Elon Musk

DeSantis officially launches his 2024 presidential campaign with an hour-long discussion, hosted by Musk and Sacks on a Twitter Space. Initially, the event was hit with technical glitches and audio-drops, which meant that many people could not listen. Sacks:

I think we’re breaking the internet here.

Around 700,000 people logged in to hear the conversation, including Donald Trump’s former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, attorney Rudy Giuliani and legal adviser Jenna Ellis.

DeSantis says American democracy under attack by rising crime, out-of-touch liberal “woke” ideologies, out-of-control immigration at the southern border, and points to his track record as Florida governor as a blueprint for his plan in the White House. He says his achievements included the speed with which Florida opened up during the Covid pandemic, legislation restricting sex education in classrooms, and curbs on undocumented immigrants.

We know our country is going in the wrong direction. We see it with our eyes, and we feel it in our bones…Our president, well, he lacks vigour, flounders in the face of our nation’s challenges and he takes his cues from the woke mob. I don’t think it has to be this way. American decline isn’t inevitable. It is a choice.

We need the courage to lead and we must have the strength to win. If you nominate me, you can set your clock to January 20th, 2025, at high noon because on the west side of the US Capitol, I will be taking the oath of office as the 47th president.

Musk used the event to herald free speech and received praise from DeSantis and others for challenging mainstream platforms. Musk:

Twitter was expensive but free speech is priceless.

DeSantis’s team claims over $1m in campaign donations was raised in under an hour.

https://t.co/YmIQZnN8o7

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 24, 2023