In the “Wild West of social networks” it has been the sheriff, the saloon owner and even the pianola player who have shown that it is important to shoot first, but embodied in a single person and doing so by imposing the rules of their game. The simile with the western is from Pedro Sánchez in his speech in Dubai in which . The bullets, again, were put by tycoon Elon Musk, owner of different multinationals, including X – the old Twitter -.
The richest man in the world returned, yesterday, Tuesday, to call the Spanish president , but raising the tone by using a pejorative term with several nuances. ‘Dirty Sánchez’ is as good for naming a villain from the Wild West as it is for describing a sexual practice with its own category in pornographic pages and a racist nod.
“Dirty Sánchez is a tyrant and traitor to the people of Spain (‘He Dirty Sanchez “He is a tyrant and a traitor to the people of Spain’),” Musk said, sharing a video in which the leader of the Spanish Executive announced that the ban on minors would be accompanied by the criminal liability of the directors of the social networks for their algorithms. And completing that assessment, immediately afterwards, with the emoticon of smiling feces.
“Our determination is greater than your wealth”
Pedro Sánchez, about Elon Musk
Musk, director of In that speech by the president of Spain there was a direct allusion to Elon Musk, who was reminded that he is a South African migrant in the US, but despite that condition, “he has used his personal account to amplify misinformation,” while resolving that “his power and influence should not scare us, because our determination is greater than his wealth.”
But to claim that this is the first time that Musk and Sánchez have clashed would be untrue. And in this approach, Sánchez can be replaced by a good list of names of other politicians or personalities whom the CEO of Tesla or Space These are Musk’s main attacks and clashes with figures such as Irene Montero, but also other European leaders such as former federal chancellor Olaf Scholz or the premier British Keir Starmer.
Musk vs Sánchez: hoaxes, a ‘wow’ and a reply with a ‘punch line’
The more than 200 million followers that Elon Musk has on his X account are added to an algorithm that prioritizes his prolific and constant messages and shared publications. In fact, this last format is one of its favorites to echo hoaxes, hate messages, conspiracy theories – that of is one of its regular ones – or falsehoods. The example is in the publication that led to the first clash with Pedro Sánchez.
Neither did he quote Sánchez, nor did he publish his opinion. Musk simply shared a message accompanied by a surprising – and probably without legal danger – “Wow.” What did the shared message say? He alluded to the news of the massive regularization of half a million migrants in Spain, but presented it with the following fallacy: “Spain has just legalized 500,000 illegal immigrants to defeat the extreme right.” Yes, both actively and passively, and which had even been detailed in the American elite press, such as o The Washington Post.
“It’s not even a secret anymore. By legalizing 500,000 illegal immigrants under the pretext of defeating the extreme right, Pedro Sánchez is taking off his mask. This is electoral engineering,” continued the tweet that got Elon Musk “wow.” Of course, Musk did not respond with surprise – or without it – to the multiple comments that pointed out that regularization does not give the right to vote in general elections.
But then there was a second ‘wow’, that of an unexpected response that already accumulated. Sánchez entered the conversation very faithful to his dialectical style, with a brief but forceful: “Mars can wait. Humanity can’t (‘Mars can wait. Humanity, no.’)” Nor did he need to pronounce his name or defend himself against a full-fledged ‘fake news’.
Perhaps for that reason, Musk entered at full speed, escalating the rhetoric while destroying any hint of elegance in the oratory, charging against ‘Dirty Sánchez’ who reminded him that he is another migrant from Africa on American soil. Sánchez’s response also ignited a regular on the Spanish far-right in the feed of responses to Musk. A Hermann Terstch sneaked in, calling Sánchez a “scoundrel.”
It is worth remembering that there was not always discomfort between Sánchez and Musk, in fact, when the tycoon starred with President Donald Trump, the owner of Tesla spoke of the potential of Spain and Italy in terms of renewable energy – surprise, a point of clash between Musk and Trump – to supply energy to the entire continent. Sánchez answered, but positively and with an offer to learn about the technological deployment of green energy carried out in Spain.
“We are already implementing the most ambitious plan towards an efficient and sustainable energy system. All sectors participate,” Sánchez explained in response to Musk’s proposal that “Spain should build a huge solar park.” The Spanish president also did not miss the opportunity to say that “we welcome investors in Spain.”
Musk vs Irene Montero: the genocidal accusation carries a reminder of the ‘Epstein case’
The regularization of migrants in Spain has been a point of friction that has led Musk to also clash with another well-known policy of our country. Podemos MEP and former Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, became the object of multiple criticism and attacks for a fragment of a speech in which she celebrated the agreement with the PSOE that gave way to the decree for the regularization of migrants.
In that intervention, Montero made a play on words or metaphor with the ‘theory of the great replacement’, wishing that this replacement would be of working people, regardless of the color of their skin, over fascists, racists and freeloaders. Specifically, Montero said that “I want to ask migrant and racialized people to please not leave us alone with such an appearance. Of course we do want them to vote. We have obtained papers, regularization and now we are going to get nationality and change the law so that they can vote.”
And, at that moment, it was when he alluded to the theory defended by the extreme right and white supremacists: “Hopefully ‘replacement theory’, I hope we can clean this country of fascists and racists with migrant people, with working people. Of course I want there to be replacement. Replacement of fascists, of racists, of freeloaders and that we can do it with the working people of the country, regardless of their skin color.” Beyond the harangue and the margins of political discourse, he did not hesitate to use that cut as a throwing weapon. But the surprise was that even Elon Musk joined in.
Once again, she opted for the strategy of commenting on a publication unrelated to her own, specifically that of a well-known far-right militant, who shared the words of Irene Montero indicating that “this woman, who calls for the replacement of white people, is married to a white man and has three white children” and that “this level of betrayal, not only towards her own people, but towards her own children, can only be described as extreme pathology or pure evil, or both.”
Musk opined that “[Montero] “is advocating genocide” and that it is “absolutely despicable.” The one who represents one of the greatest political assets of the purple formation did not hesitate to respond, but she did so more harshly than Sánchez, also in English and faithful to her biting style. “Which day/night will be the wildest party on your island? (‘What day/night will be the wildest party on your island?’)”, he snapped at the beginning of the answer.
No, it wasn’t a phrase with a double meaning, it was a quote. These are Musk’s own words in an email to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, one of the many revelations in the millions of documents that the US declassified about the pedophile and about which the technocrat has been trying to defend himself for days. After that first dart, Montero responded to the accusations that he seeks a genocide and that he supports a kind of great replacement, again, ironizing that racist theory.
“Of course, decent people — who make up the majority of humanity — must replace you. Urgently. So that you stop raping, bombing, kidnapping children, and killing“(‘Of course, decent people—who constitute the majority of humanity—must replace you. Urgently. So that you stop raping, bombing, kidnapping children and killing,'” Montero snapped.
Musk vs… ¿Europa?
Can it be understood that Musk has taken it upon himself with Spanish politics? Not even close, since the richest man in the world has been putting pressure on Old Europe for several years, which he places in moral decline and accuses of opening its borders for an invasion of migrants to replace the native society. Nothing new and outside the parameters of the speech of Vox or any other European ultra party. In fact, it is the terrain in which Musk feels most comfortable on a European scale.
He has given a digital speaker to billions of people to the leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany, Alice Weidel, interviewing her in a podcast broadcast on This has led him to have clashes with other European leaders.
For example, do you remember when Musk celebrated the election results that returned Trump to the White House… with a gesture similar to the Roman salute and with all its fascist connotations? The then Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz took advantage of his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos to remember that although freedom of expression prevails in Europe and Germany, allusions to Nazism are prohibited in his country.
The words of the social democratic leader did not please Musk, who responded with a play on words that suggests that ‘Dirty Sánchez’ was not his first day on Twitter. “Shame on Oaf Schitz! (‘Shame on you Oaf Schitz!’)” replied the tycoon, playing with the term ‘oaf’, clumsy in English, and the last name modified so that it phonetically resembled the term ‘shit’, that is, shit. The former German president even used the classic slogan “Don’t feed the troll!” (‘Don’t feed the troll!’) to leave a veiled response.
