Well, it’s official: Elon Musk has stomped and chomped his way across Twitter in a matter of days since purchasing the mega platform. Lining up executives and minions together, he began eliminating those deemed a danger to the First Amendment and pledged to reinstate some of the more vocal conservatives removed from the social media site after the 2020 election. So, was the purchase of Twitter expertly timed to make a splash before getting out the midterm vote? Maybe not, but it certainly drew the keen attention of Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.
Lake has an offer that she believes Elon can’t refuse: Move Twitter to Arizona, which could be akin to driving the final nail into the progressive coffin. Despite Arizona’s purplish voting bloc, the Grand Canyon State is a friendlier business climate boasting fewer taxes, regulations, and a slightly lower cost of living for employees. But then again, almost anywhere is less expensive than San Francisco.
Lake, slightly ahead of Democrat challenger Katie Hobbs in the most recent polls, tweeted: “Hey @elonmusk — you have an open invitation to move @Twitter HQ to Arizona. DM me, and we’ll work it out!” It’s a bit early for bravado without a check mark by her name, but Lake seems confident she can land the governorship and Elon in the same span of time.
The Threat No One Takes Seriously
But has Lake just invited a future dud to the Valley of the Sun? The panicking left retreated to safe spaces and tweeted their palpable angst. Occupy Democrats went so far as to call the electric vehicle master a conservative: “BREAKING: Right-wing billionaire Elon Musk promises advertisers that Twitter won’t become a ‘free-for-all hellscape’ although that’s exactly what it will become when he lets the racist trolls, Nazis, and Donald Trump back.” Jeez, these people are full of drama and perhaps starving for facts. But they did use “racist” and “Nazis” in the same sentence so there’s a level of commitment to the narrative.
Musk, in stride, tried to calm the nerves of freaked-out advertisers who fear reactive cancel culture:
“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence. There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far-right wing and far left-wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.”
Elon Musk (Photo by Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images)
For those who believe Elon Musk has gone to the ‘dark side’ in political ideology, remember he didn’t make $433 billion by ignoring investors and advertisers. Musk is a savvy entrepreneur and knows full well that ads make up 85% of Twitter’s revenues. At the end of the day, as a business, the bottom line is nothing to trifle with over a difference of opinion.
Elon Musk: Will You Marry Arizona?
As Elon plucks the daisy to determine whether he loves Arizona or not, remember that Tesla and SpaceX are in Texas, an even better financial business climate than Arizona. And Kari Lake is still a candidate. No one will make any decisions until the dust settles on midterms and the Twitter infrastructure is restored with a few new Musketeers. But it does show that Lake has the moxie to hit up Elon and invite him over for an extended and welcoming stay in her home state.