Elon Musk’s ‘irresponsible’ assassination post on X condemned
Controversial billionaire Elon Musk has been condemned for a post about Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, which the Secret Service is now probing.
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Controversial billionaire Elon Musk has been slammed for a chilling post on his social media platform X asking why no-one has tried to assassinate Joe Biden or Kamala Harris.
Musk, who supports former US President and Republican candidate Donald Trump, sparked a flood of condemnation after the ill-advised remark.
And it seems the Secret Service is now investigating.
Yesterday, a construction worker allegedly attempted to shoot Mr Trump while he played a game of golf at his resort in West Palm Beach in Florida.
The 58-year-old would-be assassin, identified by authorities as Ryan Wesley Routh, was allegedly hiding in the bushes near the sixth hole, armed with a semiautomatic firearm trained on the former president.
A Secret Service agent saw the barrel of the gun poking through the fence and opened fire on the suspect. Mr Trump was whisked away from the scene on the back of a golf buggy.
It marks the second attempt on his life, after a teenager opened fire during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania two months ago, striking Mr Trump in the ear.
Yesterday, Musk shared a jaw-dropping comment in response to an X post that read: “Why they want to kill Donald Trump?”
“And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden or Kamala,” the Tesla chief executive wrote to his 200 million followers.
Conservative media commentator Jonah Goldberg was among those to attack Musk, describing the post as “appalling” and “indefensible”.
Technology journalist Kara Swisher pointed out that Musk’s various companies do business with the US Government.
“He’s a defense (sic) contractor and has national security clearance and is tweeting incitements to violence. He needs a visit from the authorities asap,” Swisher wrote.
The hashtag #DeportElonMusk quickly began to trend.
The White House issued a statement, describing Musk’s words as “irresponsible” and state there should be no place “for political violence, or for any violence ever, in our country”.
“Violence should only be condemned, never encouraged or joked about. This rhetoric is irresponsible.”
The Secret Service, tasked with protecting the president, vice president, senior political officials and major presidential candidates, is now investigating.
“The Secret Service is aware of the social media post made by Elon Musk and as a matter of practice, we do not comment on matters involving protective intelligence,” it said in a statement.
“We can say, however, that the Secret Service investigates all threats related to our protectees.”
Following the outrage, which came from both conservative and liberal X users, Musk backed down and deleted the post.
“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,” he wrote.
“Turns out that jokes are WAY less funny if people don’t know the context and the delivery is plain text.”
Musk bought Twitter in 2022 for US$44 billion (AU$65.1 billion) and rebranded it X, embracing an absolute free speech mantra. He has increasingly embraced conservative ideals.
A fundraising body established by Musk, which funnels money to Mr Trump and the Republican Party, has splashed out tens of millions of dollars in the past few months.
The latest Musk controversy comes two days after he labelled Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his government “far left fascists” over a plan to hold social media platforms accountable for spreading misinformation and disinformation.
Meanwhile, police in the US released bodycam footage of the moment Routh was arrested following the alleged assassination attempt.
After being fired at by a Secret Service agent, he fled the scene in a vehicle but was stopped by police a short time later.
Mr Routh was reportedly “calm” during his arrest, local sheriff William Snyde revealed.
“There was a lone driver in the vehicle. That driver is now in custody,” he said.
“He never asked, ‘What is this about?’ Obviously, law enforcement with long rifles, blue lights, a lot going on. He never questioned it.”
Authorities also revealed he is suspected of lying in wait in the bushes for almost 12 hours.
“In the area of the tree line from where Routh fled, agents found a digital camera, a backpack, a loaded SKS-style rifle with a scope, and a black plastic bag containing food,” US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe said at a press conference.
Routh has been charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obstructed serial number. Further charges are set to follow.
Originally published as Elon Musk’s ‘irresponsible’ assassination post on X condemned
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