Twitter' s Blue Checkmark Brigade Freaks Out over Elon Musk' s Buyout Plan

Allum BokhariApril 14, 2022

Liberals, progressives, and establishment pundits were in meltdown mode this morning after billionaire SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, stated his intention to buy 100 percent of Twitter, transform it into a private company, and restore free speech on the platform.

While it is still very unclear if Musk’s proposed purchase of Twitter at 18 percent above yesterday’s closing share price will ever take place, it didn’t stop blue checkmark brigade from breaking down in digital fits of rage across the platform.

Notorious neoconservative warmonger and diehard NeverTrump pundit Max Boot repeated what is likely to be a recurring argument from establishment mouthpieces: that free speech is dangerous to democracy, and that content moderation (censorship) is actually real freedom. In Max Boot’s world, there’s no democracy or freedom unless speech is controlled by a tiny minority of unaccountable elites.

I am frightened by the impact on society and politics if Elon Musk acquires Twitter. He seems to believe that on social media anything goes. For democracy to survive, we need more content moderation, not less.

— Max Boot 🇺 (@MaxBoot) April 14, 2022

Progressive author and Daily Beast columnist David Rothkopf threatened to quit the platform if Elon Musk took over. “We are the assets of Twitter,” declared the man behind the 260,000-follower account.

We are the assets of @Twitter. If we walk out the door the moment @ElonMusk takes it over, it is nothing. And, I can tell you, I for one, have no desire to participate in the social engineering experiment of that particular out-of-control megalomaniac.

— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) April 14, 2022

Gun control advocate Fred Guttenberg said he wouldn’t buy any Tesla cars because of the CEO’s pro-free speech stance. “People buying his cars are not your likely Trump voters,” said Guttenberg.

So looks like @elonmusk wants to do for Trump what Truth Social couldn’t. The thing is, the people buying his cars are not your likely Trump voters. The possibility of a Tesla as a future purchase for me is gone. Many other great electric automotive options available.

— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) April 14, 2022

“You’re full of s***,” said Scott Galloway, a professor at NYU Stern and a podcaster on CNN’s failed online streaming platform, CNN+.

Market open to @elonmusk:

You’re full of shit.

— Scott Galloway (@profgalloway) April 14, 2022

A variety of leftist users tweeted some variation of “tax the rich” or “abolish billionaires.”

Elon Musk making a play for Twitter out of his petty cash drawer is one more example of why the pooling of so much wealth in the hands of a few is a societal disease.

— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) April 14, 2022

Elon Musk is why to abolish billionaires.

Asking them to chip in their fair share isn’t enough. Regulating them isn’t enough.

When people are allowed to acquire this much concentrated influence, they will inevitably manspread economic power into every other form of power.

— Anand Giridharadas @ The.Ink (@AnandWrites) April 14, 2022

Elon Musk used government subsidies to fund Tesla’s growth and to launch SpaceX. He then moved to Texas to avoid paying taxes that would support his community. Now we’re all stuck with another billionaire vanity project. Tax. The. Rich.

— Spencer Toder for Senate (@SpencerToder) April 14, 2022

As the left’s cultural reference points tend to be limited to Harry Potter (now minus the author) and the superhero universes of Marvel & DC, one of these was of course cited.

Elon Musk launching a hostile takeover bid for Twitter is giving Lex Luthor buying the Daily Planet vibes.

— Ahmed Ali (@MrAhmednurAli) April 14, 2022

And because the left only knows one historical reference point, that too was cited.