While Americans mourned the killing of 8 people in Allen, Texas over the weekend by a man who apparently held neo-Nazi beliefs—and processed the shock of seeing graphic images from the shooting surface on Twitter—billionaire site owner Elon Musk engaged with conspiracy theorists who called the tragedy a “psyop” and himself said it was “odd,” “very strange,” and that the story “gets weirder by the moment.”
On Saturday, a man wearing a “Right Wing Death Squad” patch opened fire at a shopping mall and killed 8 people. The shooter, 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia, had an online history that included posting multiple neo-Nazi tattoos and memes such as “latino children” having to choose between “acting black” and “becoming white supremacist” on a Russian social media site.
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The mass shooting was the 199th in the U.S. this year. The next day, there were 7 more across the country, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive. The shooting was, tragically, not a unique event. It’s not unique that a white supremacist killed numerous people in a mass shooting, and it’s not unique that the shooter was a hispanic man who apparently held white supremacist beliefs. Racism and colorism exist in Latinx communities, and two of the most high-profile far-right agitators in recent years—Nick Fuentes and convicted Proud Boys seditionist Enrique Tarrio—have hispanic heritage. Garcia even posted about Fuentes being an inspiration.
“Hell Nick Fuentes said something like that while he was on the pearl show,” Garcia wrote on social media, the Daily Beast reported. “I think I even read in the news Hispanics could be the new white supremist. Just the other day this black dude told me the line is blurring. He can’t tell the difference anymore. Someone would look white but their actually Hispanic.”
While this tracks for anyone who has been paying attention, Twitter owner Elon Musk replied to tweets that called the shooting a “psyop” and suggested it was planned by the CIA.
“This is a psyop and it’s not even good,” an account called The Redheaded Libertarian commented on a post by right-wing pundit Ian Miles Cheong saying that it was “suspect” because the shooter seemingly didn’t have a Twitter account. “This gets weirder by the moment,” Musk replied.
Another post by The Redheaded Libertarian cast doubt on the shooter’s neo-Nazi beliefs and referred to bellingcat’s Aric Toler—the independent researcher who identified Garcia’s online profile—as a “CIA operative.” Musk replied: “Very strange.”
In response to a tweet by an account called End Wokeness implying that the white supremacy motive is a concoction by—who knows?—Musk replied, “Odd.”
Just as the shooting itself is not an aberration but a very clear continuation of a terrible trend, Musk’s engagement with conspiracies and the far-right is on brand.
You don’t have to go far looking for examples. The day after the Texas shooting, Musk interacted with a post by right-wing pundit Charlie Kirk that said “America is being invaded.” Musk, replying to someone who disagreed, backed Kirk up. “It’s not a military invasion like Ukraine, but it’s also inaccurate to refer to everyone crossing the border as a refugee,” Musk tweeted.
Last year, Musk tweeted, and then deleted, a conspiracy theory that proposed the man who attacked Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul Pelosi with a hammer was a man he met in a gay bar. Musk apologized for that.
When the world discovered Musk’s burner Twitter account—revealed when Musk shared a screenshot of his Twitter dashboard—it was found to have interacted with conspiracy theories on Twitter, including that the Democrats are laundering money through Ukraine.
These are just a few examples from a man who is by now well-known to have an affinity for the far-right, conspiracy theories, and generally distorting the truth. We can see an example of the latter in how Musk claimed a YouTube video of him discussing Tesla’s full self-driving capabilities was a deepfake to defend himself in a lawsuit. The judge rejected that explanation.
