The bromance between Elon Musk continues to blossom like a weed in a neglected garden.
Musk, seemingly ready to pucker up and plant a wet one on Trump’s orange-hued derriere at every turn, faced a hiccup when their latest attempt at a public display of affection on X Space was cockblocked by technical difficulties, leaving their loyal audience waiting for over 40 minutes. Even the combined force of their colossal egos couldn’t keep the digital demons at bay. Meanwhile, Trump, who is desperately trying to inject some proverbial Viagra into his flaccid presidential campaign, likely saw this as a last-ditch effort to get his rocks off with his base on the platform he once swore to give the cold shoulder.
This is the second cringeworthy performance on X for a presidential candidate after a similar catastrophe last year during a livestream with Trump’s now-neutered rival, Ron DeSantis. Regardless, buzz will keep X from shriveling up.
During their long-awaited chat, Musk tossed Trump softballs, allowing him to regurgitate his stale talking points like a broken record. At one point, Musk even suggested that Trump represents the “right path” for civilization. Earth to Elon: there’s a whole world beyond the borders of your billionaire bubble, and not everyone is eager to hop aboard the Trump Train to Armageddon. Innocent X bystander never one to mince his words, managed to eviscerate not only the gruesome twosome, but also the festering cesspool that Twitter has become.
King conjured the ghost of Peter O’Toole, who famously voiced the acerbic food critic Anton Ego in Pixar’s Ratatouille, among other memorable characters. But it’s O’Toole’s off-screen shenanigans that King is referencing here. The legendary actor was a notorious hellraiser with a thirst for booze and wild behavior that often eclipsed his immense talent ⏤ not unlike the solar eclipses Donald Trump likes to stare into.
In one fell swoop, King summed up Twitter’s current state. Just as O’Toole once stumbled through a haze of alcohol, so too does X lurch under the weight of its own identity crisis. The platform has morphed into a cesspool of MAGA extremists and fringe ideologies and its reputation has been dragged through the mud under the leadership of Musk, who is now head over heels for Trump.
King’s shoutout to O’Toole, therefore, hits the nail on the head — X is like a late-night party that’s gone on too long, with everyone too drunk on power or controversy to make sense. This whole show is more than just a tech failure ⏤ it’s the result of a billionaire buying a social media platform and having no idea what to do with it other than running it into the ground.
Published: Aug 13, 2024 04:45 pm