Elon Musk Faces Backlash Online For Making 'Inciteful' Assassination Joke About Biden and Harris

Elon Musk, a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, posted an 'inciteful' tweet on his platform X, formerly Twitter, and faced a firestorm from angry netizens, Newsweek reported. The 53-year-old wrote, "No one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala," alluding to the second failed assassination attempt on the Republican nominee on Sunday, September 15, at his golf course. 

Musk's remark came in response to an X user, @cb_doge's reaction to the second attempt at Trump's life. "Why [do] they want to kill Donald Trump?" they had asked. The billionaire's post went viral— viewed 34.7 million times and liked 151,000 times by Monday morning— as social media users, celebs, and political figures alike condemned him for inciting an attack on POTUS Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris. Following the backlash, Musk deleted the tweet and said it was meant as a joke but that didn't stop him from being labeled 'unhinged.'

Actor Billy (William) Baldwin, slammed, "Another example of why your children hate you." Adam Kinzinger, the former CNN commentator, wrote in disbelief, "What is wrong with this guy?! Can anyone who loves him have an intervention? I'm serious, this is off the rails." The New York Times reporter, Dave Itzkoff, quipped, "And they say this site [X] has advertising problems." 

Netizens were equally appalled. @marclamonthill opined, "This is a dangerous and disturbing provocation." @hadaviswrites argued, "The amount of hate and violence pouring from MAGA today is disturbing: 1. Trump posting 'I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT' [and] possibly inciting his unstable followers to cause her harm. 2. JD Vance admitting that he created a story that caused Haitians to be harassed and fear for their lives. THIS IS ALL VIOLENCE." 

However, Trump's supporters defended Musk's post and accused the Left of doing much worse. @MrFabulous43 asked, "How is this more dangerous and provocative than constantly comparing Trump to Hitler? That seems pretty provocative to me. And the evidence of TWO assassination attempts in 3 months seems to back me up." @spiritualshift_ asserted, "I'm not an Elon fan but come on people, stop the madness. No this is not incitement. Misplaced hysteria and anger." 

After deleting his tweet, Musk tried to shrug off his comment by deeming it a joke. "Well, one lesson I've learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh doesn't mean it's going to be all that hilarious as a post on 𝕏." In a subsequent post, he added, "Turns out that jokes are WAY less funny if people don't know the context and the delivery is plain text."

Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was hiding in a bush near Trump's golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida. He was armed with an AK-47-style rifle. Fortunately, the Secret Service noticed the barrel of a gun sticking out from the fence and opened fire at him. Although he fled the scene, he was later caught by the officials and taken into custody, as per Daily Beast.