Avert your eyes. This one isn’t pretty. In yet another giant step away from his former persona as the Messiah of Electric Vehicles to Probably Stoned Guy Who’s Buying Twitter, Elon Musk has just posted what may be The Last Supper of jaw-droppingly obtuse memes, comparing himself, Kanye aka Ye, and yep, that’s ex-president Donald John Trump, as the Three Musketeers of social media. Look upon his works ye weird internet nerds and dismay!
The meme, which no doubt is inspired by Ye’s recent purchase of the conservative/far-right leaning Parler social networking service, shows Musk, Ye, and Trump’s heads shopped onto a pick of the Three Musketeers of literary and film fame. Each bears a rapier named for their respective internet brands. Musk’s “X” — indicating his promised “Super App” which may or may not encompass Twitter following his still scheduled purchase of the platform— Ye’s Parler, and, for some reason that defies any reasonable amount of business acumen, Donald Trump’s stunningly unsuccessful “Truth Social” platform.
The pick is also a nod and a wink at the fact that Musk’s vast legion of internet warriors who must protect him at all costs refer to themselves as “musketeers” (which may seem to indicate that Don and Ye are a bit subordinate to Elon himself — which they will no doubt find a thrilling concept). It’s also evidence (although this may not be Musk’s intention) of the recent trend, sinister or not, of outspoken billionaires (well, at least in Musk and Ye’s case) attempting to control the social discourse and avoid the consequences of their own speech by purchasing the media platforms themselves.
In Musk’s defense though, he did use one of Trump’s least favorite and least flattering pics for the meme. So well done there at least. Donald may have more than a few thoughts on being Porthos to Ye’s Aramis in any case.