Ever since he started stumping for Donald Trump at rallies across the US, Elon Musk’s social media posts have become more frequent and frenzied. But one cause in particular has recently captured the attention of the world’s richest man: the plight of Peanut the squirrel.
Over the weekend, the billionaire entrepreneur posted roughly 20 times about the animal, claiming that its “execution” at the hands of officials in New York was an example of “government overreach” and using its alleged “martyrdom” to push claims of Democratic authoritarianism.
Peanut — also known by the aliases P’Nut or PNUT — was an orphaned squirrel that became a social media star after being taken in by Mark Longo in 2017. Along with another rescue animal, Fred the racoon, he was taken from Longo’s home on Wednesday by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The agency said it had gotten complaints that wildlife was being kept illegally and potentially unsafely at the home and confirmed on Friday that Peanut and Fred had been euthanized so they could be tested for rabies, after the squirrel bit someone involved in the investigation.
Before his death, tens of thousands of users on Instagram, TikTok, and other social media platforms had followed Peanut as he sported tiny hats, performed tricks and nibbled on waffles clutched in his little paws.
“The government should not be allowed to barge into your house and kill your pet! That’s messed up,” Musk wrote on X on Saturday evening in reply to his own post, showing an AI-generated squirrel dressed as a Star Wars character. “Even if it is illegal to have a pet squirrel (which it shouldn’t be), why kill PNut instead of simply releasing him into the forest!??”
“Government overreach kidnapped an orphan squirrel and executed him …” he added.
It is unclear exactly why the billionaire has become so obsessed with the story of Peanut specifically, though he is known for his love of memes and pop culture, as well as trolling others online. Since his death, Peanut has become something of a martyr for the online MAGA movement.
Musk himself has since used the story to push scare-mongering claims about the Democratic Party’s stance on other issues including gun laws, crime, and legacy media.
A meme post pinned to the top of Musk’s X account — which has almost 203 million followers — claims “if they will raid a house for a squirrel, they will sure as shit come after you.”
Replying to a post from a user, which stated that a “taxpayer funded agency raiding a man’s house to murder his rescue pets is just plain evil,” Musk wrote “yeah!” “Also, the legacy media says you’re far right if you care about the government killing pet squirrels …” he added.
In reply to another post claiming that Democratic states “seem to care more about euthanizing squirrels than arresting burglars and drug dealers,” Musk replied, baselessly, “worth noting that criminals vote overwhelmingly for Democrats, because they are the soft-on-crime party.
“The Democratic Party is literally the party of criminals! Just a statement of fact.”
Another meme, shared by the billionaire, appeared to cynically address the Democrats’ stance on the Second Amendment and stricter gun control laws. “Support the right to bear arms!” he said.
