'Bring Back Trump!': Supporters Call On Elon Musk To End Ex-President's Twitter Ban

Elon Musk is now sitting on the board of directors for Twitter, a sharp upgrade for the world’s richest man and one of the site’s most prolific tweeters. With Musk at the table, there have been some calls for him to end the ban another fellow controversial tweeter -- former President Donald Trump.

On Tuesday, it was revealed that Musk would be joining Twitter’s board after becoming a majority shareholder a day earlier. Twitter’s CEO Parag Agrawal welcomed him to the company, saying that Musk was a “passionate believer” and “intense critic” whose ideas would be welcome.

Trump supporters were heartened by Musk’s ascension to the upper echelons of Twitter. Several Trump backers who served in his cabinet and members of Congress called on Musk to lift Trump’s Twitter muzzle, which was imposed for spreading misinformation about election fraud and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

“Now that @elonmusk is Twitter's largest shareholder, he should demand the end of political censorship, company-wide reform, and the reinstatement of President Trump,” said Monica Crowley, a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Public Affairs.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-Ga.), a fervent Trump supporter who has her own history of clashing with Twitter over her own incendiary posts, questioned whether Musk would follow through on his change promises by allowing Trump back on the social media platform.

“Will the new majority shareholder return freedom of speech to Twitter? It will require courage [because] the regime is heavily investing in a certain industry and threats will undoubtedly come. Yet the freedom of speech restored will enable us all to defeat them,” Greene tweeted on Monday, tagging Musk’s Twitter account.

Trump was banned from Twitter in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters, putting countless lives in danger, including his own vice president’s. Twitter has maintained the ban, but conservatives have fumed over the move as an assault on free speech and an abuse of power.

Musk is not known to have an especially deep relationship with Trump. Before he won the Republican Party’s nomination in 2016, Musk said that Trump winning it would be “embarrassing” and that his victory “would be good."

But after Trump won the 2016 election, Musk served on two business advisory boards during his presidency and met with him at Trump Tower in 2017 before his inauguration. However, Musk was critical of Trump’s immigration and climate policies, resigning his seat on one council after Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement.

Yet Trump and Musk do share similar views about Twitter. Like Trump, Musk has called into question Twitter’s role in facilitating free speech online. Musk, whose tweets have moved stock prices and mocked critics alike, has been accused of irresponsibly using his Twitter account.

For his part, Musk already hinted at a desire to push some changes at Twitter from his position on its board. “Looking forward to working with the Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!” Musk posted on Twitter.