Another rich, white, dude proves why women will always choose the bear.

Can Elon just move to Mars already?

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Trump supporter, richest man in the world, danger to humanity, and weirdo you’d avoid on the subway, Elon Musk, has managed to get even creepier.

After the Presidential Debate on Tuesday night, Taylor Swift shared her endorsement of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz on Instagram. She signed the endorsement with ‘Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady,’ a dig at JD Vance.

Predictably, Republicans lost their shit. Trump has declared his preference for Brittany Mahomes over Swift. Megyn Kelly told Taylor to “Eff Off.” Vance said he doesn't think people will be “influenced by a billionaire celebrity who I think is disconnected from the interests and the problems of most Americans,” (umm, has he met his running mate?)

But the award for grossest response goes to Elon Musk, who tweeted this soon after her post, at 12:46 AM:

WTF, dude.

What a skin-crawly, puke-inducing, pervy thing to say. There’s a reason so many women (or anyone who has been the target of a misogynistic attack) had a visceral reaction to that tweet. We’ve all had gross interactions like that before. We’ve been made to feel unsafe, threatened, and violated by insecure men – online and off.

Musk’s tweet is a perfect example of misogyny, patriarchy, and rape culture. He saw a woman assert herself, and claim ownership of her rights, her body, and her power, and he responded by sexually harassing her. He tried to degrade and humiliate her by reminding her – and everyone else – that to him, she is just an object, a body, a vessel for his white supremacist goal of “repopulating the earth.” 

And the way he phrased it, the “fine… you win” made it sound like he would be doing her a favour. 

This isn’t the first time Musk has tweeted at Swift. As pointed out by @esjesjesj, he has a long history of ‘trying to get Taylor Swift’s attention,’ only to hear crickets.

(Anyone else wondering if he slid into her DM’s after she ignored his tweets?)

Let’s note a few more things: 

1. Musk is almost 20 years older than Swift.

2. He has been harassing her on a platform he owns, meaning there will be no consequences for his behaviour. 

3. He already has at least 12 children with multiple women. 

4. He has been accused of sexual misconduct, including by eight SpaceX employees who filed a lawsuit against Musk in June over sexual harassment and retaliation, claiming they were fired after calling out sexist, vile, and hostile behaviour in the workplace. 

5. There are also reports of his relationships with female employees, including an intern 20 years younger than him, and asking another staff member to have his children. 

This establishes a disturbing pattern of behaviour that makes his tweet to Swift even more creepy than it already was.

But I’m not done. The last portion of his tweet isn’t some innocent quip about being a tough guy protecting her cats. It’s a reference to the xenophobic lie about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, eating people’s pets.

It’s a racist conspiracy theory that has been spread by Elon, JD Vance, Trump, and other MAGA supporters, not just online but on the debate stage. At first glance it seems ridiculous, so unserious that nobody could believe it, which is why it has become a funny meme. But to the Haitian community in Springfield, it is having very real, very dangerous consequences. 

Yesterday, Springfield City Hall and other county buildings were closed due to a bomb threat that “mentioned frustration with the city related to Haitian immigration issues.”

Today, two bomb threats were sent by email, one targeting city officials, the other targeting schools, leading to evacuations and more closures. Haitian families are afraid to go outside. And with MAGA leaders like Trump, Vance, and now Musk, still flippantly sharing these unfounded conspiracy theories, I worry the chaos won’t slow down any time soon.

Musk is a racist, transphobic, ableist, misogynistic, billionaire N*zi, and the right worships him like a god. You only need to check his replies to see how much they love him. (They made AI images of Elon and Taylor holding babies and cats, FFS.) 

A self-proclaimed “J-6er” commented on a post of mine recently. I thought of it when I saw Elon’s tweet. The commenter said that “wombs are a valuable asset (perhaps the most valuable asset in a society)” and claimed that men have to “earn” access to them. Obviously, this guy is beyond talking to so I didn’t even bother responding. But this lines up with how Musk sees women, too.

Women are bodies to conquer, wombs to impregnate, vessels to help spread his seed. He is obsessed with it. Vance isn’t so different in the way he talks about women; how people without kids and post-menopausal women are basically a waste of flesh. We saw it with Harrison Butker, the football player who encouraged women to be housewives and mothers in his speech to college graduates. We see it in the rise of the Tradwives. Ballerina Farm Vs Childless Cat Ladies. 

In one 17-word tweet, Musk managed to encapsulate the right-wing movement – and made most people who read it want to claw their eyes out. 

Note:

Because I know I’ll get comments, I feel like I have to add that I am not a Swiftie. I’ve moved from ambivalent about her music, to Top 5% of Spotify Listeners, to Gaylor believer, to critical of how she uses her platform. (It’s been a bumpy ride!) I think it’s great that she endorsed Harris/Walz and encouraged people to vote. But ultimately, as the most influential woman in the world, I wish she would use her power to amplify causes more than she does. Specifically: Palestine. 

People can argue about Taylor Swift all they want, but stats don’t lie: within 24 hours of her endorsement, 400k+ people clicked the link she shared to Vote.Gov; her relationship with Travis Kelce and attendance at games increased female viewership of NFL by 53% for ages 12-17, 24% for ages 18-24, and 34% for 35 and over; and when she fought back against the horrifying deepfakes of her that circulated Twitter, the White House made a statement and legislation was amplified. 

Imagine the light she could shine onto Palestine if she just shared the word CEASFIRE to her stories. Imagine the heat that would be put on Biden if she called for an arms embargo. 

I think her brand of feminism leans too white and too capitalistic, but I also believe she has a right to exist without being sexually harassed. I believe she has a right to share her political beliefs without being sexualized in retaliation.

Social media algorithms don’t like nuance, but multiple things can be true at once.

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