As he gave his millions of followers a view into his private life, the embattled CEO of Twitter, Elon Musk, referred to the US Constitution as the “most cherished item on my bedside table.”
In response to a fan account dubbed “Musk University,” the self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” posted a snapshot of three books: “The Declaration of Independence,” “The Constitution of the United States of America,” and “Washington’s Rules of Civility.”
The account, which is dedicated to Musk’s previous views, shared the following quotation from the billionaire on Monday: “The Constitution is larger than any President. “End of tale”
Musk replied, “May it forever remain thus.” It is the most prized possession on my nightstand.
This is the second time in the past two months that Musk has shared a photo of his nightstand.
In November, Musk uploaded a photo that featured a framed image of George Washington crossing the Delaware River during the American Revolution.
The photo also featured Washington’s Flintlock weapon, a book set, four cans of Diet Coke, a Vajra Dorje from Tibetan Buddhism, and a cosplay Diamond Back.357 revolver from the computer game “Deus Ex: Human Revolution.”
“My nightstand,” Musk captioned the image. “I have no justification for my lack of coasters.”
Since his $44 billion acquisition of the social media site in late October, Musk has been pummeled by negative publicity. He has fired more than fifty percent of the staff, suspended journalists who have been critical of him, and threatened to remove the application from Apple’s App Store.
During a Twitter Spaces group audio conversation last week, Musk called a software engineer a “jackass” and a “moron” following a dispute regarding Twitter’s code.
During a phone chat sponsored by noted hacker and ex-Twitter employee George Hotz on Wednesday, Musk stated that Twitter would require a “complete rewrite of the whole thing” if it desired “very high velocity.”
Musk’s notion was ridiculed by Ian Brown, a Netflix developer who previously worked for Twitter.
“Seriously, a complete rewrite? What do you anticipate regarding the velocity?” Brown said.
Musk said “Yes”
“When you say a complete rewrite, are you referring to the skeleton?” asked Hotz.
“Or a group of engineers might gather around a whiteboard and ask, ‘What is Twitter?’” Reformation or revolution?”
Brown answered with a “hysterically laughing” emoji.
In November, Musk tweeted a photo of his nightstand, which had imitation weapons and a photograph of George Washington leading troops across the Delaware River.
Elon Musk’s Twitter page
Musk responded, “You have to either modify the existing crazy stack or rewrite it.”
Again, Brown interjected, questioning Musk about what he actually meant and whether he could “break it down.”
“Who are you?” demanded an irritated Musk.
“Why do you ask who I am? I’m not sure! You gave me the microphone!” Brown said.
Brown continued, “I mean, guy, you’re in control of the servers and programming and anything else.”
Late in October, Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion.
Getty Images for The Metropolitan Museum of Art
“What does the stack consist of, Elon?” Bring me from the top down. How does the stack now appear? What is so outrageous about it? What distinguishes this stack from every other large-scale system on earth, buddy? C’mon!”
“Amazing! You’re a jackass!” Musk replied.
“Haha, ok! I have no credibility here, responded Brown.
Then, Hotz muted Brown.
“Good! “What an idiot,” exclaimed Musk.
The dispute began a day after Musk stated that he fired half of Twitter’s employees and trimmed expenses to plug a $3 billion budget hole.
Reporting supplemented by Thomas Barrabi
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