Suppose Elon Musk’s, um, hand gestures, his support of AfD, and promotion of replacement theory have persuaded you he has some interest or fascination with the historical Nazi movement. 1/

Musk has been fascinated by the number 420, which (4/20) is Hitler’s birthday but also a marijuana signifier, for many years. https://observer.com/2024/04/elon-musk-number-420-tesla-twitter/ 2/

Is your inference he recently became Nazi-curious, and previously had fetishized 420 solely over marijuana, or that he had some interest in Nazism for a long time and enjoyed the ambiguity and plausible deniability that 420’s marijuana associations afforded? 3/

If the latter, is it plausible that the wealthiest and most influential figure in “tech” would have remained supportive of the Democratic Party and its racially, culturally, and sexually progressive values if only partisans had been less mean to tech? 4/

Or is it more plausible that any apparent progressivism was always feigned and as Musk’s wealth and power grew he would become emboldened to openly advocate for his views? 5/

We can’t know! In some counterfactual universe where the racially, socially, and culturally progressive party was also the low taxes on rich people and deferential to monopoly party, maybe Musk’s material interests would have overwhelmed his, um, “playful” fascinations. 6/

But in anything like the actual universe, I think the evidence suggests there was little hope the party both more economically and culturally progressive could have retained this person’s support if a more materially friendly, more racially “realist” party could champion his interests. /fin