“Yes”. Asked about the identity of the future Republican contender for the United States presidential elections in 2024, it is with this laconic comment that the businessman, Elon Musk, confirmed that his preference was for the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis.
This confession fell on Friday night, during an exchange with Internet users on Twitter, a social network that the founder of SpaceX has just bought. However, he said this would be a default endorsement, regretting the billionaire did not find a shoe on his foot among Democrats.
Reintegration but without support
This satisfaction given to Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump’s great rival and at this point the only one capable of blocking the way for a new Republican candidacy for the White House, may come as a surprise.
In fact, just a week ago, Elon Musk reinstated Donald Trump on Twitter. The latter had been excluded since January 6, 2021, and the benevolence shown by the 45th President of the United States regarding the invasion of the Capitol by some of his most vehement supporters.
Elon Musk has also justified himself on this point: “Freedom of expression is the rock on which we build a strong democracy and it must come first.” Banning a sitting president (despite his loss to Joe Biden in November 2020, Donald Trump was still in office during the January 6, 2021 riots pending the handover, editor’s note) undermined the trust placed in Twitter for half of the United States,” he said. .
And he does not care about the silence of Donald Trump, who still does not tweet a week after his account was back in favor: “That Trump does not tweet does not bother me. The important thing is that Twitter corrects the serious mistake it made by banishing him, without breaking the law or violating our rules”.
The ‘Disappointed’ Democrat and Rising Republican Star
Given his apparent lack of enthusiasm for Donald Trump, a tweeter wanted to know if he favored the hypothesis of Ron DeSantis, a rising star of the Republican Party who emerged stronger from the midterm elections with his triumphant re-election in his term as governor of Florida. . That’s when Elon Musk soberly replied “yes.”
A response that closes a reflection undertaken much earlier, as the British newspaper points out here The Guardian on your website. Last June, Elon Musk said that he was still hesitant about his preference for 2024, indicating however that he was “inclined” by Ron DeSantis.
However, Elon Musk insisted on presenting himself as a disillusioned Democratic supporter. “A reminder shot: I loudly supported the Obama-Biden presidency and voted (reluctantly) for Biden against Trump,” he introduced on Friday, lamenting again: “My preference for 2024 would go to a reasonable and centrist personality. I expected the A Biden administration would be, but I’ve been disappointed so far.”
Bleeding on the Trump field
Since midterm elections, in which the Republican candidates most closely associated with him often lose in battleground states, Donald Trump has had his friends and allies. And the calculation is getting faster.
As criticism coalesces within the Republicans themselves, the conservative tabloid New York Post it now mocks him on the front page, explicitly anticipating a potential Ron DeSantis campaign. And Fox News, the audiovisual group that until now was completely dedicated to him, now offers periodic forums to his detractors. Obviously, it’s not Elon Musk who will help him stop the bleeding.
Source: BFM TV
