DeSantis’ Comms Director is Elon Musk. What Could Go Wrong?

You recall that the purpose of the Twitter Files investigation was to prove that the social media giant had its thumb on the scales in backing Joe Biden in 2020. Interesting coincidence, huh, that now we have the owner of Twitter introducing Ron DeSantis’ campaign on the very same platform? However, we also have the fact that Elon Musk tweeted praise of an ad by Tim Scott, who also has thrown his hat in the ring and that happened last Friday. Who knows? What is known is that Musk and DeSantis will host an event on Twitter Spaces, the site’s platform for audio chats, on Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET. It will be moderated by David Sacks, a tech entrepreneur who is a Musk confidant and DeSantis supporter. After that DeSantis will release a launch video and he intends to visit a few states over Memorial Day. NBC News:

Even if Musk stops short of a full endorsement of DeSantis, aligning with his presidential announcement puts him and the company more squarely into a presidential election than any other tech company before it. Twitter, Facebook and others have launched election hubs and voter registration efforts, but have kept candidates at arm’s length.

And someone of Musk’s stature participating in DeSantis’ presidential launch dents the inevitability and power of Trump.

DeSantis’ relationship with Musk goes back to early 2021, when the two met at a dinner party in Austin, Texas, with roughly 15 people including tech investors, developers and health care industry officials, according to a GOP fundraiser who was at the meeting.

The two also have a relationship through Sacks, a major Republican donor who has been openly supportive of DeSantis and is considered to be part of Musk’s inner circle on decisions about Twitter.

Musk has carved out an intense following after he purchased Twitter with the promise to return “free speech” after years of complaints from the right that the site had tried to censor conservatives. Among his first steps was reinstating the accounts of previous far-right Twitter users who had been suspended for spreading disinformation. Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who remains one of the most popular figures in conservative media even after being fired by Fox News, is launching a new show on Twitter.

That seems to be part of what makes partnering with Musk attractive to DeSantis. One of the sources familiar with the plans told NBC News that DeSantis’ aides have been watching Twitter become an increasingly friendly space for conservative firebrands under Musk’s leadership, allowing them to speak directly to their conservative audience and bypass traditional media — something that was once Trump’s superpower.

What’s that you say? What happens when Truth Social goes dark in September and Trump returns to Twitter because he’s got no place else to go? Well, that certainly is an intriguing question. I guess we’re going to have to wait and see what that looks like. Truth be known, Trump may be chomping at the bit for that to happen.

One idea that has been posed is that Trump loves playing the underdog and the outsider so having the opportunity to portray DeSantis and Musk as the corporate titans he is working to defeat may actually help him. And of course he can make villains out of the Securities Exchange Commission. You know right now that when Truth Social gives up the ghost, an event currently scheduled for this fall, that it will be blamed not on Trump, Nunes, et al. breaking laws, but rather on the SEC interfering with the election. That’s a foregone conclusion.

All that can be said with certainty at this point is that, once again, we’re in for a wild election. Politics is getting progressively more agitated as it heads towards the spin dry cycle in November, 2024. We’re see what comes out in the wash. And what goes down the drain.