Right-wingers celebrate reports of Elon Musk’s Twitter deal going through and anticipate Trump’s return

Musk purchases social media giant and fires top executives

Republicans and conservatives are celebrating reports that Tesla billionaire Elon Musk has closed his $44bn purchase of the social media company and now awaiting a potential return of former president Donald Trump to the platform.

On Friday, Mr Musk is said to have fired three top executives and CEO Parag Agrawal, according to The Washington Post.

He is believed to have sacked chief financial officer Ned Segal, Vijaya Gadde, the head of legal policy, trust and safety, and general counsel Sean Edgett.

Republicans have hailed the Tesla chief executive’s move to complete his takeover of the company, claiming it will pave way for the former president to return to the mainstream social media platform after being banned from it.

Republican House representative from Texas, Dan Crenshaw, tweeted: “RT if you’re going to start using Twitter more now that [Elon Musk] just took over, walked into HQ like a boss, and fired the CEO.”

Far-right Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene also celebrated Mr Musk’s takeover as “freedom of speech” in a tweet.

Mr Trump was banned in early 2021 from Twitter, Instagram and Facebook following his false claims that the 2020 presidential elections were stolen that led his supporters to storm the US Capitol Hill on 6 January last year.

Several conservatives welcomed Mr Musk’s move and rejoiced after he tweeted “The bird is freed” on Friday.

“This quote will go down in history,” tweeted Florida House of Representatives member Anthony Sabatini.

Other Republicans and supporters of the former president said the move hailed the beginning of a new era of freedom of speech.

Mr Musk had earlier changed his Twitter description to “Chief Twit”.

Mr Musk had until Friday to complete his deal for the social media giant or face a court battle to try and back out of the purchase.