When Elon Musk first took the reins of Twitter (now rebranded as X) conservatives celebrated a new era of free speech. He had promised to end the platform's censorship culture and create a space where open debate could thrive without fear of silencing or deplatforming. His declarations sparked hope among MAGA supporters that, finally, their voices would be unshackled from Big Tech’s ideological grip, community notes, and censorship.

Unfortunately, cracks are forming in Musk’s relationship with the MAGA movement, and they are widening fast. The left has been fanning the flames to try to drive a wedge into the relationship, and it looks like they may have found the issue that can finally cause a significant division.

The rift came into full view when Musk recently defended demonetizing content from his critics. Some of these critics, notably far-right MAGA influencers, found their posts flagged or earnings throttled on X. In one of his responses, Musk dismissed concerns with characteristic bluntness: “The First Amendment is protection for ‘free speech,’ not ‘paid speech,’ ffs,” he wrote. In another tweet, he targeted a prominent far-right figure with a sharp retort: “Claiming censorship while simultaneously getting millions of views is the clearest possible evidence that [name] has [poop........

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