Elon Musk: This past weekend, prominent conservatives on social media attacked a number of media sources for seemingly misinterpreting the remarks made by the former president Trump during a rally in Ohio.
Conservative Backlash Begins
Fox News reports that conservative pundits, Republican lawmakers, and others attacked Rolling Stone, NBC News, and CBS News for publishing headlines about Trump’s threat of a “bloodbath” if he lost reelection, without mentioning that he was making reference to the auto industry.
Accusations of Anti-Trump Bias
These detractors asserted that this was a fresh, real-time anti-Trump “hoax.” At his most recent event in Ohio on Saturday, Trump made remarks about imposing taxes on automobiles built in China that China would then sell to Americans. Leading media outlets covered the comment, only mentioning in their headlines that Trump threatened to create a “bloodbath” if he lost.
Trump Warns of ‘Bloodbath’ If Biden Wins Election
A headline from Politico stated, “Trump says country faces ‘bloodbath’ if Biden wins in November.” NBC News’ headline stated, “Trump says there will be a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses the election.” The headline for CBS News stated, “In Ohio campaign rally, Trump says there will be a “bloodbath” if he loses November election.”
Additionally, Rolling Stone’s headline read, “Trump Says There Will Be a ‘Bloodbath’ and Elections Will End if He Isn’t Reelected,” and NPR wrote, “Trump says some migrants are ‘not people’, and warns of ‘bloodbath’ if he loses” for its headline.
Conservatives Slam Headlines on Social Media
On platform X, conservatives criticised these headlines. A screenshot of several of these headlines together was tweeted by the well-known anti-leftist account “End Wokeness,” which stated, “We are witnessing the invention of the ‘bloodbath’ hoax in real-time. Unfortunately for them, we have X.”
Elon Musk commented on End Wokeness’ post, stating, “Over time the newspapers have been fading away in relevance. Not gone, just as writing and mailing paper letters still happens, but no longer the way most people know what’s going on.”