May 10, 2022

Elon Musk Says It Was a “Mistake” to Ban Trump’s Twitter

Men only want one thing: to be the center of attention on Twitter.

Joe Maiorana/AP

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Today, Elon Musk, who is set to take over Twitter, said that it had been a “mistake” to ban Donald Trump’s account. The 45th president, you’ll recall, was permanently banned from the platform following the January 6 insurrection, which he couldn’t stop egging on with his usual array of Oddly Capitalized Posts.

“I think it was a morally bad decision to be clear and foolish in the extreme,” Musk said of the ban during an event hosted by the Financial Times, the Washington Post reported.

“I do think it was not correct to ban Donald Trump,” the Tesla founder added. “I think that was a mistake. … It alienated a large part of the country and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice.”

Since his expulsion, Trump has tried to create buzz around his new social media empire, the poorly named TruthSocial. It’s not going great. Still, Trump has sworn that he’s dedicated to it and won’t be returning to Twitter, regardless of an invite from Musk. We’ll see how long that lasts. Meanwhile, former advisers have actually described it as a good thing that Trump is no longer on Twitter because, in theory, it took some spotlight off his characteristic unhinged behavior.

Anyway, I’m curious about what Musk thinks of Trump’s persistent efforts to claim that the presidential election had been stolen from him, especially after the violence of January 6, and what that could mean for a free speech platform. (I once attempted to ask Henry Kissinger, who the FT also interviewed this week, with no response.)

In any case, it sounds like it’s time to welcome back Trump tweets. As always, sorry to the haters and losers.

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PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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