Over the weekend the newly-minted Twitter owner, Elon Musk, reinstated Donald Trump’s Twitter account, inciting viseral reactions from many on the left.
On Friday evening, musk took an informal poll on the platform, asking “reinstate former President Trump.” Musk gave two options “yes” and “no.” With over 15 million responding, “yes” was voted upon with 51.8% of the vote.
Reinstate former President Trump
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 19, 2022
On Saturday, Musk reinstated Trump’s formerly-banned Twitter account, which included the blue verification checkmark. On his tweet announcing the end of Trump’s ban, Musk wrote “Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” which translated means “the voice of the people is the voice of God.”
The people have spoken.
Trump will be reinstated.
Vox Populi, Vox Dei. https://t.co/jmkhFuyfkv
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 20, 2022
Responding the the reversal, London’s mayor Sadiq Khan publicly called for “new regulations” to police, and potentially punish, online speech that runs afoul of government-sanctioned speech. His justification for the limiting of citizen’s speech was to keep “people safe” and “protect our democracy and society.”
Trump is a dangerous, far-right politician who has a history of inciting violence.
He must not be allowed to use social media to preach hate and further fuel the politics of division. pic.twitter.com/YxEpppvaT4
— Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) November 20, 2022
Other reactions from notable leftist include:
This one is now my favorite! ?? pic.twitter.com/qnq4HZ1fZQ
— Rebecca R (@BeccabooNC2) November 20, 2022
This is such BS. I’m sorry. But you lost me here. Are all major decisions going to be Twitter polls?
Ever faced “the voice of the people” as a mob? Is a mob god? C’mon.
You wanted to reinstate him. So you did. Simple. https://t.co/wZ0NPXsEMB
— Eric Weinstein (@EricRWeinstein) November 20, 2022
NAACP President Derrick Johnson: “If Elon Musk continues to run Twitter like this, using garbage polls that do not represent the American people and the needs of our democracy, God help us all.” https://t.co/6EQ4eZzmyp
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) November 20, 2022
The Russian bots have spoken: https://t.co/b4FTlFhIoi
— Frank Figliuzzi (@FrankFigliuzzi1) November 20, 2022
