Levin's incendiary report, which Vanity Fair's website displayed as a news item, bore the provocative title, "Report: Ron DeSantis Will Formally Announce His 2024 Bid With Elon Musk, Because Apparently David Duke Wasn't Available." David Duke, known for his previous association as the grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, had also pursued the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988.
The article drew more attention to the author's bias than to the subject matter itself, leading to a wave of online backlash. Levin, a politics correspondent for the Condé Nast publication, suggested that Republican Governor Ron DeSantis was preparing to launch his 2024 presidential campaign in a Twitter conversation with Musk due to the supposed unavailability of other "neo-Nazi sympathizers."
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Levin's inference that Musk, the South African Twitter CEO, might harbor neo-Nazi sympathies is founded on hyperlinked claims that the social media platform has witnessed a rise in hate speech following Musk's takeover.
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However, the author fell short of assigning total responsibility for all views expressed on Twitter to Musk. Instead, she alleged that the tech titan had uttered and done "terrible things." Levin cited a previously compiled list of Musk's statements that she found annoying.
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Levin concluded her piece by stating, "Anyway, just as a reminder, a DeSantis presidency is as terrible a prospect as a Trump one."
David Sacks, co-founder of Craft Ventures and co-host of the podcast "All In," responded to Levin's piece with the comment, "The media has lost its mind." Musk retorted with a jest, "Looks like Babylon Bee has some competition for satire."
In response to Ashley St. Clair of the Babylon Bee, who suggested that "This is a mental illness," J.D. Haltigan, a developmental and evolutionary psychopathologist, attributed Levin's seeming meltdown to an "evolving pathocracy."
Brodsky, a seasoned journalist contributing to several publications, criticized the piece's placement in the "news" section. She said, "This article belongs in the 'Slander Op-Ed section,' certainly not the news section."
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She added, "to compare Elon Musk to an actual white supremacist and a former Grand Wizard of the KKK/neo-Nazi sympathizer—all for interviewing a Republican presidential candidate ... is not just bad journalism. It's outright slander. And it should be denounced by anyone who believes in actual journalism."
Meanwhile, Christina Pushaw, the rapid response director for DeSantis' 2022 re-election campaign, commented via Twitter, "They're losing their position as gatekeepers ... and they can't handle it."
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