Elon Musk Tweets Support For Tim Scott Again—But Will Host DeSantis’ Campaign Announcement

Forbes Business Breaking Elon Musk Tweets Support For Tim Scott Again—But Will Host DeSantis’ Campaign Announcement Sara Dorn Forbes Staff Politics Following May 23, 2023, 03:59pm EDT | Press play to listen to this article! Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline Twitter owner Elon Musk has repeatedly expressed support for Sen. Tim Scott (R-S. C.

)’s presidential campaign in recent days, even though Musk will host Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for a presidential campaign announcement on Twitter Wednesday—adding to the mystique surrounding Musk’s nebulous political leanings. Electric car maker Tesla CEO Elon Musk looks on among other CEOs before a roundtable during the 6th .

. . [+] edition of the “Choose France” Summit at the Chateau de Versailles, outside Paris on May 15, 2023.

(Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) POOL/AFP via Getty Images Key Facts Musk retweeted a post by Scott on Monday featuring a video of his announcement speech from Charleston captioned “Let’s go!” and on Friday , praised a Scott campaign ad that features him denouncing victimhood and promoting individual responsibility as a “great statement. ” Despite Musk’s new alignment with Scott, DeSantis is set to announce his entrance into the 2024 presidential race on Twitter Spaces Wednesday in an interview with Musk, who said in November he would support DeSantis if he ran for president in 2024. Musk said Tuesday during the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit he isn’t planning to endorse any specific candidate, but hopes to make Twitter a public forum for the 2024 presidential campaign.

Musk also said he wants someone “fairly normal” in the White House, echoing his previous statements that he would support someone “sensible and centrist” for president in 2024—Scott is a self-described conservative, but has cast himself as an optimistic alternative to Trump’s and DeSantis’ divisive rhetoric. He’s also disavowed Trump, tweeting in July last year that Trump should “hang up his hat and sail into the sunset. ” Surprising Fact Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison poured $30 million into a super PAC that supported Scott’s 2022 midterm re-election bid and is likely to double those contributions to support his presidential bid, sources recently told CNBC.

Ellison, a former member of the board of Musk’s Telsa, Inc. , was a major backer in Musk’s Twitter takeover, committing $1 billion in financing to the $44 billion acquisition. What We Don’t Know How Musk feels about DeSantis’ war with Disney, which recently sued the state after DeSantis took a number of steps to curb the company’s power following its public opposition to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.

Disney also canceled plans to build a $1 billion office park in Orlando last week, a move that was widely viewed as a rebuke on DeSantis. Disney is a major advertiser on Twitter and Musk recently thanked the company, along with Apple, for its business. Tangent Musk has repeatedly feuded with President Joe Biden during his time in office as he’s leaned more to the right—in November, he urged his 140 million Twitter followers to vote for Republicans in the midterm election, though he previously supported lawmakers in parties, including donating to former President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.

). Key Background The only Black Republican in the Senate, Scott is the ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, broadly opposed to government intervention and recently teamed with Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) to explore bipartisan legislation to recoup compensation from executives at failed banks. Though Scott is described as a “conservative” he is not aligned with the far-right like Trump and DeSantis, who is set to launch his campaign after spearheading a string of right-wing legislative policies as Florida governor.

Those policies have reportedly turned off at least one of Musk’s colleagues, tech billionaire Peter Thiel, who has told confidants he won’t donate to any 2024 GOP presidential candidates, citing the party’s culture war obsession, Reuters reported . What To Watch For DeSantis plans to announce his presidential bid in a 6 p. m.

conversation with Musk Wednesday, and will release an official campaign video later that night, anonymous sources told NBC News . Further Reading Elon Musk’s Political Shift: How The Billionaire Moved From Backing Obama To Endorsing DeSantis (Forbes) Musk Praises Tim Scott’s Presidential Campaign Message, Prompting Speculation: Who Will He Back? (Forbes) Follow me on Twitter . Send me a secure tip .

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