Strange things started: “Musk will be interviewed [former President] Donald Trump is on X tonight… I think misinformation on Twitter is not just a campaign issue, it’s an American issue. What role does the White House or the President play? Is there any way to prevent this, or stop the spread of this, or some kind of intervention? washington post White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre asked in a quote that went viral yesterday.
Her response was rather analgetic, but hinted at the allegedly problematic nature of Trump’s interview or platform, which is telling in itself.
“You’ve heard us talk about this here many times, about the responsibility of social media platforms in terms of misinformation, disinformation,” Jean-Pierre responded. “These are also private companies, so we also pay attention To this point … I just don’t have any specific details about what we’re doing internally as it relates to interviews.”
The fact that a professional reporter—a major mainstream publication—deemed it inappropriate to conduct an interview with a Republican presidential candidate, and that the interview reached the ears of more than a million people is still a bit mind-blowing Shocking (that is, if you haven’t noticed the collapse that’s been happening in journalism since Trump announced his candidacy in 2015). Presidential campaigns have long aimed to spread, if not misinformation, talking points that are at least partially factual and of questionable credibility for the purpose of selling.
To act like something Trump invented is ridiculous, and to suggest that a White House occupied by Trump’s former adversaries has a responsibility to stop it is horrific.
But American journalists are not the only ones trying to prevent his reporting from being heard.
Just a little reminder: “Several European Union law enforcers wrote an open letter to tech tycoon Elon Musk on Monday ahead of a planned interview with former U.S. President Donald Trump, reminding him of EU rules on promoting hate speech,” the report said. politics.
Digital Commissioner Thierry Breton wrote on Effect.
at the same time, The Guardian Bruce Daisley, Twitter’s former vice president of Europe, Middle East and Africa, reportedly said Musk should face “personal sanctions” – which would be “much more effective for executives than the risk of corporate fines” —possibly even, if he “continues[s] Inciting riots on the platform”.
Daisley said: “The question we face is whether we are willing to allow billionaire oligarchs to camp out near the UK coastline and carry out attacks on our society. “Boycotts – whether of high-profile users or advertisers – should be The only sanctions we have, that idea clearly makes no sense.” (For the record, all Musk did was criticize British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s handling of the immigration unrest, calling him a “hypocrite” and a “two-level critic.” you”.)
Incredibly, the person who said this once made executive decisions at Twitter:
“Musk’s actions should be a wake-up call for the Starmer government to quietly legislate to take back the control we all agreed on on social media.” https://t.co/9M9W6LMl1G
— Zach Weissmuller (@TheAbridgedZach) August 12, 2024
EU threatens legal action against Elon and Trump’s planned interview because it could have “harmful impact on civil discourse” https://t.co/LbTSaEoiR1
— Mason (@webdevMason) August 12, 2024
Back to the actual events: As for the discussion between Trump and Musk itself, the first 30 minutes were disrupted by technical issues, which Musk attributed to a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. What remains is a free-flowing, ostensibly comfortable conversation between Musk and Trump that doesn’t even reveal anything in particular.
Trump noted that he wants to close the Department of Education and “move education back to the states,” acknowledging that “not every state is going to do a great job.” (He thinks about 35 or so would “do a great job.”) Musk has pushed back considerably as Trump downplayed the threat of global warming. “The house didn’t catch on fire right away,” Musk said. “That’s the direction we need to move in. Overall, it’s probably better to go faster than slower.” And, quite sensibly, climate progress should “be achieved without denigrating the oil and gas industry. People Can still… drive a gas car.”
Musk used the opportunity to vent his frustrations with President Joe Biden and Democratic nominee/Vice President Kamala Harris, saying talking to them is “like talking to an NPC or non-player character.”
Regarding world dictators like Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Trump said what we already know he thinks: “Getting along with them is a good thing, not a bad thing.”
In short, everyone played their role perfectly and as expected. Nothing shocking was revealed. This is interesting because both Musk and Trump are fascinating figures with strong convictions who clearly command the respect (or at least the attention) of millions of people.
Perhaps the most interesting part is that so many people were threatened by this conversation.
New York scene: A judge has kicked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. off the state’s ballot, so if you live here, you’ll no longer be able to vote for him (at least for now).
Quick click
- “Trump serving as de facto Fed chairman is a dangerous idea,” Jonathan Levin wrote. Bloomberg. “Threats to central bank independence are among the worst economic proposals ever proposed by a major party presidential candidate.”
- “When my mother told me that she had never considered how I would feel growing up without her, my first reaction was that her line was down,” Xochitl Gonzalez said in ” atlanticreflecting on being abandoned by her mother, she pursued socialist activism rather than parenthood. “But talking to those two socialist candidates, I got a different perspective. Around my mother, people were told to give up one life here and start another there. And they did. , no questions asked. She must have viewed me as just another gay guy who was mobilized for the movement, and she didn’t take my feelings into consideration because, I suspect, she didn’t take her own feelings into consideration.
- Live caption glasses can help deaf people keep track of ongoing conversations.
- According to the report, “Ukrainian troops easily breached the weakly defended border and advanced dozens of miles into Russia and changed the narrative of the war. Throughout the year, Ukraine has struggled to stop Russia’s advances on its eastern front, but Often in vain. New York Times. “By Monday, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief told President Volodymyr Zelensky that his forces controlled 390 square miles of territory in Russia’s southeastern Kursk region. Two dozen settlements were captured.”
- Very true:
Disclaimer: The Democrats’ “mind your own business” rhetoric only applies to abortion.
Not your money, your job, your business, your school choices, your COVID-19 whistleblower lines, your energy use, your DEI compliance, your guns, your “hate speech,” etc.
Then suddenly “government is what we do together.” https://t.co/1N0WOqxtdq
— Brian Riedl ?????? ??????? (@Brian_Riedl) August 11, 2024
