Has Elon Musk Shouted “Fire!” in a Theater?

It’s not the only definition by far, but the support of ‘free speech’ in America has always, generally, been understood to include practically everything but shouting ‘fire’ in a crowded theater.

191 million followers constitute a huge theater, and that’s how many Elon Musk claims follow him on Twitter (now X)

Lawyers can argue such fine points before a jury, but that’s 19 times as large an audience as the NY Times can boast, including both their print and online subscribers. More troublingly, Elon’s intrusion into the lives of Twitter (now X) users, favors Donald Trump over Kamala Harris in a presidential election that is less that 90 days from the finish line.

Speech may be free, but the cost of a megaphone is out of sight

Apparently, Elon tickles the fancy of those 191 million followers three times a day with his ads. Additionally, “according to people familiar with the matter,” the Wall Street Journal claims Musk has said he will contribute $45 million per month to the Trump campaign. So now, if ‘people familiar’ can be trusted, we have ‘shouting fire’ neatly connected to the 191 million in Musk’s ‘crowded theater.’

Musk is in denial at the moment, the Supreme Court is banking its perks, and the WSJ is comfortably stabled on Rupert Murdoch’s media farm. In that bastion of great wealth and comfortable misinformation, who can possibly know where truth lies?

Truth might possibly be found over at CNBC

(CNBC, Brian Schwartz, Aug 2, 2024) “Tesla boss Elon Musk and other tech executives are funding a social media ad blitz to support the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.

“The ads come as Musk uses his account on X, the social media platform he owns, to back the Republican nominee over the de facto Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Musk’s America PAC is collecting data in more than a half-dozen swing states that could determine the outcome of the 2024 election.”

Interesting. Tell me more, Brian

“If a voter in Michigan performs a search on Google, a somewhat shocking ad might pop up. The ad shows a young man lying in bed late at night when someone else texts him, “Hey you need to vote,” and then sends the man a video of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. The man can hear the gunshots and people screaming in the background. As Trump is rushed off stage with blood pouring down his face, the man watching the video types in response, “This is out of control. How do I start?”

“The ad then displays a website for a group called America PAC. The website says it will help the viewer register to vote. But once a user clicks “Register to Vote,” the experience he or she will have can be very different, depending on where they live.

“If a user lives in a state that is not considered competitive in the presidential election, like California or Wyoming for example, they’ll be prompted to enter their email addresses and ZIP code and then directed quickly to a voter registration page for their state, or back to the original sign-up section. But for users who enter a ZIP code that indicates they live in a battleground state, like Pennsylvania or Georgia, the process is very different.

“Rather than be directed to their state’s voter registration page, they instead are directed to a highly detailed personal information form, prompted to enter their address, cellphone number and age. If they agree to submit all that, the system still does not steer them to a voter registration page. Instead, it shows them a “thank you” page. So that person who wanted help registering to vote? In the end, they got no help at all registering. But they did hand over priceless personal data to a political operation.

“Specifically, a political action committee created by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, one aimed at giving the Republican presidential nominee Trump an advantage in his campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris, the de facto Democratic nominee.”

Not good for Tesla, whose CEO seems too distracted elsewhere to suit its shareholders. Not good for Space X, who holds government contracts, nor is it healthy for the ‘separation of extreme wealth and government.’ The wealthy 1% were once more nuanced about their control of the United States Congress. Elon’s ego is an embarrassment to that establishment, and a thorn in the side of Tesla investors.

One truth that is known is that extreme wealth attracts the needy

Apparently, Trump is both needy and available to the highest bidder at this stage of his political shipwreck. “$45 million once…$45 million twice…do I hear $46 million? Once, twice, sold to Elon Musk and paid to the order of the Donald Trump Campaign.”

Mark Twain once said that “America has the best government money can buy,” Twain is long gone, but one needs little more than this scenario to prove the point.