Elon Musk defends Trump and slams establishment media for taking quote out of context

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is defending former President Donald Trump on Sunday after multiple establishment media outlets ran headlines stating that the former president warned the U.S. would see a "bloodbath" if he is not reelected. 

Although Trump did use the word "bloodbath" during a speech in Ohio on Saturday, outlets such as NPR, Politico, The Hill, NBC News, The New York Times and others used the term in headlines without context. Musk said the headlines were "legacy media lies" and he made multiple posts Sunday criticizing their use of the term and stressing the need for context.  

Musk responded to MSNBC's "Morning Joe" co-host Joe Scarborough's post on X, formerly Twitter, of video clips from the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and the caption: "Donald Trump’s America. And he is proud of it. Promised another 'bloodbath' if he loses again."

"Jan 6 was not a 'bloodbath' by any definition and Trump was referring to job losses in the auto industry when he used that word," Musk, the owner of X, replied to Scarborough. "Your post is extremely misleading."

When Trump used the word "bloodbath," he was discussing China's reported plans to build cars in Mexico and sell them cheaply in the United States. 

"We're going to put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line and you're not going to be able to sell those cars if – I get elected," Trump said at the Ohio rally Saturday. "Now if I don't get elected it's going to be a bloodbath for the whole, that's going to be the least of it, it's going to be a bloodbath for the country. That'll be the least of it. But they're not going to sell those cars."

In another post, Musk also mocked the people using the term "bloodbath" as "NPCs" or "non-player characters," which is a meme to refer to people who do not think for themselves.

"Easy to tell who is an NPC today," Musk posted alongside a meme featuring a cartoon of identical people all thinking about the word "bloodbath."

Musk's comments come days after he said "America is doomed" if Republicans don't win in 2024.

Follow Madeleine Hubbard on X or Instagram.