The White House has responded to an inflammatory post on X (formerly Twitter) by its owner Elon Musk, who in the wake of an apparent second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump this weekend, suggested that it doesn’t make sense that there haven’t also been publicly known attempts made on the lives of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Responding to a post by another user on the social media platform, which he has owned since 2022, to the question, “Why they want to kill Donald Trump?” Musk wrote on Sunday. “And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala.” 

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO, who often tops the list of the wealthiest people in the world, was immediately beset with users telling him to remove the post but was defiant. The 53-year-old later wrote in one response, “No one has even tried to do so is the point I’m making and no one will.”

After hours of arguments from users that Musk should remove the inflammatory post, he was seemingly ultimately persuaded by an X post from tech entrepreneur Phil Trubey, who wrote that users seem to enjoy misinterpreting “your obvious intent.”

“Fair enough. I don’t want to do what they have done, even in jest,” Musk wrote in reply and deleted the initial tweet. It had already received 40 million impressions on his platform.

On Monday, the CEO walked the whole situation back by referring to the post as a joke, which he indicated he had told to a group of people before posting the dangerous statement online: “Well, one lesson I’ve learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh doesn’t mean it’s going to be all that hilarious as a post on X,” he wrote and later added, “Turns out that jokes are WAY less funny if people don’t know the context and the delivery is plain text.”

Well, one lesson I’ve learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh doesn’t mean it’s going to be all that hilarious as a post on 𝕏— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 16, 2024

In Florida on Sunday, a man with a rifle was spotted by Secret Service agents as Trump played a round of golf. After they fired on the man, he fled in a black Nissan SUV but was soon apprehended and detained. The FBI said it was investigating the incident as an apparent attempted assassination. This would mark the second attempt on Trump’s life after he was grazed by a bullet fired at him at a Pennsylvania rally over the summer.

The White House on Monday released a statement regarding Musk’s suggestion about the nation’s leaders being assassinated.  

“As President Biden and Vice President Harris said after yesterday’s disturbing news, ‘there is no place for political violence or for any violence ever in our country,’ and ‘we all must do our part to ensure that this incident does not lead to more violence,’” the statement read.

“Violence should only be condemned, never encouraged or joked about. This rhetoric is irresponsible,” the White House statement added.

Musk endorsed Trump in July and was promised a job in the former president’s cabinet if he wins back the presidency in November.