Don Lemon of prior CNN fame, did a deal with Elon Musk in January to stream “The Don Lemon Show” on Twitter X doing basically what he did on cable Teevee before getting canned last year.  Well, it’s the shortest run ever, as Lemon reports that he’s already been fired for asking questions of Musk during an interview on his first episode.  No explanation was given and Musk hasn’t said anything so far about what happened.

Musk describes himself as a “free speech absolutist”, but anyone paying attention knows that’s complete bullshit.  After taking over Twitter and working 24/7 to wreck it, he started allowing back thousands of new-Nazis, white supremacists, propagandists, and insurrectionists back on the platform turning it into one gigantic open sewer of lies, hate, threats, and all-around insanity.  He even allowed the Insurrectionist in Chief back on, but he’s too busy vomiting his own bile on Truth Social.

I’ve always found Don Lemon to be mildly annoying myself and never found him interesting so it’s not surprising to me that he’s having trouble finding a new broadcast home.  Having said that, though, a total series run of only a few hours has to be a new world record for rapid failure.  He announced on X that Musk, apparently pissed about the interview, abruptly fired Lemon today with no explanation.  Lemon announced it on X:

https://x.com/donlemon/status/1767948372999299549?s=20

Despite what he says, Musk is not actually a “free speech absolutist”.  Far from it.  Musk is all about free speech as long as he agrees with it.  He’s well known for banning reporters, social media posters who are negative about him, and others.  He even falsely labeled NPR as “state affiliated media” like it’s Pravda or something.

One can only hope that Twitter X continues to drain Musk’s wallet and relegated to the dustbin of digital history with past stars like Betamax and 8 track tapes.

Elon Musk is demonstrating live online how to make small fortune owning a social media company – start with a HUGE one.  Making the rookie mistake of believing you can cut your way to success, Musk has wrought havoc at Twitter since acquiring it, firing half of the staff, making unreasonable demands of remaining employees, and slashing costs, even the ones that keep the platform running.  In addition to these mistakes, he’s run off billions of advertising dollars with TFG-like behavior and erratic decision making.  His full on MAGA management style and allowing white supremacists and hate merchants back on the platform has driven millions of normal people away.  Add that to banning any journalist who dares publicly criticize him, Twitter has become the North Korean photonegative of the the company he spent $44 billion to buy.

His most recent accomplishments are stopping paying the rent in some offices, closing data centers, and even firing janitorial staff, forcing employees to bring their own toilet paper to work.  He’s demanding that employees sleep at the office, and continues to run the company by online polls where millions of bots infest his platform, obviously voting in favor of his worst ideas, like allowing TFG back on.

Like others, I kept thinking that Musk is some kind of evil genius with a long-term plan to remake Twitter into a new payment platform.  It’s become apparent that this was either a pipe dream or a myth – he’s now facing a serious turnaround situation with no apparent skills to actually lead a turnaround.  Add his sociopathic behavior to this situation and he’s only making matters worse, not better.  To fund all this, he’s been dumping his Tesla stock which has contributed to its price plummeting 70% in 2022.  To be fair, blue chip and tech stocks have been pounded this year, but Musk’s goofy behavior and selling has greatly displeased investors.

All this is to say that behavior of companies’ senior management matters and the being wealthy doesn’t necessarily mean you’re smart.  This multi-billion dollar soap opera is far from over, and it remains to be seen if Musk is going to be one of the surviving members of the cast.

We all saw it (or at least heard about it) when Elon Musk posted an easily manipulated poll asking if TFG should be reinstated at Twitter.  Recall that Musk, just a week ago, announced that any decisions about reinstating any toxic user would be deferred until he convened a “content moderation council” of outside experts.  Well, like almost everything Musk announces, that didn’t come true, and after Musk got a very split decision (52/48) to his poll, including votes from who knows how many bots he regularly criticized before buying the platform, he ordered that TFG be reinstated using the Latin term, Vox Populi, Vox Dei, translated “Voice of the People, Voice of God.”  With the dramatic flare of a Caesar granting a pardon, Musk unleashed TFG back on normal people.  Jesus H. Christ.

This morning, Quinta Jurecic of The Atlantic published a piece about the stupidity of Musk’s decision and it is a must read.  The operative quote that says it all:

“You are reading this, and I am writing it, because a very rich man who desperately wants people to pay attention to him posted an easily rigged poll on the website he’d just bought for $44 billion. The answers to many of the questions I have just posed will depend on the fancies of another rich man who desperately wants people to pay attention to him. There’s an indignity to having one’s attention jerked around this way.  Demanding that people simply ignore these bumbling titans is too simplistic: Their flailing has a tendency to wreck the world that the rest of us live in.”

Amen.  One can only hope that the media has learned something from the last train wreck of a presidency, but my confidence is at a low ebb.

UPDATED:

TFG is back.  One of Elon’s first moves upon taking over Twitter yesterday (after stupidly carrying a bathroom sink into Twitter’s offices and firing the entire senior management team) was to restore TFG’s twitter account, effective as early as Monday.  He did it after announcing a new “content moderation council”, adding that no changes would be made until the council convenes.  So much for that strategy.  In classic style, TFG is already gloating through a surrogate.

https://twitter.com/altnavigation/status/1585812009094119424?s=20&t=NQIprbgbvmxM8yoxWvZGqg

After the announcement, Musk backtracked, saying that “no decisions will be made until the council convenes”.  Right. I can predict how THAT will turn out.

To be super clear, we have not yet made any changes to Twitter’s content moderation policies https://t.co/k4guTsXOIu

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 29, 2022

General Motors has already suspended all advertising on Twitter in response to Musk’s takeover.
Apparently, Musk’s “free speech” ideology extends to defamation, insurrection, and getting people killed.  So the shitstorm begins.

UPDATE:

Twitter is now being flooded by MAGAt trolls, spewing the same racist hate and misinformation they were before the insurrection on January 6, 2021.  One watchdog has reported that racist tweets are up 500% since Musk took control of Twitter.

Evidence suggests that bad actors are trying to test the limits on @Twitter. Several posts on 4chan encourage users to amplify derogatory slurs.

For example, over the last 12 hours, the use of the n-word has increased nearly 500% from the previous average. pic.twitter.com/mEqziaWuMF

— Network Contagion Research Institute (@ncri_io) October 28, 2022

Welcome to the cowardly new world aided by the world’s richest man.  When’s he going to Mars?

TFG spent billions of OPM (Other People’s Money) to start Wannabe Twitter; he calls the new platform Truth Social, a name just dripping with irony.  The platform was built for TFG and his supporters when he was permanently banned for habitually violating Twitter’s moderating policies for everything from personal attacks to incitement to sedition.  When announcing the launch of Truth Social, he touted it’s “free speech” environment and alternative to “Big Tech”.  Except it’s not really a free speech platform…it’s a pro TFG platform.  Its terms of service specifically said that users may not, “disparage, tarnish, or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the Site.”  So, you have free speech unless you criticize the boss or his cronies.

That little provision is coming into play now, as apparently the platform is suspending the accounts of those posting about the January 6th Committee hearings.  Multiple users are reporting that they’ve been permanently banned from Truth Social for simply discussing the hearings.

Apparently, in TFGland, free speech is what they say it is.

“You’re lovin’ gives me a thrill But you’re lovin’ don’t pay my bills.” — Berry Gordy

Elon Musk has purchased Twitter for 44 billion dollars. Obviously, there is a lot that can go into that transaction and its effect on free speech and debates over the limitations of platforms. Who knows whether certain individuals will be allowed back on Twitter after the company banished them before. Someone else can handle that discussion or we can come to it later.

I’m still trying to get my head around the transaction itself. I have to admit that I have a twitter account. I have one of those Word Press triggers that will tweet out this column as soon as its published. I also peruse it every now and then to get breaking sports news and to see what people are saying about the Astros. I might participate in political discussions once in a blue moon. I’m on enough to have 800 or so followers. That number changes periodically. I just don’t have time to care.

I know companies advertise on Twitter and some sell their junk on Twitter as well. Still, I’m struggling to see how Twitter is worth much more than a billion dollars much less 44 billion. However, that’s still not the biggest road block in my mind. The biggest road block is just how someone is able to acquire enough money to buy anything for that sum.

There are two kinds of billionaires out there. There are the ones that create something. J.K. Rowling is a billionaire. Bill Gates is a billionaire. Steve Jobs was a billionaire before he died. Those kinds of billionaires make sense. If you create something or invent a better mousetrap you deserve your reward.

Then there are the billionaires that ride the coattails of someone else’s sweat, tears, and ingenuity. Elon Musk didn’t start Tesla. He just acquired them. He didn’t design the rockets that he launches into space. In fact, much of his fortune was inherited from his father. Some of you are probably thinking that sounds vaguely familiar. It should. That’s how wealth is often acquired these days.

Many of the billionaires out there are people you’ve never heard of. They make their money investing in other people’s blood, sweat, and tears. They buy companies and sell companies in the blink of an eye. They don’t create anything. They don’t make anything better or even worse. They are like parasites on the body politic, glomming the excess off the top before anyone can see it.

The ultimate question is whether they should exist in the first place. Someone somewhere along the line (likely on Twitter) came up with the best suggestion I’ve heard so far. Once someone gets to 999,999,999.99 they should get a trophy saying they had won capitalism and they get nothing else. The rest goes into the public coffers and distributed somehow equitably. Maybe it could retire down the debt. Maybe we could end homelessness. Maybe we could make sure everyone has a hot meal. Maybe we could make sure that everyone has health care and access to post-secondary education. I suppose that is too much to ask. A simple man can dream simple dreams. The rest can buy platforms with more money than they know what to do with.