SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) — Tesla CEO Elon Musk has deleted a meme he posted on Twitter, in reply to another user, comparing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Adolf Hitler.
Late Wednesday night, Musk tweeted a picture of the notorious Nazi leader captioned, "Stop comparing me to Justin Trudeau. I had a budget." Musk tweeted the image in response to a Coindesk article reporting that Canadian law enforcement ordered financial firms to stop facilitating transactions tied to the trucker-led "Freedom Convoy" protesting against Canada's COVID-19 policies.
The 50-year-old deleted the tweet on Thursday, without explanation. Musk did tweet a recommendation of "The Wages of Destruction," an economic history of Nazi Germany published in 2006, in reply to the account "Tesla Facts."
Musk, the billionaire whose electric car company moved its headquarters from Palo Alto to Austin, Texas late last year, has recently criticized Trudeau's government and called it "the real fringe minority" for mandating that cross-border truckers be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. A prolific tweeter, Musk has repeatedly backed protestors in Ottawa — who have attracted support from far-right groups in the U.S. and elsewhere — on the platform.
Days after first expressing support for the truckers, Musk late last month tweeted a picture of a fictional children's book entitled, "Everything I Don't Like Is Hitler," which was billed as a "child's guide to online political discussion."
Musk has chafed at COVID-19 restrictions in Canada and beyond, including here in the Bay Area. Tesla violated Alameda County health orders by reopening its Fremont plant in May 2020 amid statewide stay-at-home orders for all but essential businesses. He has criticized similar and subsequent orders elsewhere, using his Twitter feed to share skepticism — and outright misinformation — about the coronavirus' severity and efforts to limit the virus' spread.
Musk and Tesla are headed for another legal fight with officials in California. The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing sued the company last week, alleging racial discrimination and harassment at Tesla. Tesla called the lawsuit "unfair and counterproductive" in a company blog post. Musk has not yet addressed the claims on his Twitter feed.
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