Elon Musk has already made his choice for the 2024 presidential election.
After having voted Democrat in the last three presidential elections, the billionaire has already announced that, in two years, he will vote for the Republican candidate.
The question remains for which Republican candidate when former President Donald Trump has already announced his candidacy. As the new owner of the social network Twitter since Oct. 27, Musk has reactivated Trump's account, but the latter has not yet posted a message on the platform, despite provocations from the boss of Tesla.
Not only does Trump have his own social network, Truth Social, but he also has another reason not to return to Musk's platform, who has just confirmed that he supports one of the real estate developer's main rivals for the White House.
In fact, Musk has just said that he maintains his choice for the presidential election of 2024: he will vote for Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, expected to be one of the candidates in the conservative primaries.
'Yes'
It all started with a thread on Twitter.
"It's been a week since @elonmusk brought Trump back... and without him even tweeting once...The left can't handle it," one Twitter user posted on Nov. 25.
"I’m fine with Trump not tweeting," Musk commented before defending his decision to restore Trump's account, despite fears from advertisers and opposition from Democrats and some civil rights groups. "The important thing is that Twitter correct a grave mistake in banning his account, despite no violation of the law or terms of service. Deplatforming a sitting President undermined public trust in Twitter for half of America."
The Techno King went on to say that he voted in the past for the Democratic Barack Obama-Joe Biden ticket, which, once in the White House in 2008, had helped Tesla a lot, which was then on the brink of the abyss. Musk also claimed that he voted for Biden in November 2020.
"As a reminder, I was a significant supporter of the Obama-Biden presidency and (reluctantly) voted for Biden over Trump," the billionaire said, adding that he would vote for a centrist going forward.
"But freedom of speech is the bedrock of a strong democracy and must take precedence. My preference for the 2024 presidency is someone sensible and centrist. I had hoped that would be the case for the Biden administration, but have been disappointed so far."
Following this last statement, a Twitter user asked him clearly if he was going to vote for DeSantis in 2024. Musk's answer was direct and unequivocal.
"Would you support Ron DeSantis in 2024, Elon?" the user asked.
"Yes," Musk responded.
'Fair to All'
He then went on to assure, a minute later, that Twitter was not going to benefit DeSantis to the detriment of other candidates.
"But Twitter as a platform must be fair to all," the billionaire said.
Musk consequently confirmed his choice for DeSantis, who appears as the candidate of choice for the Republican Party's mega donors. In addition to Musk, the governor of Florida has already received the support of billionaire Ken Griffin.
"I'd like to think that the Republican party is ready to move on from somebody who has been for this party a three-time loser," billionaire Ken Griffin said on Nov. 16 at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore.
The CEO of investment firm Citadel called Trump a "three-time loser" and added "I really hope that President Trump sees the writing on the wall."
In June, Musk promised that he would commit $20 million to $25 million to support his chosen candidate for 2024. He also revealed, at the time, that he would vote for DeSantis in the 2024 presidential election.
He argued that DeSantis, 44, has the advantage of being much younger than Trump. The charismatic and whimsical CEO of SpaceX urged voters at the time to choose youth.
Musk, 51, had pleaded for an age limit for the presidential candidates, in order to automatically eliminate the current U.S. President Joe Biden and Trump. Biden will be 82 at the time of the election in 2024. Donald Trump turned 76 in June. The former president will be over 78 when the next White House election comes around.
"Didn’t occur to founders of USA that people would live so long, so they put in age minimums (for wisdom), but not age maximums (for … 😴)," Musk wrote last May.
