Musk, who acquired Twitter for $44 billion last year, once said he “reluctantly” backed Joe Biden over Donald Trump in 2020. But he’s become an influential figure in GOP politics and urged his followers on social media last year to support Republicans. He has echoed DeSantis’s criticisms of “wokeness” or leftist politics run amok and of U.S. officials’ approach to the coronavirus pandemic, at one point declaring that his “pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci” — a reference to Anthony S. Fauci, the former White House medical adviser, and the practice of identifying one’s gender pronouns.
DeSantis’s political team, Twitter and Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Musk retweeted a Fox News report about the planned announcement, and the governor’s wife, Casey DeSantis, also referenced the news, sending out a tweet saying, “Big if true …”
The people familiar with the planning spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe plans that had not been announced publicly. NBC News first reported the plans for the joint event.
The Twitter discussion will be moderated by David Sacks, an investor and former PayPal executive who attended a DeSantis donor retreat in Palm Beach, Fla., earlier this year and said at the time that he hoped DeSantis would run for president.
DeSantis is announcing his long-expected campaign as donors gather at a Four Seasons hotel in Miami to hear from the governor’s team and to kick off fundraising.
At the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit, Musk addressed the upcoming conversation with DeSantis. He did not go into specifics on whom he would want to serve as president.
In general, he said he would like a president who espouses “the moderate views that I think most of the country holds.”
“I would really just like someone fairly normal and sensible to be president — that would be great.”
Musk criticized the political primary format that tends to push candidates to extremes. Asked to assess the supposed normalcy of four candidates for president, Musk declined.
“We’d maybe have to have a few drinks before I would give you the answers.”
Ruby Cramer contributed to this report.
Read the full article here
