In a moment that felt more like a confession than an interview, Elon Musk sat across from Lara Trump—Fox News host, Trump daughter-in-law, and aspiring pop star—to explain how he became the person he is today. It turns out, the architect of Tesla and SpaceX admits he was radicalized by the very website he now owns: Twitter, now renamed X.
“I’d seen videos of people streaming across the border on Twitter… and I’m like, ‘Are these? Is this real’?” Musk recalled, speaking with the kind of disbelief that should have sparked media literacy rather than a $44 billion acquisition.
So what did Musk do with that doubt? He turned it into action—not by fact-checking, but by packing his bags and heading to Eagle Pass, Texas, where he claimed to witness immigrants crossing the border. That, he says, was the beginning of his crusade.
“When I felt the walls of censorship closing in, I was like, ‘OK, I have to do something.’ And the thing I can do is acquire Twitter and make it a bastion of free speech,” Musk explained. The irony? Twitter’s own internal analysis before Musk’s takeover showed it already boosted right-wing voices more than left-wing ones. But Musk wasn’t interested in data—he was chasing a feeling.
And he got it. Under his leadership, X has become a breeding ground for conspiracies, extremist rhetoric, and the very misinformation Musk once questioned. Accounts previously banned for hate speech or inciting violence were reinstated. “Anti-woke” content surged. Fact-checking? Dismantled. What Musk calls “free speech” has cost the platform dearly: its market value has plummeted 80%, advertisers have fled, and users are jumping ship.
The Chron selectively omits its own prior reporting about me meeting w/Biden & handing him a letter specifying 5 actions he could immediately take to end the border crisis.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) January 8, 2024
He never followed up because he doesn't want to stop illegal immigration.
https://t.co/tmRNNHZKpC
But this wasn’t just about business. Musk’s biographer Walter Isaacson has argued that the billionaire’s descent into extremism was deeply personal. Musk’s public embrace of far-right ideology coincided with his daughter Vivian’s decision to transition—and disown him. Musk responded not with compassion but with a chilling tweet: “My son, Xavier, died. He was killed by the woke mind virus. Now, the woke mind virus will die.”
This wasn’t a tech mogul protecting free speech. This was a man consumed by ideology, weaponizing a global platform to lash out at the forces—real or imagined—that he believes have wronged him.
Musk’s trajectory from Obama donor to Trump ally and online culture warrior wasn’t gradual—it was supercharged by the very platform he now controls. And as he tells it, that radicalization wasn’t incidental. It was the reason he bought Twitter in the first place.
What began as “just asking questions” spiraled into full-on propaganda. He saw videos, didn’t trust the media, and decided the truth was what he personally witnessed—or worse, what he wanted to believe. In that sense, Musk isn’t just a victim of disinformation—he’s its newest prophet.
Now, the world’s richest man is also its most dangerous keyboard warrior, tweeting through every policy, controversy, and personal vendetta, all while pretending it’s about principles.
As Musk turns X into a megaphone for his ideology, one thing is clear: this isn’t about “free speech.” It’s about ego, influence, and the unchecked power of a man radicalized by his own algorithm.
