Elon Musk said in a tweet on Thursday night that the modern “Democratic Party has been hijacked by extremists.”
“I strongly supported Obama for President, but today’s Democratic Party has been hijacked by extremists,” Musk wrote.
Valerie Bertinelli responded to Musk’s comment by tweeting, “I don’t know who or what’s been brainwashing you but wake up and think for yourself.”
“Imagine thinking the extremists are the Democrats and not the party that attempted a coup for a racist gameshow host,” Aaron Rupar tweeted.
Earlier on Thursday, Musk had shared a cartoon that depicts an individual standing on the left of the political center in 2008 before ending up on the right of the political center in 2021.
“10 years ago i would have called myself progressive cuz i believed in equality and not being an asshole over trivial things,” Billy Markus tweeted in response to Musk’s post, adding, “now i consider myself moderate because i believe in equality and not being an asshole over trivial things”
“Same,” Musk replied.
The billionaire businessman plans to buy Twitter and transform it into a platform where people can participate in free speech — his plans have been cheered by many on the right who have previously been critical of the social media giant for engaging in censorship.
“For Twitter to deserve public trust, it must be politically neutral, which effectively means upsetting the far right and the far left equally,” Musk tweeted on Wednesday. “Attacks are coming thick and fast, primarily from the left, which is no surprise, however I should be clear that the right will probably be a little unhappy too. My goal is to maximize area under the curve of total human happiness, which means the ~80% of people in the middle,” he noted in another tweet.
“I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people,” Musk tweeted on Tuesday.