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Twitter owner and SpaceX founder Elon Musk urged his more than 100 million Twitter followers to vote Republican in the House and Senate races, citing the supposed benefits of divided government under Democratic President Joe Biden. In a series of posts on the website he bought last month, Musk said “independently-minded voters” should consider how “shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties.” “Therefore, I suggest we vote for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic,” he said. He added that, in his estimation, “independent voters are the ones who actually decide who’s in charge” because “hardline Democrats or Republicans never vote for the other side.” The South African-born businessman, who has previously described himself as liberal on social issues but fiscally conservative, has openly supported the GOP in recent years and since buying Twitter has engaged with prominent right-wing media figures . Earlier this year, he attended a donor meeting with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in Wyoming, where according to Axios he said the US would prosper if the GOP “stayed out of people’s bedrooms” and Democrats kept ” out of people’s wallets.” At the time, the then-future owner of Twitter tweeted: “To be clear, I support the left half of the Republican Party and the right half of the Democratic Party!” Musk’s call for users to vote Republican came after mass layoffs late last week saw nearly half of Twitter’s workforce lose their jobs. It has since been reported that Twitter had begun asking some laid-off workers to return. Meanwhile, Mr Musk announced over the weekend that anyone impersonating others would have their accounts banned. This is exactly what happened to comedians Kathy Griffin and Sarah Silverman, who had changed their names to “Elon Musk”. Mr. Musk earlier said no major decisions about content policies on the platform would be made until a content oversight board was formed at the company.
