Calls for Elon Musk to be "deported" are surging on his own social media platform after the tech CEO made a joke about the second assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.
The hashtag #DeportElonMusk is trending on X (formerly Twitter) after Musk questioned the lack of attempts on the lives of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in a now-deleted post to the social media platform.
The posts largely call for the businessman to be deported to his birthplace of Pretoria, South Africa, after a statement he posted to X (and then deleted) was seen as provocative and encouraging violent political action.
"Who else here feels that Elon Musk should be stripped of his security clearance, and U.S. citizenship and then deported back to his home nation of South Africa?" Wrote one X user.
On Sunday, Ryan Wesley Routh was arrested while fleeing the International Golf Club in Florida, after allegedly attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump. A secret service agent fired four rounds at the club's perimeter fence after spotting a rifle sticking out of it.
This is the second recent attempt on the life of the former President, after gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to assassinate Trump at an open-air rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in July.
Musk, a vocal supporter of the former President and his current presidential campaign, questioned the attempts on Trump's life on Sunday. In a now-deleted post, Musk responds to another user asking "Why [do] they want to kill Donald Trump?", saying "And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala".
Despite Musk's attempts to erase the post from social media, users have taken to X, the app owned in majority by Musk, to criticize his rhetoric. Some users have even pointed out the propensity of his statements to incite violence.
"This has to qualify as domestic terrorism and a threat to the chief executive." said one user. "He's hinting at a desired action."
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