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President JOE BIDEN and billionaire ELON MUSK they are not fond of each other.
They have argued that Biden does not promote Tesla as much as some of its rivals in the electric vehicle space. And they’ve hit each other on semi-personal terms.
“Good luck on his trip to the moon,” Biden said in June when asked about Musk’s criticism of the economy. Musk then tweeted in July that “whoever controls the teleprompter is the real President!” comparing Biden to Ron Burgundy in “Anchorman.”
But when it comes to Musk’s latest acquisition of Twitter, White House and administration officials told West Wing Playbook that they’re curious about future changes, but mostly shrug off the drama surrounding the platform — at least for now. for now.
Among the few White House officials who have publicly hinted at Musk’s takeover has been staff secretary CLOSE TO THE TEETH. A longtime user of the platform, Tanden wondered about a place where like-minded people can decamp and thought that individuals they are already leaving. Others in Biden’s world say that if they have discussed the subject at all, it has been to joke with him.
The White House declined to comment.
But his public apathy toward Twitter’s Musk-ism is of a different mind than the lament of other Democrats, who have talked about leaving the platform and warned of the dangers of a less moderate, heavier space. from misinformation. But in reality, a number of progressives working on social media policy and platform building said there has been no talk of building a new platform as a counterweight to Musk’s Twitter. DONALD TRUMP and his allies did when Trump was removed from the platform after the January 6 riots.
“I don’t know anyone trying to build a social media platform,” said one prominent Democratic donor adviser. “It’s just hard to do something from scratch, which Truth Social is experiencing.”
There had been informal talk of a collective resignation from Twitter as a form of protest, but this has not materialised. Instead, there was a sense that the only real point of leverage would be pressure on advertisers on the platform.
“That’s the main lever if things go really bad,” he said JUDD LAW author of Popular Information, an independent newsletter. “Twitter still gets more than 90 percent of its ad revenue, so advertisers provide the counterbalance.”
Other progressive media strategies are also being developed.
Among them, according to people familiar with the discussions, is the creation of smaller social media ecosystems that can be easier to moderate, interconnected and oriented around healthy public dialogue.
One of the main suppliers of this idea is ELI PARRISER. A pioneer in online citizen engagement, he has been trying to conceive and build these digital spaces with a group of engineers, architects and entrepreneurs in his organization, New_Public. Pariser’s theory is that the digital town square that Musk envisions for Twitter should, in fact, be multiple town squares — “the online equivalents of parks and libraries.”
The challenge would be to guard against homogeneity in these spaces, while still keeping it free and well moderated. Another would be to find investments for it. In a piece for WiredPariser wrote that he would seek “a substantial amount of new philanthropic and public funding for this work.”
But in a follow-up conversation with West Wing Playbook, he said he was optimistic. These smaller spaces, he argued, were “‘governed’ in a way that’s really hard on a scale of hundreds of millions or billions. It’s really hard to make decisions that work for thousands of communities at once , therefore none of these platforms have….
“Free-for-all spaces work for loud, opinionated people who are relatively secure in their status, but they don’t work for most people (which is why most people don’t participate on Twitter).
INVITE US – Are you Elon Musk? We want to hear from you! And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at [email protected].
This one comes from POLITICO’s MYAH WARD. Since it’s on the eve of All Hallow’s, a spooky question seemed in order.
Presidential masks are everywhere during Halloween. RICHARD NIXON became one of the first presidents whose likeness helped set the trend. In 1969, just before his inauguration, there was an anti-war protest that included someone wearing a Nixon mask. In its coverage of the event, The New York Times revealed that this protester “marched the entire distance of 20 blocks” claiming to be doing what?
(Answer at the end.)
TRICKING SEASON: The White House was full of costumes today, which we strongly approve of. The trick-or-treating inside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building was off the record, but we and other sources spotted several costumes in the West Wing including a banana, butterfly, witch and astronauts. The National Security Council got really bent on an Area 51 topic.
Press Assistant MEGHA BHATTACHARYA dressed as Coraline. The Covid team all dressed up as different foods with SUBHAN CHEEMA, one of the team’s main men, wearing a popcorn suit. And some offices posted some of their photos as well. of the presidential staff office is here. And the digital strategy office – with their Dark Brandon themed decorations – posted their costumes here. West Wing Playbook dressed as a scary clown with an Uncle Sam theme.
NERD ALERT!: Secretary of Transportation PETE SHOP dwelt a bit on the topic of traffic jams in an interview that aired over the weekend. Talking to CNN CHRIS WALLACE, he delved into the very human reasons we often find ourselves sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic when there’s no actual accident or construction on the road (we’ve all been there). Wallace couldn’t contain himself after that.
“You’re kind of stupid, aren’t you?” he asked… rhetorically, we think.
WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WILL READ: it Twitter thread from MARK ZANDI, often referred to as a former economist ABOUT JOHN MCCAIN, but also chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. Zandi writes: “Last week’s data suggests that the economy is in the soft ground scenario. GDP posted solid growth in the third quarter, further allaying concerns that we are in a recession. And while GDP hasn’t gone anywhere this year despite third-quarter growth, that’s what’s needed to quell inflation without a recession.” Chief of staff RON KLAINE re-tweeted the thread.
WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE not I WANT YOU TO READ: it POLITICO part that The Supreme Court looks set to end affirmative action. “A majority of justices sounded inclined to further limit the use of race in college admissions during arguments Monday in the first of two high-profile Supreme Court cases,” we wrote. BIANCA QUILANTAN AND JOSH GERSTEIN.
condolences: The President attended a private memorial service on Monday for DONALD BLINKthe father of the Secretary of State ANTHONY BLINK. The former US ambassador to Hungary died at the end of September at the age of 96. Biden was accompanied by the first lady.
ICYMI: The second gentleman DOUG EMHOFF sat down with CNN DANA BASH during the weekend.
REPEAT CUSTOMER: ROCHELLE WALENSKY it’s experiencing a recovered case of Covid, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC director contracted a mild case of Covid earlier this month, but tested negative after a round of the antiviral drug Paxlovid. On Sunday, after experiencing mild symptoms, she tested positive again. Walensky is isolating at home and will continue to work virtually, the agency said.
STAFF MOVE: KHALILAH HARRIS has been promoted to the position of Chief of Staff in the Office of Personnel Management. She was recently the deputy head of the cabinet in the OPM.
– SAHAR HAFEEZ has left the White House, where she was director of international economics at the National Security Council. She is now a senior adviser at the Department of Commerce.
BOLSONOT WILL BE WAITING FOR YOU: The White House announced that Biden spoke with the Brazilian president-elect LUIZ INÁCIO LULA da SILVA. The administration was also quick to recognize his victory on Sunday, amid fears JAIR BOLSONARO will try to reject the results and stay in power.
The first indications are that Bolsonaro will not challenge the results.
Biden lost his temper with Zelenskyy in a June phone call when the Ukrainian leader asked for more help (NBC’s Carol E. Lee, Courtney Kube and Dan De Luce)
Jerome Powell is popular. His fight against inflation could change that (Jeanna Smialek of the NYT)
Leaked documents outline DHS plans for police disinformation (Ken Klippenstein and Lee Fang of The Intercept)
A known Phillies fan JILL BIDEN will attend Game 4 of the World Series on Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. She will join players, referees, coaches and fans to “honor those affected by cancer as part of the league’s support and partnership with Stand Up To Cancer,” according to the White House.
Look, we’re all thinking this, so we just have to come out and ask: Would the notoriously brutal and prickly Phillies fans mock the first lady at a Stand Up To Cancer event?
(Editor’s note: Fellow Phillie fan DESIRE ANDREW We got down right after the FLOTUS travel advisory came out, wondering if POLITICO, “coincidentally, [was] to the FLOTUS pool for tomorrow night.” They weren’t.)
During the 1969 protest before Nixon’s inauguration, the Times reported that the protester “marched the entire distance of 20 blocks in an imitation of nose-picking.” You can read the full piece here.
As Smithsonian Magazine put it in 2016: “The identity of Nixon picking his nose is still unknown, but the moment helped create what is now a familiar Halloween sight – the presidential mask. The phenomenon has become so popular that some experts (either ironically or seriously) believe it can help predict election results: Since the Nixon era, the presidential candidate with the best-selling costume mask has always taken the White House.
A CALL – Think you have a harder question? Send us your best one about the presidents with a quote and we might feature it.
Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein.
