We'll be back to normal service Tuesday, with a paywall – so please enjoy this free edition of ‘First Draft’ and then upgrade to paid, so you never hit another paywall again!
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you → enjoy → paywall
Although I did carve out two hours on Wednesday night to watch ‘Mutiny,’ the latest Jason Statham action flick.
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I → carve → Mutiny
If Democrats are expected to disavow Hasan Piker when he isn’t antisemitic, shouldn’t Republicans disavow Elon Musk when he… is?
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he → expect → Musk
And how are we still living in ‘the land of the free’ if Congress is making it illegal for universities, including faculty and personnel, to exercise their First Amendment right to criticize – and boycott – foreign countries like Israel?
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universities → live → Israel
Let’s get into it.
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’s → let → it
World’s Richest Man Calls on Jews to Take DNA Tests to Prove They’re Jewish
Is Elon Musk an antisemite?
Is he, perhaps, like Henry Ford in more ways than one?
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he → call → one
The world’s richest man has always denied being an antisemite, and yet there is the rather inconvenient matter of his record.
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man → deny → record
And, no, I’m not just referring to the way in which Musk-owned Twitter has become a cesspit of open racism and antisemitism; an online refuge for neo-Nazis, Holocaust deniers, and white supremacists.
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Twitter → refer → Nazis
I’m talking about Musk himself.
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I → talk → Musk
Remember in 2023 when he responded to a Twitter user who accused Jewish communities of pushing “dialectical hatred against white people” by saying: “You have said the actual truth”?
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You → remember → truth
Outrage followed, and some advertisers fled his platform.
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advertisers → follow → platform
He eventually apologized and went to Auschwitz with Ben Shapiro on what looked a lot like a rehabilitation tour.
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what → apologize → tour
Remember in 2025 when he celebrated Trump’s inauguration by giving what looked to a lot of people – including Nazis – like a Nazi salute?
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what → remember → salute
The ADL, which never misses an opportunity to accuse a supporter of Palestine of being antisemitic, rushed to his defense, describing it only as “an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute.”
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which → miss → enthusiasm
Remember how he continues to support and amplify the far-right AfD party in Germany, which has been plagued by scandals involving Nazis and Nazi rhetoric?
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which → remember → Nazis
You might think that would be enough controversy involving one billionaire and antisemitism.
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that → think → billionaire
On Thursday, Musk went further.
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Musk → go → Thursday
On the social media site that he owns, he decided to question Jewish racial identity in a really weird, pseudo-sciency, even eugenicky way.
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he → own → way
Here is the original poll from a random Twitter account, followed by Musk’s response.
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poll → follow → response
Seriously: What possesses a normal, non-racist, non-antisemitic person to engage with a question like this in the first place?
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person → possess → place
And what possesses them to answer it by suggesting that if Jews who look white cannot provide DNA evidence of their Jewishness, then they must actually be white and their Jewish identity must be “all in their mind.”
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identity → possess → mind
Or as one user quote-tweeted in response to Musk’s comments:
So why am I leading today’s ‘First Draft’ with this one insanely racist, clearly antisemitic post?
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I → tweet → post
First, because it is actually a very big deal when the richest person on Earth, who also owns one of the most influential communications platforms on Earth, starts publicly dabbling in ideas about Jews, bloodlines, DNA, appearance, and racial authenticity.
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who → own → Jews
(You remember the people who did that back in the 1930s and 1940s, right?)
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who → remember → 1930s
To quote political commentator Brian Beutler, reacting to Musk’s post: “The man using his vast fortune to bail out GOP candidates across the country says many white-skinned Jews don’t look super Jewy, and thus may not have Jew blood in them, freeing them to be white if they could just get over themselves.
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they → quote → themselves
“Subtle” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, obviously.
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Subtle → do → lifting
But there is a second reason this matters – and it goes far beyond Musk.
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it → be → Musk
He plans to spend at least $100 million in more than a dozen House and Senate races in the upcoming midterms.
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He → plan → midterms
And on the very same day that Musk was opining about Jewish identity and DNA, his America PAC “disclosed the first $800,000 of that spending in 15 races,” according to the New York Times.
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PAC → opine → Times
So, will we now see a frenzied news cycle in which Republican candidates taking money from Musk are asked to disavow his comments about Jewish identity?
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candidates → see → identity
Will reporters chase those candidates through the halls of Congress asking whether they agree that a Jew’s Jewishness can be determined by their skin color or DNA?
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Jewishness → chase → color
Will Republicans be asked to condemn Elon Musk?
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Republicans → ask → Musk
Haven’t we spent the past few weeks watching media organizations obsess over Abdul El-Sayed ally Hasan Piker, a Twitch streamer, and demanding Democrats condemn him?
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Democrats → spend → him
Piker has never said anything comparable to Musk when it comes to Jews and Judaism.
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it → say → Jews
Nor does Piker fund the Democratic Party with nine-figure sums.
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Piker → fund → sums
Musk funds the GOP.
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Musk → fund → GOP
In Michigan, for example, El-Sayed’s Republican opponent Mike Rogers is now being boosted by Musk’s cash.
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opponent → boost → cash
So, will he be asked to denounce and disavow the world’s richest man?
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he → ask → man
How about Senator Susan Collins in Maine, who castigated former Democratic opponent Graham Platner for his alleged antisemitism?
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who → castigate → antisemitism
Will she be asked to comment on the man who just pumped $170,000 into her campaign?
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who → ask → campaign
…and 89 more, not listed.
