Elon Musk is checking all the right boxes to make the left hate him.
He was an outspoken supporter of the Canadian truckers rebelling against their prime minister’s heavy-handed coronavirus crackdown. He’s a friend of Joe Rogan, the comedian and podcast host and a man loathed by liberals.
In the past week, since making his bid to buy the increasingly leftist social media giant Twitter, the iconoclastic billionaire has turned into the left’s biggest public enemy since Donald Trump left the White House.
And in a Twitter post Wednesday, Musk even sounded a little bit like Trump himself.
The tweet came in response to the news that the Netflix streaming service had posted a loss of 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of the year. It was the company’s first such loss in a decade, according to Reuters, and led to Netflix stock plummeting on Wall Street on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Musk, who knows a little bit about business, given that he’s the CEO of groundbreaking companies Tesla and SpaceX, diagnosed the Netflix problem in one sentence:
“The woke mind virus is making Netflix unwatchable,” he wrote.
The woke mind virus is making Netflix unwatchable
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2022
When another Twitter user added that the “woke mind virus is the biggest threat to civilization,” Musk responded simply, “Yes.”
Yes
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2022
Now, quick, what American politician does that sound like? Maybe another iconoclastic billionaire who is roundly hated by the left — particularly leftists at social media giants like, say, Twitter.
Former President Trump made no bones about what “woke” meant, and none of his supporters has any doubts. In a speech in Alabama in August, Trump made the point bluntly:
“Everything woke turns to s***,” he said.
WARNING: The following video contains vulgar language that some viewers may find offensive.
Now, just because Musk published a Twitter post that officially sounded like Trump, the lords of Twitter hate him (as they hate Trump) and American liberals are turning fire on him doesn’t mean he’s Trump 2.0, of course.
But so far this year, he’s been checking all the boxes. Not only is he friends with Rogan, but in January, he even went with Rogan to see a show in Texas by comedian Dave Chappelle, according to Austin’s KXAN-TV.
Chappelle, of course, is another big name who’s under fire from the left.
Musk’s Twitter stand on behalf of the Canadian truckers protesting against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his livelihood-destroying coronavirus regulations did not endear him to liberals.
And now, in his criticism of the “woke” crowd, he’s sounding like Donald Trump — the modern left’s bête noir among all bêtes noir.
The fact that he’s doing it while taking on Netflix, a very “woke” company openly in bed with former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, can only make it worse.
Conservatives have plenty to be wary about when it comes to Musk. However much fun it is to watch the self-described “free-speech absolutist” make liberals writhe at the prospect of truly free speech on Twitter, he’s a loose cannon who has his own priorities.
For instance, he’s publicly praised the communist government of China, where his Tesla electric car company has a plant in Shanghai (a city that’s witnessed its own considerably more onerous COVID-19 restrictions) and where Musk no doubt wants to have an edge in the market.
But for now, amid his stock war with Twitter and public condemnations of the “woke” mentality today’s liberals love, he’s checking all the right boxes for those on the right.
Enjoy it while we can. The left is hating it.