Ahead of Donald Trump’s highly anticipated speech where he will accept the GOP’s nomination on Thursday evening from the Republican National Convention (RNC), new emojis have appeared on social media. On the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, typing the hashtag #MAGA instantly displays the iconic image of former President Trump raising his fist after the assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last Saturday.
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Additionally, when users click on the #Trump2024 hashtag, a cascade of American flag emojis falls on their screen:
These new graphic features coincide with X owner Elon Musk declaring his endorsement of Trump after Saturday’s shooting, where the former president’s life was spared by mere millimeters from a bullet shot by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.
Musk wrote:
I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery
Musk has also vowed to contribute a hefty $45 million per month to America PAC, a super political action committee committed to electing Donald Trump in November.
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Musk’s ascension to becoming a red-hat supporter of Trump’s has happened slowly; as recently as 2021 the multi-billionaire entrepreneur indicated that he would like to stay out of politics. In the past, he has been independent politically, and made donations to both Republicans and Democrats.
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His opposition to many leftist policies including “fascist” COVID restrictions, censorship, DEI initiatives, and mass illegal immigration has pushed him to become more active. Most recently, Musk announced plans to relocate his aerospace company SpaceX from California to Texas, citing a new law–that allows students’ gender transitions to be kept secret from their parents–as a catalyst for his decision.
On X, Musk wrote:
This is the final straw. Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas.
I did make it clear to Governor Newsom about a year ago that laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children.
In a later post, Musk indicated that X headquarters would also be moved from San Francisco, CA, to Austin, TX.
While Musk’s support of Trump, and his high donor status, has drawn ire from Democrats, it’s worth noting that the notion of “MAGA Musk” was shaped by the left. The Biden administration’s repeated snubs of Tesla Motors, a pioneer in electric cars, put these tensions on display when the company was excluded from key EV industry events hosted by the White House.
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Musk’s alignment has been a long time coming, and today social media users have a new way to show their backing for the man who will officially become the GOP’s nominee for President on Thursday evening–by using the Trump-y hashtags.