Why Musk’s meltdown matters.

December 12,2022

          Over the weekend, Musk’s delusional rantings reached orbital velocity as he escaped the pull of reality and entered the weightlessness of fact-free conspiracies. After Dr. Anthony Fauci penned an op-ed in the NYTimes on Saturday, Opinion | Anthony Fauci: A Message to the Next Generation of Scientists, Musk tweeted

My pronouns are Prosecute / Fauci.

          Musk’s tweet was dangerous, ignorant, and insulting to Dr. Fauci and LGBTQ people. Should we care? Why should we pay attention to a man-child who seems to delight in provoking people who care about democracy, truth, and decency?

          Yes, we should care. Consider the following:

• Musk has over 100 million followers on Twitter. (Many may be bots, but he is an outsized presence on Twitter.)

• Nearly 40% of Twitter users are 25 to 34 years old.

• 25% of the US male adult population uses Twitter.

• 55% of Twitter users regularly get news on the platform, amounting to 15% of the US adult population.

          How many 25 to 34-year-old males do you know who read a daily newspaper? Or watch a cable news program? Or watch broadcast news? You get the point: The strong probability is that the young adult males you know hear more frequently from Elon Musk than from any mainstream journalist.

          When Musk adopts a conspiracy theory or attacks a vulnerable group, his sycophant followers retweet Musk’s original disinformation and add their own snarky, cynical, and misinformed opinions. Repetition creates the illusion of fact without regard to the veracity of the original tweet.

          The attack on Fauci and related LGBTQ attack matter because millions of young adult males in the US will believe (wrongly) that Dr. Fauci helped to “create” the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for COVID-19. And they will believe it is acceptable to mock LGBTQ people. Why? Because Elon Musk said so.

          To be clear, despite his wealth, Musk is often spectacularly wrong when he ventures beyond his areas of expertise. In March 2020, Musk assured Americans that “The coronavirus panic is dumb,” and “Based on current trends, probably close to zero cases in US by April [2020].”

          One million deaths later, Musk’s flippant tweets have not aged well. So, what is the response of Musk and his conspiracy-minded followers to the truth of a pandemic they sought to deny? Answer: Blame the scientists who fought to control the pandemic, especially Dr. Fauci.

          The GOP conspiracy theory about Dr. Fauci’s responsibility for “creating” SARS-CoV-2 involves a deliberate misinterpretation of an NIH letter denying that claim, a deliberate ignorance of virology and related research, and an intense hatred of Dr. Fauci because he refused to support Trump’s buffoonish effort to fool the American people into believing that Covid-19 was “just like a bad flu.” See generally, FactCheck.Org,  Republicans Spin NIH Letter About Coronavirus Gain-of-Function Research.

          House Republicans intend to hold hearings into the response of NIH and Dr. Fauci to the pandemic. McCarthy and his political thugs will ignore the facts. Their goal is to create soundbites of illiterate Republicans yelling at Dr. Fauci—to be shared on Twitter and Fox News. See ABC News, Republicans vow to investigate Fauci after he steps down in December.

          It is difficult to overstate the harm that such hearings will inflict on the trust of Americans in future efforts by NIH scientists to control new viruses against which we have no natural immunity. By demonizing Dr. Fauci, Republicans will kill tens or hundreds of thousands of Americans in future epidemics by undermining trust in the NIH, CDC, and other federal agencies. We have already seen the effect of weaponized disinformation in the 2023 funding authorization for the US military: The budget explicitly removed mandatory Covid vaccinations for new recruits. See Military Times, Military COVID-19 vaccine mandate repealed in defense bill compromise.

          This brings us back to Musk’s tweet on Saturday: “My pronouns are Prosecute / Fauci.” Musk’s tweet endorses the conspiracy theory that Fauci “created” SARS-CoV-2 and “covered up” an alleged virus leak from a lab in China. Musk is spreading vile disinformation to American adult males between the ages of 24 to 34 who regularly get their “news” from Twitter. That is bad—to say the least.

          But it is made worse by the fact that Musk wrapped his dangerous conspiracy theory in a tweet intended to mock LGBTQ people who identify themselves by pronouns other than “he” or “she.” Choices meant to express gender identity should be respected, not mocked—especially at a time when MAGA extremists are attacking LGBTQ people.

          While Musk undoubtedly believes that his schoolyard humor passes for “witticism” on Twitter, it is in fact transphobia. Decent people do not caricature immigrants by mocking their names, customs, or appearance. Why, then, is it acceptable for Musk to mock LGBTQ people for their choice of pronouns? It is not.

          Musk plays an important leadership role in three companies that undoubtedly employ gay and trans people who do not identify by the pronouns “he” and “she.” He just told all of those employees that he believes their sincere effort to express their gender identity is a laughing matter. The NYPost said that Musk’s tweet “poked fun” at people who identified by the pronouns “they” and “them.” The NYPost likely believes that people who dress in blackface and adopt an exaggerated accent are “poking fun” at Black Americans.

          Some readers may be saying, “Enough! We get it! Musk used bad judgment in making fun of trans people. Move on!” While some may be tired of hearing about this subject, I want you to know that every time I write about it, I hear from mothers (always mothers) and mental health professionals who express thanks for condemning discrimination against LGBTQ people. Mothers write in anguish about the fear, anxiety, and depression that afflicts their children and teens who hear and see the pervasive messages that try to make them “other” or “different” or “wrong.” If we don’t stand up to Musk and the NYPost and Ron DeSantis, those young people will believe (rightly) that they have been abandoned. We cannot let that happen.

And that is why Musk’s emotional and mental meltdown on Twitter matters.

Trump says he turned down deal to release ex-Marine Paul Whelan.

          The right-wing media machine exploded with rage in response to the negotiated release of Brittney Griner. After ignoring Paul Whelan’s plight for five years (three of those years under the Trump administration), Republicans were apoplectic that Biden did not negotiate for the release of Paul Whelan in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

          The right-wing’s performative outrage was undercut by a post by Trump, who said that he “turned down” a trade of Paul Whelan for Viktor Bout. See The Hill, Trump says he turned down deal to release Paul Whelan. Trump wrote,

I turned down a deal with Russia for a one-on-one swap of the so-called Merchant of Death [Viktor Bout] for Paul Whelan. I wouldn’t have made the deal for a hundred people in exchange for someone that has killed untold numbers of people with his arms deals.

          Trump went on to say that “I would have gotten Paul out,” a statement that makes no sense because Trump didn’t secure Paul Whelan’s release when Trump was president. Trump is trying to rewrite history that is fixed and unambiguous.

          As expected, the right-wing critics of Biden were silent on Trump’s admission that he made the conscious decision to leave Paul Whelan in a Russian jail for at least four years after a deal could have been crafted for his release.

Potential breakthrough in production of fusion energy?

          Generating energy at a scale and cost similar to current electrical generation technology has been the “holy grail” of fusion energy research for decades. In short, achieving a “net gain” of energy in a fusion process would lead to a carbon-free, unlimited, clean power source. See WaPo, Fusion energy, the ‘holy grail’ of clean power, a step closer to reality.

          Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will announce on Tuesday that US scientists have made a breakthrough by producing a net gain of energy from a fusion reaction. Caution is warranted, however. The early reports suggest a small “net gain of energy” from nuclear fusion—the first time that result was achieved in a laboratory. Whether that process can be scaled up to replace other energy sources is open to question. But . . . if the breakthrough is real, this development could be a huge advance in our ability to address the climate crisis.

          Let’s wait and see what is announced on Tuesday. But this development may be one of those days similar to the NYTimes announcement of the confirmation of Einstein’s general theory of relativity. In 1919, the NYTimes sub-header read, “Men of Science More or Less Agog Over Eclipse Observations.” (They don’t write headlines like that anymore!)

What’s happening with the Electoral Count Reform Act?

          Many Americans are waiting with bated breath over the fate of the Electoral Count Reform Act. Speculation last week suggested that it would be attached to a “must pass” bill like the defense re-authorization act. But that bill was passed without any mention of electoral reform, and no member of either party remarked on the absence of the Electoral Count Reform Act. According to one source who spoke to Talking Points Memo, the absence of “hair on fire” comments from either party suggests that there is an expectation the bill will pass as a standalone piece of legislation before January 3, 2023. See TPM, Congress’ Silence Around ECA Reform Could Be A Good Thing.

          Let’s hope that the TPM source is reliable. It does seem strange that there is not a rising sense of urgency (or panic?) over the fate of the ECA. Stay tuned!

Legal Developments in the week ahead.

          As usual, Joyce Vance does an exhaustive review of legal developments this week. See The Week Ahead - Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance (substack.com). But I want to call out one action item in her post—the request to send cards and letters to Paul Whelan, who remains in a Russian prison. See Joyce’s newsletter (link above) for details.

Concluding Thoughts.

          Think back to November 1 of this month—a few days before the midterms. How many of you expected to see a headline like this: The Hill, Trump, Biden fortunes shift dramatically post-midterms. Before the midterms, Biden’s low favorability ratings and Trump’s alleged “king-maker” role were the media talking points. A week after the midterms, most of the talk about Trump is about whether he remains a viable GOP contender for the 2024 nomination. He is, despite the media’s rush to write his political obituary. But the fact that the narrative for the current and former president reversed over the course of a week is a testament to the power of elections.

          And a big part of the reversal of the narrative occurred at the state level. That is a fact we should not lose sight of as we head into 2024. Democrats face a tough Senate map in 2024. Our goal should be to hold the Senate, but that should not be our only measure of success. If we flip several more legislatures and pass pro-choice constitutional amendments and voter protection legislation at the state level, we will improve the lives of tens of millions of Americans—even if Congress remains deadlocked because of the filibuster.

          One election is all it took to change the narrative. Imagine what it will be like if we extend our winning streak into 2024! We shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves. For the moment, let’s savor the dramatic reversal of fortune for Biden and Trump.

          Talk to you tomorrow!