Political assassination is no laughing matter. That doesn’t seem the case for Elon Musk, who can’t stop joking about getting Kamala Harris murdered. If this joke was about Donald Trump, Musk wouldn’t be singing the same tune.
In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Musk expressed his full support for Trump. Carlson started the conversation by saying that Harris “is irrelevant.” Musk piled in on the insult and joked that “nobody is even bothering to kill Kamala because it’s pointless.” Carlson laughed along and said that it was “deep and true.” Musk added that if it happens, the opposing party can “just buy another puppet.”
It seems that only Carlson and Musk were laughing about the joke. Republicans against Trump expressed disgust through a tweet. Another Twitter user wrote, “See how fast you’d be suspended from this account if you said the same thing about Elon Musk.”
Political violence shouldn’t be a norm
Musk clarified that the joke was not a call for people to assassinate the Vice President. It’s an odd statement from Musk. The implication is that a candidate is only relevant if there’s an attempt on their life. Even under that unsettling standard, Harris is by no means safe. She received death threats from a man in Virginia earlier in 2024. The man threatened “to shoot, stab, and burn” Harris alive.
Musk’s justification makes it appear as if political violence is the norm in the US. Political violence is rising because of incendiary rhetoric and lies. A crowd of Trump’s fanatics didn’t want the Biden-Harris administration sworn into office. To them, the Biden-Harris tandem was relevant. Propaganda and disinformation motivated the attack on democratic institutions and the stochastic terrorism. To the radicalized, those sitting in power are consequential.
Harris, thankfully, hasn’t been shot. She’s already proven herself worthy during the presidential debates. Harris doesn’t have to be a victim of gun violence to be ‘relevant’ in the eyes of these privileged men.
Published: Oct 9, 2024 01:00 pm