Elon Musk's hopes of becoming the White House kingmaker are dashed

Elon Musk actively promoted the event to his 140 million Twitter followers hours before it began. Photo: REUTERS

launch for Elon Musk, as well as for Ron DeSantis.

But the tech billionaire's hopes of becoming a kingmaker by helping to catapult Florida's governor to the White House on Wednesday evening appeared to have collapsed.

Annoying glitches resulted in a Twitter audience of several hundred thousand alternately listening to silence and shrill reviews instead of Mr. DeSantis' campaign.

At one point, Musk, 51, could be heard saying, «The servers are getting a bit busy.»

As a result of the long-awaited launch, Mr. DeSantis' Rivals from President Biden to Donald Trump are releasing hit videos in response while basking in a train wreck.

But the undaunted Mr. Musk tweeted after the 90-minute launch: «All presidential.» Applicants are welcome on this platform."

Visitors to Twitter Space saw the message "Preparing to launch&#34 ; message, but the audio stream kept cutting off. Photo: GETTY IMAGES

The Tesla founder has previously said he wants the platform to become a «town square.» where "unfiltered" opinions and views could be shared.

In an effort to make the launch of DeSantis a success, he advertised the event to his 140 million followers on Twitter hours before it began.

When the Talk was heard, Mr. Mr. DeSantis and other speakers praised Mr. Musk and Twitter Spaces.

"This is a great platform" said DeSantis, 44.

David Sacks, an outspoken venture capitalist and panel moderator, later praised the event, writing on the platform: “It was the biggest social media room ever. Twitter performed great after some initial scaling issues. "

Last June, Musk said he was leaning towards supporting DeSantis in the 2024 election.

He also promised to spend up to $25 million to support his chosen 2024 candidate .

Whatever happens, you can hear Ron DeSantis' plans loud and clear. pic.twitter.com/5QmgvfiTgQ

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 25, 2023

Mr Musk voted for Mr Biden in 2020. He told Mr Trump last July «hang up your hat and swim into the sunset» because he's too old.

In another tweet, Mr. Musk indicated that «Trump will be 82 at the end of his term,» adding that he thought «too old to be CEO of anything.» not to mention the United States of America".

Mr. Musk, a self-proclaimed «free speech absolutist». said in November that he would support Mr. DeSantis in 2024 if Florida's governor ran for president.

"I prefer someone sensible and centrist for president in 2024. I hoped it would be the same with the Biden administration, but so far I have been disappointed.” he tweeted.

Musk was said to be planning to turn Twitter, which he bought in October for $44 million, into a right-wing alternative to traditional media platforms like Fox News.

After buying a tech firm, he restored the accounts of prominent Republicans, including Trump and Marjorie Taylor Green, a Georgia politician and conspiracy theorist, who had been deleted for violating the site's Covid disinformation policy.

Earlier in this Last month, Tucker Carlson, a former Fox News host, called the platform the last stronghold of free speech when he announced he would host a daily live show on the platform after he was fired from Rupert Murdoch's channel. .