Elon Musk Brings Election Denier Mark Finchem Back to Twitter
Finchem, who wants to oversee voting in Arizona, has a penchant for conspiracy theories.
Elon Musk has let Mark Finchem, a far-right conspiracy theorist running for Arizona secretary of state, back on Twitter.
Finchem had complained Monday on Facebook that Twitter had blocked his account. His plight caught the attention of Jenna Ellis, a Newsmax contributor and advisor to former President Donald Trump. She quickly called on Musk to do something about it.
“Looking into it,” Musk replied. Within an hour, Finchem was back online.
“We are back! Thank you @elonmusk for stopping the commie who suspended me from Twitter a week before the election. Twitter is much better with you at the helm,” Finchem tweeted.
Musk has owned Twitter for all of four days and has already wreaked havoc on the platform. After completing his $44 billion purchase on Friday, he promptly fired several top executives.
On Monday, he also fired the entire board of directors, leaving himself the sole decision-maker.
Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” had promised Twitter would not become a “free-for-all hellscape” under his leadership and that there would be a review board for content moderation and allowing banned accounts back online.
Considering he seems to be the entire board now, the results of those reviews leave something to be desired.
Finchem is one of the most hardcore conspiracy theorists running in the midterms. A 2020 election denier, he also embraces many conspiracies that even most MAGA Republicans won’t.
He has accused former Vice President Mike Pence of plotting both a coup to topple Trump and to steal the presidency in 2024. Finchem has also said he is a member of the Oath Keepers.
If he wins, he will have massive influence over elections in a crucial swing state.