May 23, 2023

"Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will announce he is running for president during a discussion with Twitter CEO Elon Musk... "

NBC News reveals.

This is supposed to happen at 6 ET tomorrow.

Why Elon?

The launch will closely tie together the billionaire tech mogul with one of the Republican Party’s rising stars. Musk has been an admirer of DeSantis, who also regularly chides corporate media. Last year, Musk said he would support the governor if he were to run for president.... It’s not clear if Musk will formally endorse DeSantis on Wednesday....

You'd think Elon Musk would want to maintain a position of cruel neutrality. 

88 comments:

RideSpaceMountain said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
BIII Zhang said...

The question isn't "Why Elon?"

The real question, of course, is why NOT NBCNews?

And we all know why. The media is the MORTAL enemy of every Republican. Period. They will do everything in their power, including lie to the American people, to smear any Republican who dares run for political office in the United States. They will happily report fake election returns to ensure that a Republican DOES NOT WIN.

On the one hand, you have Donald Trump giving CNN advertisers eyeballs and helping CNN to sell advertising. He's funding the enemy.

On the other hand, you have Ron DeSantis NOT helping the enemy of all Republicans CNN et. al to make money. Instead, he's announcing with the guy who took down the Deep State Censorship Machine.

That is a stark, stark contrast. One that Trump doesn't get.

RideSpaceMountain said...

Them: "If Ron did what he did to Florida, can you even imagine what he'll do to the USA!?!"

Me: "Signed by Hades, sealed with rooster blood, and delivered through a hail of gunfire, I'm counting on it."

MadisonMan said...

I prefer DeSantis to Trump, all things being equal. That age contrast between DeSantis and ancient Biden!

rehajm said...

You'd think Elon Musk would want to maintain a position of cruel neutrality.

It is...

gahrie said...

You'd think Elon Musk would want to maintain a position of cruel neutrality.

Why?

He doesn't believe in virtue signaling and is willing to make a stand and defend it.

Political Junkie said...

I wonder if Elon could pay $100 per R primary voter to get Ron the nom?

tim maguire said...

Associating yourself too publicly with one party or the other is bad for business.

chickelit said...

"You'd think Elon Musk would want to maintain a position of cruel neutrality."

That assumes that cruel neutrality is a good position. Media neutrality no longer sells. We are reverting to the olden days.

Mr Wibble said...

Desantis is trying to run a campaign appealing to the terminally online wing of the right. I suspect that it will backfire.

Kevin said...

You'd think Elon Musk would want to maintain a position of cruel neutrality.

Pehaps to make Twitter cruelly neutral, Musk must put his finger not the scale in a cruelly-balancing kind of way.

To ask of him otherwise is civility bullshit.

minnesota farm guy said...

Obviously DeSantis has a hell of a fight on his hands. I will not be surprised if Trump self-destructs. He will have plenty of time to make an ass of himself and further alienate Republican voters before the serious campaigning begins. DeSantis is no dummy and he must believe he can pull enough of the knee jerk MAGA types to win the nomination. There is no question in my mind that if DeSantis is nominated he will win the presidency in a walk against President Dementia. All those independents who are so uncomfortable with Trump will be an easy catch for DeSantis.

John henry said...

Yawn.

Save your ammo for 28Ron.

John LGKTQ Henry

Kevin said...

The framing of DeSantis by the cruel and no longer pretending to be neutral media has already begun:

NAACP issues travel advisory for Florida, says state "has become hostile to Black Americans"

minnesota farm guy said...

As for Musk; having the guy who controls one of the big social media sites on your side is going to mean that all the sites are going to be wary of the kind of censorship that occurred in 2020. Also Musk is one of the smartest guys in the room and could probably fund the campaign himself - if it were legal.

The Elder said...

Musk may still maintain an air of neutrality. We will see. He might offer the same opportunity to other candidates. If Twitter is going to become an streaming video provider (as is reported for Tucker Carlson), Musk may want to set an example for his employees by demonstrating what objectivity looks like.

Big Mike said...

You'd think Elon Musk would want to maintain a position of cruel neutrality.

Or perhaps Donald Trump said or did something that pissed off Elon Musk at a personal level? It wouldn’t be out of character.

Kate said...

Musk just wants to push his new twitter video service. He knows a good advertisement when he sees it.

Quaestor said...

"You'd think Elon Musk would want to maintain a position of cruel neutrality."

Elon is Hebrew for oak, a tree that stands straight in the wind, not a willow bending this way and that when the mood strikes.

Consider the state of the cruelly neutral souls in the Devine Comedy. They're neither in Hell nor Purgatory, neither damned nor saved, but their condition is pretty nasty, nonetheless.

Leland said...

Musk is too interested in free speech to maintain a pretense of neutrality.

Wa St Blogger said...

What’s the point in announcing that you are going to announce? Haven’t you just announced, and the announcement event becomes ant-climactic? DeSantis could be a good candidate.

Quaestor said...

"You'd think Elon Musk would want to maintain a position of cruel neutrality."

Maybe Elon Musk hasn't an iota of interest in Medieval Italian literature. Who knows? Certainly not me.

But I do know he drinks beer.

Not Sure said...

You'd think Elon Musk would want to maintain a position of cruel neutrality.

Gosh, I think I've got this one! Because he's neither cruel nor neutral, and has core beliefs that he's willing to act on?

chickelit said...

"You'd think Elon Musk would want to maintain a position of cruel neutrality."

I think most people got on quite well with the former leaders of Twitter being progressive and leftwing. It was almost expected (given Twitter's location) that they would be. But the former leaders of Twitter crossed a line when they started censoring their political opponents. Moreover, they enabled their Government to possibly break laws when the FBI micromanaged censorship during the last election and especially during the pandemic. Has Musk censored the left like Twitter of yore censored the Right? I think not.

CJinPA said...

Musk simply keeping Twitter neutral would be a win for society. But he can't stop voicing his political opinions. So Twitter will be freed from progressive control, but irrelevant.

paminwi said...

I interpret that as “you” would like hm to maintain cruel neutrality.

Gusty Winds said...

"You'd think Elon Musk would want to maintain a position of cruel neutrality."

Musk is an open advocate. Pro Free Speech. Anti-censorship. Anti-child porn, pro-adult porn. Openly anti-Soros backed DAs. He also openly questions the safety and effectiveness mRNA shots. Musk is openly anti-woke. He manages to take positions without censoring the opposition, except the child porn.

If he wants to be Pro-DeSantis, fine. He has reinstated Trump's Twitter account, and I doubt would censor him during a campaign. Democrats throw around bullshit lies on twitter all day long, and he let's community notes counter the content.

It's actually the main forum where you can find out what RFK Jr. is saying. Democrats don't want anyone to hear it.

Why should Musk change to a pretend "cruel neutrality" now? He has openly stated his beliefs and convictions. Seems to be working.

MadisonMan said...

I wonder if Elon could pay $100 per R primary voter to get Ron the nom?
Back when the Powerball Payout was close to $1bn, I pondered winning, and running for Governor, or Mayor, or something, and saying "If I win, I'll give everyone $x" where x was some number between $100 and $1000. What's the difference between bribing with my money vs. bribing with the public purse?

John henry said...

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People who issued the stay away advisory lives in Tampa.

Perhaps it is OK for colored people, just not black people.

Naacp used to have a rep for discrimination against people who couldn't pass the brown bag test (skin darker than light brown)

Is the Naacp being racist here with this warning?

John LGKTQ Henry

rehajm said...

Cruel neutrality is neither...

pacwest said...

You'd think Elon Musk would want to maintain a position of cruel neutrality.

Cruel neutrality is not neutrality. And it accomplishes nothing. Neutrality = no bias. When you become cruel about it you've let your bias into the equation whether you apply the cruelty equally or not. But the cruel part of it is fun. It let's the bias take part.

Dave Begley said...

Ann:

Musk had a recent interview with David Faber of CNBC, "He also defended his own tweets that were widely criticized as lending credence to conspiracies about George Soros and a recent mass shooting event in Allen, Texas, insisting “I’ll say what I want, and if the consequence of that is losing money, so be it.”

Free Speech champion. He's already rich.

John henry said...

Remember last year when all the journos were going to abandon Twitter? They all moved to Mastodon?

Some may still be there. I got kicked off the official journo mastodon. I mentioned Hilarys 2013 stroke in passing. Didn't matter the she herself had a stroke (she called it a thrombosis) you can say that if you are a journalist.

Anyway, they all seem to still be on Twitter.

As is Rob meathead Reiner

The fascists just can't quit Twitter and it drives them nuts. I find it hilarious.

John LGKTQ Henry

Rabel said...

You would think that people have learned not to believe something because it is on NBC.

Here's their update:

"During the Wall Street Journal’s 2023 CEO Summit Council on Tuesday, Musk confirmed his participation in DeSantis' announcement but said he was not going to be formally endorsing DeSantis at that time."

John henry said...

Madisonman

For the answer to your question, read Federico bastiats 1850 pamphlet "the law" where he dissects this question

http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html

John LGKTQ Henry

Chuck said...

” You'd think Elon Musk would want to maintain a position of cruel neutrality.”

I’d think Elon Musk would want, more than anything, is to do some self-promotion and to engage in political opportunism.

Joe Smith said...

Why should he be neutral?

Zuckerberg is a far-left partisan democrat and the left is happy with that.

BillieBob Thorton said...

Musk says he is not endorsing anyone he is just providing a platform. So, neutral.

Limited blogger said...

I was positive that Ron DeS. was not going to run this cycle.

I think it is a mistake. Let Trump finish his presidency, then pick it up in '28.

Good news is that only Trump and DeSantis will qualify for the debates.

Should be short and sweet primary process with Trump prevailing.

Narayanan said...

I prefer DeSantis to Trump, all things being equal. That age contrast between DeSantis and ancient Biden!
==========
how is DOD JAG any different from FBI DOJ

discuss

Narayanan said...

paminwi said...
I interpret that as “you” would like hm to maintain cruel neutrality.
===
performative and/or rhetorical?

Limited blogger said...

I thought Trump should choose one of the conservative female governors as running mate.

I wonder if he'll in fact choose Tim Scott?

If so make the announcement early and start the general election campaign.

readering said...

I hope the first lady will be there at least. I guess we are past the days of a big outdoor crowd at the State Capitol with one's telegenic wife, or even a paid crowd in a tower lobby with one's telegenic wife.

Bob Boyd said...

Associating yourself too publicly with one party or the other is bad for business.

Musk spoke to that in an interview with CNBC's David Faber:

Faber: ...it even came up though in the annual meeting, I mean, you know, do your tweets hurt the company? Are there Tesla owners who say I don’t agree with his political position because and I know it because he shares so much of it. Or are there advertisers on Twitter that Linda Yaccarino will come and say, you got to stop man or, you know, I can’t get these ads because of some of the things you tweet.

MUSK: You know, I’m reminded of a scene in “The Princess Bride.” Great movie.

FABER: Great movie.

MUSK: Where he confronts the person who killed his father. And he says, “Offer me money. Offer me power. I don’t care.”

FABER: So, you just don’t care. You want to share what you have to say?

MUSK: I’ll say what I want to say and if the consequence of that is losing money, so be it.

chuck said...

You'd think Elon Musk would want to maintain a position of cruel neutrality.

No, I wouldn't think that. Musk is a doer, not a spectator.

Yancey Ward said...

"You'd think Elon Musk would want to maintain a position of cruel neutrality."

So, no one in the media world can talk to DeSantis?

Josephbleau said...

"They all moved to Mastodon?"

Hey, if you have all of five lakes, they will come.

re Pete said...

"Come writers and critics

Who prophesize with your pen"

Harun said...

"Desantis is trying to run a campaign appealing to the terminally online wing of the right. I suspect that it will backfire."

Elon Musk has highest positive favorability in polls. So, it goes beyond Twitter.

And Elon Musk can donate money.

Josephbleau said...

zuckerberg donated $400 MM to get out the vote in blue towns. So Facebook needs not be cruelly neutral. Yet Musk must.

The Godfather said...

I voted for Trump. There's no doubt in my mind that our country would be in MUCH better shape today if he'd been re-elected. But he wasn't.

(a) If Trump were elected Pres. in 2024, he'd be an instant lame duck. He was never effective in dealing with hostile pols; post-2024 would be worse (b) Since 2020 he has focused so much on how unfair the 2020 outcome was TO HIM, that it's hard to imagine how he sells the electorate on the message he conveyed in 2016: Vote for me and I will make things better for YOU!

DeSantis offers (it seems to ME) a lot of the appeal of 2016 Trump, but without the baggage. He has been tested and challenged, and he's still standing.

People who believe in the US I believe in need to get behind DeSantis. And support a good VP for his ticket.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

Cruel neutrality is a blog marketing strategy. It’s not something exists in the real world.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

"You'd think Elon Musk would want to maintain a position of cruel neutrality'

The goal isn't to elect DeSantis. It's to crush, and replace, the MSM. If Twitter can be a kingmaker, in the face of the goose-steppers, that's a big step towards that goal.

Joe Smith said...

'I thought Trump should choose one of the conservative female governors as running mate.'

Didn't know there was one...

Balfegor said...

I was going to say this felt a bit wrong, because Musk is a foreign national who has no business involving himself in Federal elections in the US, but (a) seems he became a US citizen back in 2002, and (b) I guess it isn't really any different from journalists (some of whom are foreigners) meddling in American elections, or media companies (some of which are owned or controlled by foreigners and foreign governments) meddling in American elections.

So it seems a bit weird, but DeSantis will probably get better reach through an event like this than a press conference or a rally.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Did you hear what the Horrid White left "The View" female totalitarians said about Tim Scott?

Geeez - what hate-file WHITE LEFT totalitarian racists.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

ABC, CBS, NBC, Microsoft NBC, CNN - et al - none of these Democrat Party Propaganda outlets will give DeSantis a fair shake.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Musk is popular with the American Public.

Musk is not popular with the anti-free speech totalitarian radical extremist leftwing democrat party elites and the left's radical loyalists.

Temujin said...

I am sure Elon will welcome any and all of the candidates to do a session with him. I suspect DeSantis's team was just way out front on this (they will have this entire campaign so wired it'll make Trump's people look like they're stuck in concrete).

But, any candidate will, I suspect have an oppty with Musk. Can you see the Biden team accepting a conversation where they don't write the questions themselves, or demand to approve of the questions to be asked, and disallow anything outside of those? Biden can't manage a real Q&A. Kamala can't do that.

Trump can. DeSantis can. Scott, Haley can. So...what's the problem with Democrats? They own the media and are safe from having to answer for any of their actions or words. Twitter, they don't own. So the upheaval starts now that DeSantis is going on Twitter to announce. I say- good for him. Good for Twitter.

Chuck Todd can sit with his usual talking faces and point his pudgy finger at the camera warning of fascism coming to America. But actually- it's a sign of freedom.

FullMoon said...

I want Trump to run and win. Mainly as a f-you to all the celebs and others who labeled Trump voters racist, homophopes, misogynist, stupid, brain-dead and other hateful, vile things.

Don't really believe anymore any republican can overcome the entrenched bureaucracy.

FullMoon said...

Trump/DeSantis.

They win, Trump says f-you, I won, to the left, resigns in six months.

Rusty said...

Well, good. Now the GOPe voter have someone to vote for.
Won't help the country at all, but good for the GOPe voters.

Uncle Pavian said...

Given what we hear about Elon Musk's bedtime, is that 6 am or pm?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

"You'd think Elon Musk would want to maintain a position of cruel neutrality."

That's not how Biden chose to treat Tesla.

Michael K said...

Musk is probably aware (I'm certain he is ) that many of DeSantis' donors are investors in Musk's enterprises. DeSantis is the GOPe candidate. We saw that when he quickly retreated from his comment on Ukraine.

Joe Bar said...

What good is influence, if you do not use it?

n.n said...

"You'd think Elon Musk would want to maintain a position of cruel neutrality'

Does Musk subscribe to the Pro-Choice "ethical" religion?

Political Junkie said...

Joe Smith - I think Kim R of IA would be a fine R VP for anyone.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Trump will get Biden re-elected. Even if Biden is at 32% approval in the polls.
That makes Trump a democrat asset.

Wa St Blogger said...

I’d think Elon Musk would want, more than anything, is to do some self-promotion and to engage in political opportunism.
Kinda like Chuck

Cameron said...

"You'd think Elon Musk would want to maintain a position of cruel neutrality.

Or perhaps Donald Trump said or did something that pissed off Elon Musk at a personal level? It wouldn’t be out of character."

Most obvious answer is Trump using TruthSocial rather than Twitter. My hosting DeSantis, he's virtually forcing Trump to come back to Twitter if he offers a similar arrangement.

Cameron said...

"You'd think Elon Musk would want to maintain a position of cruel neutrality."

the reality is that cruel neutrality is just a facade, and most people aren't falling for it anymore.

The better option is to be open about your biases and attempt to not let them interfere with your reporting, rather than to claim you are cruelly neutral and use that fake impartiality to advance the cause of your bias.

Cameron said...

"You'd think Elon Musk would want to maintain a position of cruel neutrality."

the reality is that cruel neutrality is just a facade, and most people aren't falling for it anymore.

The better option is to be open about your biases and attempt to not let them interfere with your reporting, rather than to claim you are cruelly neutral and use that fake impartiality to advance the cause of your bias.

Free Manure While You Wait! said...

And wouldn't you know it, the very same week he announces, NBC Nightly News is doing an entire week on location in Florida to tell us how fucked up the state is. What a coincidence! Imagine the odds!

wendybar said...

Rusty said...
Well, good. Now the GOPe voter have someone to vote for.
Won't help the country at all, but good for the GOPe voters.

5/23/23, 6:57 PM

THIS^^^

farmgirl said...

Cruel neutrality would allow for all candidates the opportunity to have an interview and to use Twitter. Maybe they all do have the same opportunity to be treated fairly.

Sure as hell can’t say the same in this country about any other public venue. They are very obviously against being neutral.

rwnutjob said...

Elon DGAF

Patrick Henry was right! said...

The one thing Elon Musk is not is "neutral ".

n.n said...

Cruel neutrality #SAD

Browndog said...

No one, at this stage of the game, is "neutral". Apathetic, maybe. Not neutral. It defies human nature.
I can't believe she still espouses this nonsense.

Drago said...

Rusty: "Well, good. Now the GOPe voter have someone to vote for.
Won't help the country at all, but good for the GOPe voters."

Wendybar: "THIS^^^"

Objectively, I believe the cats running a potential (though very unlikely) DeSantis presidency would allow DeDantis to take on the Wokies, ESG/DEI, the marxist educrats, probably the entire top line of govt deep state bureaucrat employees just below the political appointee level and a return to the pre-2021 illegal immigration rules to stem the southern border flood etc. Plus whatever judges are desired by the GOPe-ers.

But in every economic/trade/dem-supporting Chamber of Commerce/foreign affairs/H1-B immigration/ChiCom engagement/NATO/Forever Wars/"deep state deserves to be throttled" policy area, the republican base will once again be completely and utterly screwed, as always.

But this likely would never come to pass because just as the GOPe-ers say the democrat-adjacent socially liberal "educated" (credentialed) white suburban woman wont vote for Trump, there is an even larger group of diverse lower/working class/middle class people across the nation that wont vote for DeSantis. A very large percentage of them voted for obama in either/both 2008 and 2012 that swung hard to Trump in 2016 and 2020 and wont vote for a "GOPe" candidate, which DeSantis clearly is.

On top of the GOPe-ers running every republican org from the RNC, RGA, NRCC et al spending zero time and cash to fix the utterly useless GOTV and voter engagement systems where the reps are 20 years behind the dems....because all that cash is reserved for the same old same old republican consultant grifter class.

Que sera, sera.

Its clear Team GOPe/globalists are already getting nervous about the cash thrown to DeSantis by Murdoch for DeSantis' book deal (rumors of $6M to $10M via News Corp owned Harper Collins) and the hundreds of millions already tossed to DeSantis for his Gov campaign and can be rolled to his presidential effort along with a projected 2 billion more these globalists would be tossing at a losing DeSantis presidential campaign....which explains Tim Scott's announcement and Youngkin's interesting toe in the water media ploy.

One thing is certain: Team GOPe/globalists, the ones who aligned with the dems and the deepstaters on all the anti-Trump hoaxes and deep state weaponization against conservative groups and Trump, do seem very very confident their dem/deep state allies will successfully remove Trump via lawfare.

I too believe that will happen.

And I also believe DeSantis will be seen as the trojan horse candidate of those same GOPe/globalist dem allies....after which he will never get to the mountaintop.

So here we are.

Drago said...

Oh, and DeSantis announcing on Twitter?

Makes perfect political sense on every level..though it wont fool any of the hated (by GOPe-ers) "deplorables" into believing DeSantis is some sort of anti-establishment disruptor of the dems/deep staters. That messaging ship has already left the port.

Joe Smith said...

'Joe Smith - I think Kim R of IA would be a fine R VP for anyone.'

She has zero national presence, but I'd be happy to see it she's conservative or a squish...

Mark said...

Hey Drago, looks like your hero Elon really had Twitter running full steam for the Musk DeSantis livestream.

He should leave video to the experts.

Readering said...

In the end Musk opted for cruel joker.

Michael K said...


Blogger Mark said...

Hey Drago, looks like your hero Elon really had Twitter running full steam for the Musk DeSantis livestream.

He should leave video to the experts.


Like you, lefty Mark ?

I suspect that Musk and Twitter were not prepared for the response. Unlike your lefty sites that have near zero traffic.

Drago said...

Dumb Lefty Mark: "Hey Drago, looks like your hero Elon really had Twitter running full steam for the Musk DeSantis livestream.

He should leave video to the experts."

LOL

You meant Twitter is still around? After all your gloom and doom predictions? And launching improvements to Twitter at a rate that seemed impossible a year ago....and doing it with just 1000 employees instead of 7000! And being openly transparent about what functionality is being worked on what improvements can be expected to launched!

How can all that be Dumb Lefty Mark? You assured us Twitter (now X Corp) would collapse. Yet here they are, doing perfectly well! I guess you aren't called Dumb Lefty Mark for nothing>

Earlier Dumb Lefty Marks:

"Musk really should leave electric car development and production to the "experts".

"Musk really should leave rocket development, production and launch to the "experts".

There will always be Dumb Lefty Marks shouting Dumb Lefty Mark things from the seats in the rafters.

Something tells me Musk's X teams will get where they want to be on a time schedule necessary to achieve the corporate objectives.

walter said...

Too bad free speech absolutist Musk is in no hurry to ungag certain anti-CCP and medical tyranny detractors.