Musk promotes X over ‘legacy media’ amid Trump ‘bloodbath’ comments

Tech billionaire Elon Musk appeared to come to former President Trump’s defense on Sunday over media coverage of the former president’s “bloodbath” comments, saying people should use X instead to avoid being “misled by the legacy media.”

Musk suggested that the “legacy media” were taking Trump’s comments on Saturday out of context when reporting on the former president's rally. During a heated rally in Ohio on Saturday night, Trump warned there would be a “bloodbath” in the U.S. if he loses the November election when talking about his proposal for steep tariffs on vehicle imports.

“We’re going to put a 100 percent tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you’re not going to be able to sell those guys if I get elected…. Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole — that’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country,” Trump said.

Musk fired off a series of posts on X, the platform previously known as Twitter, on Sunday in response to the coverage. He suggested that people use X to share news instead of reading news from the outlets.

He responded to one user’s post that accused the media of “lying” about Trump’s recent comments with “Legacy media lies.” He also wrote in a separate post that it is “[e]asy to tell who is an NPC today” alongside a meme of gray cartoon characters with a speech bubble that says “bloodbath.”

NPC means “nonplayable character” — a reference to video game characters that users cannot control and that often have scripted lines, according to The New York Times. The Times noted that the meme format became popular among right-wing commentators who used it to suggest that liberals cannot think for themselves.

Musk also encouraged users to send posts from X to their friends.

“Please send links from this platform to your friends who are still being misled by the legacy media!” he wrote. He also reposted a video instructing users how “to share a post with people outside this platform.”

The Biden campaign was quick to denounce Trump’s comments from Saturday as “threats of political violence.”

“He wants another January 6, but the American people are going to give him another electoral defeat this November because they continue to reject his extremism, his affection for violence, and his thirst for revenge,” campaign spokesperson James Singer said in a statement.