Every once and awhile, leftists reveal their anti-capitalist ideology for all to see. Such was the case with former Twitter CEO Richard Costolo on his Twitter account last night.
News had broken that digital currency exchange Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong had "discouraged employee activism and political discussions at work.” This set Costolo off on an anti-capitalist rant in a discussion with another Twitter user. Costolo wrote in response to Armstrong: “Abandoning the social contract with employees in favor of a purely economic contract in the guise of ‘championship team’ bs makes you a bank with a mission nobody really believes. Good luck getting the best engineers in the world to work at a bank.”
Later, Costolo unleashed his inner Vladimir Lenin, “happily” offering video commentary on the shooting of “me-first capitalists” if a “revolution” were to take place:
Me-first capitalists who think you can separate society from business are going to be the first people lined up against the wall and shot in the revolution. I'll happily provide video commentary, [emphasis added.]
That tweet has not been flagged by Twitter or deleted for violation of its “glorification of violence policy.” This is a brazen display of hypocrisy against how activist the platform has been in censoring President Donald Trump and conservative voices.
When the Minneapolis riots were underway in May, Trump tweeted that he had spoken to “Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!” Twitter censored Trump by placing an interstitial, or a filter, over the tweet with a warning label that said: “This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence.”
This is a massive double standard.
The Twitterverse, however, erupted at Costolo, but likely not in the way communists and leftists would appreciate.
Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton didn’t pull any punches in his Twitter retort: “The Left wants to kill you.”
Congressman Lance Gooden (R-TX) pivoted off of Costolo’s Leninist screed to warn followers about the dangers of Big Tech bias. Gooden tweeted: “If you still don’t think there are SERIOUS bias and censorship issues in Big Tech, check out what this former Twitter CEO has to say.”
Former New York State Assemblyman and Founder of Americans Against Antisemitism Dov Hikind used Costolo’s rant to underscore the hypocrisy of leftists using fascism while claiming to be anti-fascists. Hikind tweeted: “The former CEO of Twitter suggests capitalist consumers will ‘be the first people lined up against the wall and shot in the revolution,’ to which he added sinisterly, ‘I’ll happily provide video commentary.’” He continued: “That’s the entire course textbook on How ‘AntiFascists’ Become Fascist!”
National Review senior writer David Harsanyi reminded Costolo in a retweet that Americans have the right to keep and bear arms to protect themselves against things like a communist “revolution”: “Fortunately, the right people have the guns in this country.”
The Prager University Twitter account immediately called out Twitter’s hypocrisy for its long and sad history of selective censorship: “This is fine but anyone who even dares mention a certain possible COVID-19 treatment gets suspended immediately, right @Twitter?”
The Dispatch Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder Jonah Goldberg went for the jugular. Having written the book “Liberal Fascism,” Costolo’s leftist screed was an ideal target for Goldberg to rip to shreds: “Aside from the moral idiocy of this. How about a little self-awareness. You used to run this Hellsite. Would you say your contribution -- as a business person -- to society is in the black or the red?”
Conservatives are under attack. Contact Twitter's leadership at (415) 222-9670 or by tweeting at the official @Twitter account, @TwitterSafety, or Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey @Jack and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
MRC Assistant Editor Corinne Weaver contributed to this report.
