Op-Ed: To tweet or not to tweet, now that Elon’s the boss?
Elon Musk’s tweets are getting some attention in Washington, but many of them contain so much information that some officials have expressed concerns that his tweets may overwhelm other public officials.
As I reported earlier, the White House has been increasingly frustrated with Musk’s tweets. One White House official who spoke with me on background described the president as “extremely frustrated” with Musk’s constant use of the phrase “I believe.”
President Trump has said this directly on Twitter several times. The White House has also accused Musk of being involved in a cover-up related to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370.
The latest example occurred this week when President Trump tweeted out a news headline that claimed, “Elon Musk: Tesla has ‘no plan’ to find missing Malaysia plane,” then added, “Tesla’s new CEO has a plan.”
The White House has questioned why Tesla, which has been very active on Twitter, is suddenly suddenly concerned about the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
The situation has gotten so bad that this week, this White House official told me the president had even suggested putting Musk on a no-fly list.
While the incident has been happening, other officials have started worrying about the potential impact to normalcy. As I reported in December, senior officials inside the administration have expressed concerns that President Trump’s Twitter feed and the public face of the administration may be overwhelmed by too much information.
After the White House started getting so many emails from concerned members of Congress, who were concerned about the potential impact of Musk’s tweets, a second White House official told me that the office had started receiving a lot of calls, emails and “a lot of messages from people who are feeling very much like the public may be overwhelmed.”
The White House official told me this person added that “It’s hard to tell if you’re being personally attacked or not.”
This second White House official said the administration had an internal team reviewing the issue, and that the internal team had concluded that Musk’s tweets could “be an extraordinary benefit” for the Trump administration, and that no harm would come out