• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Blog Home
  • Topics
    • Keystone Press Releases
    • Politics and Government
    • Legislation
    • Nevada News
    • Tourism & Gaming
    • Rural Nevada
    • Business
    • Opinion
  • Membership
  • Contact Us
  • About Keystone Nevada

Keystone Nevada Korner

Welcome to The Keystone Korner The Official Blog of Keystone Nevada

Home » Elon Musk, Twitter and the Ghosts of the 2016 and 2020 Elections

Elon Musk, Twitter and the Ghosts of the 2016 and 2020 Elections

April 20, 2022 by Pauline Lee

His bid is apocalyptic if you believe that tweets decide the presidential outcome.

by Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., The Wall Street Journal, April 19, 2022

The law of scarcity applies to Elon Musk. Whatever his paper wealth, he is as impoverished as the rest of us in the time and attention he can devote to his many interests, which is one reason his Twitter bid is likely to fizzle out.

I can think of others. Mr. Musk is not the naïf he finds it useful to play. He knows, for business reasons as well as political reasons, that Twitter has crossed the river of no return in “moderating” the content that appears on its service—it can’t allow untrammeled free expression.

Advertisers can’t stomach it. The public, acting through politicians and mau-mau groups, won’t accept it. Twitter is obliged forever to be at war with organized actors—Russians, jihadists, white supremacists, antifa—who seek to use its platform for their own ends.

Unlike phone companies, which aren’t liable for messages their users share, social-media companies also intervene with algorithms to decide which of their billions of daily messages to promote to users. Inevitably, many unattractive causes are touted by Twitter adherents. For Mr. Musk, being the lightning rod for protecting the rights of these speakers would quickly become repellent in light of his primary business interests, especially Tesla, his electric-car maker.

And yet kudos to him for elevating a debate playing noisily in the background through the Covid wars, the 2020 election, the Russia “collusion” follies. By opening the door to “content moderation,” Twitter and Facebook opened their doors to organized interests trying to control their moderation policies. This is the real issue.

Mr. Musk may speak in terms of eternal verities like free speech; his critics speak in terms of their own eternal verities such as opposing racism, sexism and climate denial. But keep in mind certain non-eternal verities also in play: The expectation that the 2024 presidential election will be determined by as small and fungible a share of the vote as the last two presidential elections, each decided by fewer than 70,000 voters in three states.

The expectation that idiosyncratic, last-minute developments will be decisive in such a race: In 2016, FBI chief James Comey’s October intervention sank Hillary Clinton ; in 2020, Hunter Biden’s laptop called forth an unprecedented experiment in news suppression by the U.S. media and intelligence establishment to protect Joe Biden.

Finally, the expectation that Donald Trump will run again: Listen to any podcast featuring Larry Summers talking about inflation, Fiona Hill talking about Russia, or Bill Kristol talking about anything. Impossible not to detect between the lines is a gathering, deeply felt, whole-of-establishment urgency to keep Mr. Trump from returning to the White House.

Now you know why Mr. Musk’s proposal for a new laissez-faire content policy at Twitter—any tweets that aren’t strictly illegal will be permitted—has been greeted almost apocalyptically by the activist class.

In their real or imagined recent history, controlling Twitter’s content policy was tantamount to deciding the two last presidential races. Mr. Trump, after all, used Twitter to bypass a hostile national media and assemble his winning coalition in 2016. In 2020, progressives used Twitter to quash the laptop story before Election Day and, in their minds at least, to stop a coup after Jan. 6 by kicking Mr. Trump off the platform.

Polarized is not the right word for today’s electorate, which yields up closely fought elections that can seem to be decided by the vagaries of vote counting or last-minute furors. My guess is that big data is one factor. With their Index of Party Strength, reporters Sean Trende and David Byler showed that Democrats and Republicans have become increasingly efficient at dividing the national spoils since the age of Clinton. Even altering the Electoral College or Senate, as favored by some progressives, might not destabilize the duopoly stalemate for long. Ditto those Democrats and Never Trump Republicans who think the modern-day GOP has so soiled itself with Mr. Trump that it must disappear: Do they imagine his 75 million voters will go unrepresented in our political system?

Whatever the reason, control of Twitter, like few other assets, obviously matters if our presidential races are going to be decided by the last-minute whim of the least engaged voter.

Mr. Musk spoke a profound truth last week. In such a world, “in both the reality and the perception,” the only way to reconcile voters to such outcomes is to make sure the outcomes are seen to be as fair and above-board as possible. Astonishing is how many in the media fail to understand this and think that trying to silence their opponents is helpful instead.

Filed Under: Opinion Tagged With: Elon Musk, Tesla, Twitter

Primary Sidebar

Connect with Us

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
Bootleg Bistro
Bootleg Bistro Ad
SLLC_Keystone_Blog-Ad_300x500_10%-Off-Repairs_05.19.21
CIOServices Ad 300x500-100
BRH Keystone Ad JPEG
Willow_Manor
Keystone Corporation Nevada

News Topics

  • Keystone Press Releases
  • Politics and Government
  • Legislation
  • Nevada News
  • Tourism & Gaming
  • Rural Nevada
  • Business
  • Opinion

Rural Nevada

UPS and AVK America plan to expand in Douglas County

March 19, 2023 By Courtney Holland

Staff Reports for The Record Courier, March 17, 2023 United Parcel Service plans to build a new 168,000 square foot building in Douglas County, … [Read More...] about UPS and AVK America plan to expand in Douglas County

Redwood Materials gets $2 billion federal loan for mega battery facility near Reno

February 12, 2023 By Pauline Lee

by Jason Hidalgo, Reno Gazette-Journal, February 9, 2023 Redwood Materials just secured a commitment from the federal government for a $2 billion … [Read More...] about Redwood Materials gets $2 billion federal loan for mega battery facility near Reno

LETTER: Voting by conscience or from pocketbook?

January 31, 2023 By vrobison

Not everyone enjoys or is interested in politics, but given the number of retirees in the Moapa and Virgin Valleys, I would imagine there is … [Read More...] about LETTER: Voting by conscience or from pocketbook?

Amodei picked as chair for appropriations subcommittee

January 29, 2023 By The Ely Times

Nevada Representative Mark Amodei was appointed to serve as the Chairman of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee on the U.S. House Committee on … [Read More...] about Amodei picked as chair for appropriations subcommittee

Opinion

Hypocrite Biden blocks mineral mining his clean-energy goals require

March 24, 2023 By Pauline Lee

by Carrie Sheffield, New York Post, March 22, 2023 President Joe Biden claims he wants America to lead in “clean energy” production, but he’s again … [Read More...] about Hypocrite Biden blocks mineral mining his clean-energy goals require

OPINION: The ‘Green Amendment’ is well-intended — but that’s not enough

March 19, 2023 By Courtney Holland

By David Colborne, The Nevada Independent, March 19th, 2023 Supporters of AJR3, also known as the “Green Amendment,” want to protect Nevada’s … [Read More...] about OPINION: The ‘Green Amendment’ is well-intended — but that’s not enough

EDITORIAL: Property tax bill deserves a quick trip to the shredder

March 16, 2023 By Courtney Holland

Neal bill would drop the cap, impose a floor. By Las Vegas Review-Journal Editorial Board, March 15, 2023 The benefit of competitive political … [Read More...] about EDITORIAL: Property tax bill deserves a quick trip to the shredder

Tags

Adam Laxalt am post Build Back Better Business Business Columns Casinos & Gaming Catherine Cortez Masto Clark County Clark County School District Conventions COVID Department of Employment Training and Rehabilitation (DETR) Editorials Education employment Gov. Joe Lombardo Gov. Steve Sisolak Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED) Housing inflation Inside Gaming Joe Lombardo Local Local Las Vegas Local Nevada lvcva mc-business mc-local mc-news mc-opinion mc-sports Nevada News NPRI Opinion Opinion Columns PAID pandemic Politics and Government Real Estate Insider Roe v. Wade Sports The Strip tourism Victor Joecks

Footer

Copyright © 2023 · Keystone Corporation - All Rights Reserved · Log in
Privacy Policy
By accessing this site, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use

The views, opinions and conclusions expressed by the authors of any article or post on the Keystone Korner are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Keystone Corporation or its officers and board members. Moreover, any reference to a person, party, product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by Keystone Corporation or its officers and board members.