An aerial view of tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, carrying a black Stetson hat, livestreaming whereas … [+]
Elon Musk posted a meme on X, the social media platform previously generally known as Twitter, on Sunday making enjoyable of U.S. support to Ukraine. Particularly, the meme contains a photoshopped picture of Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky with the caption, “When it’s been 5 minutes and also you haven’t requested for a billion {dollars} in support.”
The meme is a photoshopped model of a well-liked meme that goes by completely different names, together with the “strained face meme,” first popularized in 2014, based on Know Your Meme.
Musk’s tweet, which seems under, has been seen by over 2 million individuals already on the time of this writing.
U.S. support for Ukraine has been a controversial subject since Russia first invaded the nation in 2022. Most Democrats and conventional conservative Republicans have favored support to Ukraine, however Republicans aligned with former president Donald Trump have largely opposed the help.
Some Trump supporters, together with many in Congress who threatened to close down the federal authorities throughout debt ceiling debates this previous week, have stated they oppose funding for Ukraine and need cash to as a substitute be spent on securing the U.S.-Mexico border. Musk has been sympathetic to this concept, even visiting Texas not too long ago to see immigrants who had been detained.
The U.S. has authorised roughly $113 billion in support to Ukraine for the reason that begin of the conflict, based on the Related Press. President Joe Biden has known as for a further $24 billion to be offered by Congress. However extra funding has been extremely controversial and was stripped out of the latest funding that stored the U.S. authorities open over the weekend.
It’s unlikely Musk made the anti-Ukraine meme himself, for the reason that billionaire has an extended historical past of seeing jokes on Twitter and posting them as his personal, fairly than merely urgent the retweet button. But it surely’s very clear the place Musk stands on this subject, whether or not he made the meme or not.
Musk didn’t instantly reply to emailed questions despatched via X on Sunday evening. I’ll replace this publish if I hear again.
