Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk were both surprised to see a lot of people. But none more than House Democrats, whom Musk chose to ignore during his visit.
Politico reports that Musk met only with House Republicans.
At least this time, however, the House agenda was set by members like Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La. The House GOP number 2. Musk’s attention was also paid to Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Republican from Washington), who has significant jurisdiction over Twitter.
Jordan (R. Ohio), who heads the Judiciary Committee, and acts as a standard bearer for Republicans in their ongoing battle with the Biden government, was also present at the meeting. Oversight Chair James Comer (R. Ky.) was also present. Comer will be bringing in ex-Twitter executives to testify on February 8 about how they handled a story about Hunter Biden’s laptop. Musk, who purchased the company in October and has since received Republican praises for his “free speech” approach to content moderating, is not on that hearing agenda.
Politico reports that Musk and Republicans met to discuss the First Amendment, censorship, and reform of Section 230.
Rep. Jeffries did eventually see Musk, but sources say this was purely by chance. Musk mentioned Jeffries in a tweet regarding his meetings with Hill staffers.
Just met with @SpeakerMcCarthy & @RepJeffries to discuss ensuring that this platform is fair to both parties
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 26, 2023
Musk’s dismissal of House Democrats has obviously displeased them. Some people spoke up and demanded an answer from Musk.
Jan Schakowsky, Democrat of Illinois, stated that he believes it is a serious mistake and it would be a good idea to have him come in to explain it.
Politico also asked Rep. Adam Schiff for his opinion, and concluded the report with one the most absurd endings by any major political news website:
Rep. Adam Schiff (D. Calif.), was asked about Musk’s Twitter leadership and his time on Capitol Hill. It seems like a vanity project, with an explosion in hate speech on that platform.
After a Monday night vote, Schiff got into his Tesla sedan and drove off.
It’s not clear why Musk chose to only meet with Republicans at this point, but it is possible to speculate. It is clear that Democrats don’t love Musk and are pushing for his failure to make Twitter a free-speech platform. He probably knows that Democrats are not in his best interest and so he ignored them.
Musk can save time and hassle by ignoring Democrats, as Republicans have a majority of the house, no matter how slim. He’ll likely be served lies, false promises, or overt threats if he doesn’t get pure animosity.
