𝐄𝐋𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐊 𝐓𝐎 𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐇𝐈𝐌 "𝐅𝐀𝐑 𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓": "𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐍𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐋 𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄"

A reporter tried to brand Elon Musk's politics as fringe. He didn't flinch. - M.A. Rothman

“𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘺 — 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯? 𝘠𝘦𝘴. 𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘨𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 10 𝘰𝘳 15 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭.” Musk said. “𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 — 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 '𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵'?”

Then he laid out the trick the media plays to make ordinary positions look extreme: 

“𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘖𝘣𝘢𝘮𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘏𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘺, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘣𝘺 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱? 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦, 𝘰𝘩 𝘸𝘰𝘸, 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳. 𝘈𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘣𝘺 𝘖𝘣𝘢𝘮𝘢. 𝘖𝘳 𝘏𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘺.”...