Elon Musk uses wildfires to attack California’s DEI practices — as MAGA faithful spread wild conspiracies

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Elon Musk uses wildfires to attack California’s DEI practices — as MAGA faithful spread wild conspiracies
Author: Rhian Lubin
Published: Jan, 08 2025 22:02

Musk joined President-elect Donald Trump in lashing out at state officials and pointing fingers over the devastating fires. Elon Musk has lashed out at California fire officials, baselessly accusing them of putting DEI measures over “saving lives and homes,” as MAGA supporters are spreading conspiracy theories on social media about the catastrophic wildfires ripping through Los Angeles County.

 [A person uses a garden hose in an effort to save a neighboring home from catching fire during the Eaton Fire on January 8 in Altadena, California]
Image Credit: The Independent [A person uses a garden hose in an effort to save a neighboring home from catching fire during the Eaton Fire on January 8 in Altadena, California]

Musk joined President-elect Donald Trump in pointing fingers over the fires that have so far spread to more than 20,000 acres across Southern California. Two people have died and an unknown number have been injured as a result of the fires, officials said at a press conference on Wednesday. More than 100,000 residents have been forced to evacuate the city, areas of which have now become unrecognizable.

 [Trump took the opportunity to lash out at California governor Gavin Newsom]
Image Credit: The Independent [Trump took the opportunity to lash out at California governor Gavin Newsom]

On Wednesday afternoon, Musk reposted a comment on his social media platform X (formerly Twitter) from the right-wing account Libs of TikTok, which hit out at the Los Angeles Fire Department’s diversity hiring policies. “They prioritized DEI over saving lives and homes,” Musk wrote, without offering further evidence or explanation.

As the fires exploded in size on Wednesday, Trumpworld seized on the devastation to attack California and its Democratic leadership, as unfounded conspiracies began to spread online. One prolific Trump-supporting account claimed that state leaders “used public funds to house illegals” instead of building infrastructure to store water.

In response, another account baselessly linked the disaster to cloud seeding — a technique that shocks clouds to artificially stimulate rainfall. “Money was spent on cloud seeding to ‘increase rainfall’ even though California has no infrastructure to support it. 80% of rainfall flows back into the ocean,” it said. “It’s on purpose. They want the state reliant on government for water.”.

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