While it's probably no likelier to happen than the proposed cage fight with Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk has accepted a challenge from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. After Musk attacked Maduro over the country's disputed election in dozens of posts on X, the Venezuelan leader issued the challenge to his "archenemy" on Tuesday. "I am not afraid of Elon Musk," he said, per Fox News. "Let's go at it, wherever you want, as we say in Caracas in the neighborhoods. If you want it, I want it, Elon Musk. Just say where." In a post on X Wednesday, Musk said, "If I win, he resigns as dictator of Venezuela. If he wins, I give him a free ride to Mars."
Musk has posted about Maduro more than 50 times this week, using what the Wall Street Journal calls "schoolyard barbs," including calling the leader a "donkey." Eugenia Mitchelstein, an associate professor at the University of San Andres in Buenos Aires, tells the New York Times that Musk only posted about Venezuelan politics once before Sunday and he is using the election to "score very easy political points" in his crusade against leftist politicians. In some posts, Musk has claimed that the US will become like Venezuela if the Democrats win in November, the Times reports.
The Times notes that Musk "could prove a useful foil" for Maduro as he tries to deflect attention from claims of election fraud. Last year, Musk challenged Zuckerberg to a cage fight, then mocked him as a "chicken" after the Facebook founder decided that Musk wasn't serious. Musk taunted Zuckerberg again in a post on X Wednesday, saying, "Maduro is a big guy himself and probably knows how to fight, so this would be a real fight. Zuck is a little fella, so that would be a short fight lol." Musk also challenged Zuckerberg to a "literal d--- measuring contest" last year; things apparently haven't reached that stage with Maduro yet. (More Elon Musk stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
