,163420,163426,10724,776,166299,166302,166303,52,15325,137817],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210721"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210721"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":210723,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210721\/revisions\/210723"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}