Elon Musk's detractors and critics have long thought that Tesla's (TSLA) chief executive wanted to reinstate the former U.S. president's Twitter account to help him in his quest to win back the White House in 2024.
They ignored Musk's tweets advocating for an age limit for candidates who want to run for office.
"Didn’t occur to founders of USA that people would live so long, so they put in age minimums (for wisdom), but not age maximums (for … 😴)," the billionaire posted on Twitter on May 12.
Musk Planted Anti-Trump Clues
U.S. President Joe Biden turns 80 in November and will turn 82 shortly after Election Day 2024. Donald Trump turned 76 in June and will be 78 at the next White House election.
Another negative tweet, specifically regarding Trump, that Musk sent the same day also seems to have escaped many of Musk's skeptics.
"Even though I think a less divisive candidate would be better in 2024, I still think Trump should be restored to Twitter," the tech mogul posted.
For Musk's many detractors, his drive to acquire microblogging website Twitter (TWTR) and allow everyone to speak almost without limit concealed the objective of giving back Trump a pulpit.
(Of course, Musk is now backing off that deal. And Trump has founded his own version of Twitter, called Truth Social.)
When Musk said he would vote Republican from now on, his decision validated the fears of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, which often does not hesitate to find similarities between Musk and Trump.
But Musk has become one of the most influential personalities, with 100.9 million Twitter followers. That's more than the 88 million followers Trump had amassed on his personal Twitter account -- @RealDonaldTrump -- before it was suspended after the January 2021 events at the Capitol.
End of Trump-Musk Bromance?
Armed with this power to influence public opinion, the tech tycoon wants to be the kingmaker in the 2024 presidential election.
Musk has pledged to personally spend $20 million to $25 million to support his candidate. And that candidate is not Donald Trump but Florida's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is 43.
But before throwing all his punching power behind DeSantis, Musk first wants to eliminate Trump as a challenger. He delivered a tweet including sharp criticism of the four years of the Trump presidency.
The situation started with Musk urging Trump to leave the political scene. In the same tweet, Musk responded to Trump calling him a "bullshit artist."
Musk asked Democrats to condemn the former president's remarks. Tesla's CEO said that Trump's only way to survive politically was to return to the House White.
Surprised by Musk's criticism of Trump, a Twitter user, who seems to be a fan of the former president, asked Musk what he did not like about Trump's policies. He listed various measures Trump put in place, like lower taxes and fewer regulations.
"Yeah, but too much drama. Do we really want a bull in a china shop situation every single day!?" Musk responded.
Musk makes clear that he believes that the American people can't afford to reelect Trump because he is likely to create chaos or at least cause damage. He sees Trump as behaviorally reckless.
Musk also seems concerned that the real estate billionaire does not stop to think and is insensitive to other people's feelings.
In two sentences, Musk summed up years of criticism from opponents of the former president and private expressions from Republican Party members. And to top it off, he judges that Trump is too old to lead the country.
"Also, I think the legal maximum age for start of Presidential term should be 69," Musk added.
"Trump would be 82 at end of term, which is too old to be chief executive of anything, let alone the United States of America, Musk said. "If DeSantis runs against Biden in 2024, then DeSantis will easily win – he doesn’t even need to campaign."
These tweets seem to signal the end of any bromance between the new most influential person on Twitter and the man who formerly held that title.
