No, Elon Musk, Democratic and Republican “Extremists” Are Not The Same

Elon Musk, the billionaire egomaniac who’s recently made a deal to buy Twitter, caused a shitstorm this week with a few tweets essentially equating the Democratic and Republican Parties:

“I strongly supported Obama for president, but today’s Democratic party has been hijacked by extremists.”

That was followed by:

“The far left hates everyone, themselves included!

“But I’m no fan of the far right either”

The truth is, the parties are not the same. And neither are their extremists. Not even close. Not even in the same planetary system. For Musk to equate them on any conceivable level illustrates either his gross naivete, ignorance or partisanship. And as someone who’ll soon be in charge of the world’s most prominent digital ‘town square’, this comparison is irresponsible and dangerous because it further normalizes the immoral, unethical, corrupt, treasonous behavior of Donald Trump and his cult of personality.

Let’s boil reality down to this: in the last 10 years Democrats have gone from Obama to Joe Biden. Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi still lead the party in Congress and with the same overall ideals. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Bernie Sanders and other progressives have certainly become a strong and important vocal presence but they remain a minority in a party still mostly comprised of moderates.

Republicans went from Mitt Romney to Donald Trump. The GOP has officially become the party of Trump and Trumpism, with radical fringe lunatics like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, Paul Gosar and Madison Cawthorn leading the charge. Both House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have pledged undying cowardly sycophantic fealty to Trump, shifting the party so far to the right it would not be recognizable by conservative icons Ronald Reagan and John McCain.

But wait! There’s more!

More importantly, Democrats still believe in and fight to protect the basic principles of democracy and the Constitution, including inclusiveness and equality for all; the rule of law; human rights; voting rights; truth, accountability and transparency; free and fair…