The White House called Elon Musk’s rhetoric ‘irresponsible’ on Monday after the X owner wondered why nobody was trying to assassinate President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Musk posted the comments on his X platform Sunday after former President Donald Trump was the target of a second assassination attempt as he golfed in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Responding to a post that asked: ‘Why they want to kill Donald Trump?, Musk – who is backing Trump – provocatively remarked: ‘And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden or Kamala.’
‘As President Biden and Vice President Harris said after yesterday’s disturbing news, “there is no place for political violence or for any violence ever in our country,” and “we all must do our part to ensure this incident does not lead to more violence,”‘ spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement to DailyMail.com.
‘Violence should only be condemned, never encouraged or joked about,’ Bates continued. ‘This rhetoric is irresponsible.’
Musk’s post sparked outrage almost immediately as users across the political spectrum denounced the comments.
Undeterred, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO doubled down, responding with a ‘100’ emoji to a comment that said: ‘Trump threatens the machine. Biden/Kamala are the machine.’
But he ultimately conceded and removed the posts, admitting his remarks had been poorly received and clarifying that his comment was not intended to be serious.
‘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,’ he reflected.
Before deleting the offending post, Musk sought to defend himself, claiming he wanted to highlight the importance of unity and make the point that no one is trying to harm Biden or Harris.
Conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg labeled the post ‘appalling and indefensible,’ while comedian Maz Jobrani even suggested the Secret Service investigate Musk.
‘You may want to pay this guy a visit. He ain’t right in the head!’ Jobrani quipped, tagging the Secret Service in his post.
Musk’s ill-conceived comments followed another heated incident involving the New Hampshire Libertarian Party (NHLP), which was widely condemned for a tweet suggesting Harris should be killed.
In that inflammatory post, the NHLP suggested that killing the Democratic nominee would make someone ‘a hero.’
That tweet was also condemned by commentators across the political spectrum, with Libertarian presidential nominee Chase Oliver distancing himself from the statement and calling it ‘abhorrent.’
Although the party account eventually took down the tweet, they defended their right to make such comments under the US First Amendment.
Musk just last week courted controversy when he labeled the government of ‘fascists’ for proposing laws that would fine social media giants for spreading misinformation.
introduced a ‘combating misinformation’ bill earlier in the week which includes sweeping powers to fine tech giants up to five percent of their annual turnover for breaching online safety obligations.
n Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hit back at Musk, saying social media ‘has a social responsibility.’
‘If Mr Musk doesn’t understand that, that says more about him than it does about my government,’ he told reporters Saturday.
The exchange between Musk and n officials is the latest in a long-running spat with the n government over social media regulation.
‘s government is exploring a raft of new measures that would see social media companies take greater accountability for the content on their platforms — including a ban for those under 16 years old.
The country’s online watchdog took Musk’s company to court earlier this year, alleging it had failed to remove ‘extremely violent’ videos that showed a Sydney preacher being stabbed.
But it abruptly dropped its attempt to force a global takedown order on X after Musk scored a legal victory in a preliminary hearing, a move he celebrated as a free speech triumph.
Musk, a self-described ‘free speech absolutist’, has clashed with politicians and digital rights groups worldwide, including in the European Union, which could decide within months to take action against X with possible fines.
In Brazil, where X has effectively been suspended after it ignored a series of court directives, Musk has responded by blasting the judge as an ‘evil dictator cosplaying as a judge’.