The former Republican president said Saturday that he expects to be arrested on Tuesday, March 21, in a case involving paying silence money to women who alleged sexual encounters with the former president.
What Elon Musk and Donald Trump have in common is that they are two of the most influential conservative personalities on social media.
His tweets are famous and shared by conservatives and Republicans who see them as bulwarks against the ideology of the awakening, threatening their values and wanting to impose a new type of progressivism.
Trump, who has announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election, remains a favorite of the GOP base.
Musk saw his popularity grow with conservatives when he decided to make Twitter, the social network purchased last October for $44 billion, a conservative stronghold. This has materialized due to the proliferation of conspiracy theories and misinformation on the platform.
However, the two influencers are rivals. This is a rivalry stemming from the fact that Musk announced that his candidate for the 2024 presidential election is the Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis. DeSantis, who is 44 years old compared to Trump, who is 76, is considered the former president’s most serious rival for the Republican primaries.
Musk, trump exchange barbs
Musk’s endorsement of DeSantis sparked a backlash between him and Trump last July.
“Trump would be 82 at the end of his term, which is too old to be CEO of anything, let alone the United States of America,” the techno king said at the time, as he urged Trump to retire for being too old. “If DeSantis runs against Biden in 2024, then DeSantis will win easily, he doesn’t even need to campaign.”
But Trump, who is just as abrasive as Musk, responded to the attacks by calling the tech mogul a “shitty artist.”
“Elon, Elon is not going to buy Twitter,” Trump said on July 9 at a rally in Anchorage, Alaska. “Where did you hear that before? From me.” And then he went on the attack.
“You know, he said the other day, ‘Oh, I’ve never voted for a Republican.’ I said I didn’t know that. He told me he voted for me. So he’s another shit artist.”
But that didn’t stop Musk from reinstating Trump’s Twitter account last November, ending the conservative former president’s more than 22-month suspension from the platform. This suspension came after the events of January 6, 2021 at the United States Capitol. Trump supporters had engaged in violence to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the November 2020 presidential election.
But Trump hasn’t tweeted yet, preferring to remain on Truth Social, his social network, rival to Twitter.
Since then, the two men have avoided directly attacking each other.
‘Overwhelming victory’
It is in this context that Musk has just made a prediction about Trump’s political future, after the latter warned on Saturday March 18 that he expected to be arrested on March 21.
“FAR & AWAY’S LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE AND FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL BE ARRESTED TUESDAY NEXT WEEK,” the former president wrote on Truth Social on March 18.
The former president, who would be the first former president in American history to be indicted for a crime, called on his supporters to protest that a New York prosecutor could bring charges over money paid to women who alleged sexual encounters with Triumph.
New York law enforcement officials have been tightening security in the city in case Trump is impeached.
Prosecutors have remained silent on the grand jury’s deliberation on the case.
It is not known if prosecutors have reached out to Trump. There are no indications that it happened.
Musk believes that if Trump is arrested, it would have a colossal impact on the 2024 presidential election.
“If this happens, Trump will be re-elected in a landslide victory,” the billionaire predicted after the former president made the announcement.
The billionaire’s prediction drew mixed reactions from Twitter users.
“Her campaign will be going as well as you’ve been running Twitter! 🤣🤣🤣,” one user joked.
“Are you suggesting that even if he’s guilty, he shouldn’t be prosecuted, or just whether he’s guilty or not, the arrest will help him strengthen his base? If he’s in jail or has two other crimes (January 6 and/or Interference electoral) in process, I suspect that finally the RNC will abandon it”, commented another user.
“This feels like a wish on your part,” another user commented.
Musk did not respond to comments.
