Elon Musk’s mother tweets to defend him from ‘nasty comments’

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Elon Musk’s mother, Maye, has tweeted to defend her son from “nasty comments” directed at his latest tweets.

She suggested that those attacking him for controversial posts were bots, and that criticism was coming from fake accounts.

Her son has also shown an interest in bots and fake accounts recently, claiming that the problem is more significant than Twitter will admit and pausing his planned takeover of the site.

Ms Musk’s defence comes after her son announced that he was switching from having voted Democrat in the past and would now vote Republican instead.

“In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party. But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican,” he tweeted.

“Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold,” said Mr Musk, the world’s richest man, who has agreed to buy Twitter Inc.

The 50-year-old billionaire recently said he would reverse Twitter’s ban on former U.S. President Donald Trump, a Republican, when he buys the social media platform. He also said Twitter is far-left-biased because it is headquartered in California, a state known for its progressive politics.

Tesla’s stock fell 6.8 per cent on Wednesday, after he announced his support for Republicans and Tesla was removed from a closely-watched sustainable index.

Tweets mocking Elon as being “poor Elon“ were trending on social media platform Twitter, sparking his mother Maye Musk to weigh in with her own tweet to defend her son.

“Poor Elon might only be the 2nd or 3rd richest man in the world now,” one twitter user said.

“Poor Elon. No liberals are going to buy his cars anymore, when there’s so many nicer options,” another said.

Mr Musk‘s mother criticized some tweets for “nasty comments” and alleged they were “troll or bot”, referring to fake accounts.

In a post hours before, she said she had met “top media people” who said they loved Elon Musk, and described herself as an “angry mom” looking to protect him.

Mr Musk has been interacting regularly with his mother on Twitter, including a message in which she told him off for suggesting he could die in “mysterious circumstances” following a fight with the head of the Russian space agency.

And she defended him after a report suggested that his team had asked for a date with Sky Ferreira at the Met Gala, which mother and son attended together.

Mr Musk has been a vocal critic of the Biden administration and Democrats for their proposals to tax billionaires and give more tax incentives to union-made electric vehicles. Tesla does not have unions at its US factories.

Last year, Tesla, which counts California as its biggest market in the United States, moved its headquarters from California to the more politically conservative Texas.

Mr Musk moved his personal residence from California to Texas, where there is no state income tax. He has sold about $25 billion worth of Tesla stock since last year in order to pay taxes and finance his proposed acquisition of Twitter. Analysts said the sales helped him cash in on Tesla’s stock rally and diversify his wealth.

Additional reporting by Reuters