Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Elon Musk has been “targeted” since his purchase of Twitter, when he defended the billionaire for posting tweets in support of anti-Semitic.
Meanwhile, Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal blasted the CEO of Tesla, who bought Twitter and renamed it X, for his “sickening” post.
DeSantis, who launched his 2024 presidential bid in a live call on
“I didn’t see the comment – and so I know Elon has a target on his back since he bought Twitter, because I think he’s taking it in a direction that a lot of people who are used to controlling the narrative aren’t.” Not nice,” DeSantis told CNN’s State of the Union host Jake Tapper on Sunday.
He added: “So I was very supportive of him buying Twitter. I think they’re obviously still working some things out, but I haven’t seen those comments.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dismissed concerns that Elon Musk promoted an anti-Semitic post, claiming that ‘Elon has had a target on his back since he bought Twitter’
Many companies have pulled their ads from X after Musk posted “You told the actual truth” on an anti-Semitic post on his social media site
Some major companies removed their ads from X after Musk’s comments — and politicians and lawmakers have blasted the CEO for the post.
“I encourage advertisers like IBM, who have done this, to withdraw from X and send a message to Elon Musk that hate has no place on this powerful megaphone,” Senator Blumenthal told NBC Meet the Press host. Kristen Welker on Sunday.
“And as you know, the wave of anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, white supremacist, and anti-Black sentiment on social media has been a breeding ground, indeed an accelerator for more than just speech; action that constitutes hate crimes,” he added.
Tensions are rising during the war between Israel and Hamas after the terrorists invaded last month, leading to the biggest single-day massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust. The ensuing violence has led to clashes between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups in the US and around the world.
Meanwhile, Musk has been strongly criticized by the Jewish Anti-Defamation League and the Israeli Foreign Ministry for his past comments – and appeared to side against Israel.
On Wednesday, Musk responded on
The
“I’m not at all interested in saying even the slightest bit about the fact that the Western Jewish population is coming to the disturbing realization that those hordes of minorities who support the flooding of their land don’t particularly like them.
“You want the truth told to your face, there it is.”
Musk, who has 163 million followers, responded publicly on Twitter: “You told the actual truth.”
CNN’s Tapper told DeSantis on Sunday: ‘I’m just saying that Elon Musk is a pretty powerful man, and he endorses some pretty horrible anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. And I still haven’t heard you condemned.’
Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said: ‘Elon Musk has turned X, formerly known as Twitter, into a cesspool of hate speech and extremist incitement’
“Well, because I didn’t see it. I know you tried to read it. I have no idea what the context is,” DeSantis said.
‘I know Elon Musk. “I’ve never seen him do anything – I think he’s a man who believes in America – and I’ve never seen him indulge in that,” the Florida governor said. “So it’s surprising if that’s true, but I haven’t seen it. So I don’t want to just pass judgment.’
However, Blumenthal, a Democrat, had harsher words for the billionaire.
“My reaction to Elon Musk’s post was absolute horror,” he said. “His statement that this blatantly anti-Semitic comment, quote: ‘The actual truth’, is sickening and chilling.”
The Connecticut senator added, “Elon Musk has turned X, formerly known as Twitter, into a cesspool of hate speech and extremist incitement.”