Is Elon Musk’s reckless and odd behavior with his social media toy finally catching up with him?

Major advertisers are starting to flee X, formerly known as Twitter, as Musk seemingly leans into antisemitism and conspiracy theories such as Pizzagate.

The latest to apparently jump off the X bandwagon is The Washington Post. Washingtonian’s Andrew Beaujon reports that the Post will pause its advertising on X.

Beaujon writes, “The decision follows owner Elon Musk’s bizarre embrace of the utterly debunked ‘Pizzagate’ conspiracy theory on Tuesday. It’s not really worth going into the mechanics of what led one of the world’s richest people down the same dumb rabbit hole that caused Edgar Maddison Welch to enter Comet Ping Pong in Northwest DC with a gun almost seven years ago today. But it’s of a piece with Musk’s recent praise for an antisemitic conspiracy theory that has reportedly cost X, formerly known as Twitter, more than $75 million in revenue and caused some media companies to distance themselves from the platform altogether.”

The Hill’s Dominick Mastrangelo reports Musk took down a meme he had posted about Pizzagate following backlash, but he already has done plenty of damage to himself and his brand. As NBC News’ Ben Goggin pointed out, “Elon Musk has boosted the ‘pizzagate’ conspiracy theory five times in the last two weeks.”

The post that Musk put up and then deleted was still seen by more than 15 million people, according to The Washington Post’s Drew Harwell, who also wrote that Musk’s “embrace of far-right messages has coincided with an exodus among some of X’s most notable users.”

CNN’s Oliver Darcy reported on Monday that not only have major advertisers stopped advertising on X, but they have stopped posting on it, too. Darcy wrote, “The flagship accounts belonging to Disney, Paramount, Lionsgate, Sony Pictures, Universal, and Warner Bros. Discovery (CNN’s parent company) have not posted on the platform in roughly 10 days, following Musk’s disturbing endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory, which he still has not apologized for.”

Is all this a permanent thing? Well, as Darcy notes, “It is, of course, possible that these companies will reverse course down the road and resume posting and even advertising on the platform. It would not be the first time that has happened after advertisers have fled an outlet en masse. But it’s also possible that won’t happen.”

As far as The Washington Post, Beaujon writes that the decision to cease advertising is “​​effective this week and that its ads should stop running on Musk’s platform soon.”

Meanwhile, talking about X, Rob Flaherty, a deputy Joe Biden campaign manager, told Politico’s Eugene Daniels, “We look at it as an increasingly hostile place. It was initially a place that its value was for communicating with elites and reporters and high-information people. But it was also a place where politics could move into culture in a real way and access discreet communities like Black Twitter or Latino Twitter or all these sorts of places where things could happen and bubble up.”

Now, Flaherty added, the site is dominated by “a lot of hate right wing actors and disinformation.”

That doesn’t mean Biden’s camp is ready to flee X. They need to remain in the conversation and, despite others trying to elbow their way into the social media space, X remains a dominant force. Daniels writes, “Some also fear that leaving X could create a vacuum of misinformation, disinformation and bad news that would go unchecked.”

On the topic of the Post …

Back in October, The Washington Post told staff that it would offer voluntary buyouts in hopes of reducing its staff by 240.

On Tuesday, however, Post interim CEO Patty Stonesifer told staff that there will be layoffs if 240 people don’t take the buyouts. Only half — about 120 or so — have accepted the buyouts so far.

In a grim memo, Stonesifer told staff, “We want everyone to understand that we need 240 acceptances to help restore The Post’s financial health. We have made the decision, if we fall short of this goal, to implement involuntary layoffs in those areas where we have already identified that positions do not need to be replaced, where work can be reassigned more efficiently or where we can otherwise achieve cost savings. These layoffs would offer significantly less generous benefits than the voluntary package and will be consistent with prior layoff packages at The Post.”

The Daily Beast’s Corbin Boiles reported that Post executive editor Sally Buzbee told staff in an email that about 36 of the 120 who accepted the buyouts are from the newsroom. She said that’s about “about 30 percent of our goal across the News department.”

Overall, the Post has approximately 2,500 employees.

Sad, but expected

Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich, shown here from a Russian courtroom in October. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

For the third time, Russia has extended the detention of Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich. He will be detained until at least Jan. 30 of next year.

Gershkovich has been held on charges of espionage since March. The Wall Street Journal and United States government vehemently deny Gershkovich is a spy. The U.S. considers him “wrongfully detained” and has called for his immediate release.

In a statement, the U.S. Embassy wrote, “Today, U.S. Embassy representatives attended the hearing of wrongfully detained WSJ journalist Evan Gershkovich at the Lefortovo Court. We are deeply concerned by the court’s decision to extend his detention for an additional two months. Evan has already been in pretrial detention without legal grounds for almost eight months. We reiterate our call for Evan’s immediate release.”

The Wall Street Journal said in a statement, “Evan has now been unjustly imprisoned for nearly 250 days, and every day is a day too long. The accusations against him are categorically false and his continued imprisonment is a brazen and outrageous attack on a free press, which is critical for a free society.”

Trump’s hold on some Christians

As I mentioned in Monday’s newsletter, The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta has a new book coming out Dec. 5 called “The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism.”

Alberta, who considers himself a Christian and is the son of an evangelical pastor, writes about the American evangelical movement.

On Tuesday, The Atlantic published an adapted excerpt from his book in a piece titled, “My Father, My Faith and Donald Trump.”

As he did in a piece for “CBS Sunday Morning,” Alberta recounts being confronted at his father’s funeral by churchgoers saying he was a part of the deep state and a part of an evil plot to undermine God’s ordained leader of the United States — Donald Trump. Alberta’s criticisms of Trump, he was told, were tantamount to treason — against both God and country. And that he should be ashamed.

Alberta wrote about a young man named Chris Winans who succeeded his father at the church. Winans didn’t like guns and was bothered by Trump’s antics and held views that riled much of the congregation.

Alberta writes, “Almost immediately after Winans moved into the role of senior pastor, at the beginning of 2018, the knives came out. Any errant remark he made about politics or culture, any slight against Trump or the Republican Party — real or perceived — invited a torrent of criticism. Longtime members would demand a meeting with Dad, who had stuck around in a support role, and unload on Winans. Dad would ask if there was any substantive criticism of the theology; almost invariably, the answer was no. A month into the job, when Winans remarked in a sermon that Christians ought to be protective of God’s creation — arguing for congregants to take seriously the threats to the planet — people came to Dad by the dozens, outraged, demanding that Winans be reined in. Dad told them all to get lost.”

It got worse for Winans after Alberta’s father died.

Alberta writes, “People at Cornerstone began confronting their pastor, demanding that he speak out against government mandates and Black Lives Matter and Joe Biden. When Winans declined, people left. The mood soured noticeably after Trump’s defeat in November 2020.”

Alberta later adds, “When a popular church staffer who had been known to proselytize for QAnon was fired after repeated run-ins with Winans, the pastor told me, the departures came in droves. Some of those abandoning Cornerstone were not core congregants. But plenty of them were. They were people who served in leadership roles, people Winans counted as confidants and friends. By the time Trump supporters invaded the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, Winans believed he’d lost control of his church. ‘It’s an exodus,’ he told me a few weeks later.”

Speaking of which …

Check out this clip with Peter Wehner, who worked in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and both Bushes, on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” talking to Christians about Trump.

Among Wehner’s comments: “You’ve jettisoned almost everything that you claim to most cherish in your life to make inner peace with this man who’s a sociopath, an unfiltered sociopath. He’s undisguised in who he is and what he wants to do.”

Wehner said Trump’s words don’t push people away from him, but seemingly draw them closer. He added, “It’s just a sickening episode in the history of American politics and in the history of American Christianity.”

One more critical book about Trump

Former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney, shown here at an event in New York in June. (Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)

Former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney also has a book coming out on Dec. 5 called “Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning.”

CNN’s Jamie Gangel, Jeremy Herb and Elizabeth Stuart report that, in her book, Cheney condemns Republicans and party leaders as “enablers and collaborators” who were “willing to violate their oath to the Constitution out of political expediency and loyalty to Donald Trump” in the aftermath of the 2020 election.

Cheney was vice chair of the House’s Jan. 6 committee, which looked into Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Cheney’s book goes behind the scenes of the investigation and calls out Republicans who admitted they knew Trump lost but tried to help him anyway.

For instance, Cheney writes that Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy went on Fox News and said Trump won the election, but she added, “McCarthy knew that what he was saying was not true.”

She also calls out fellow Republicans such as Congressmen Jim Jordan of Ohio and Mark Green of Tennessee. Cheney claims Green once said, “The things we do for the Orange Jesus.”

The CNN story has plenty more details teasing Cheney’s book, but I’ll just relay one more. On Jan. 6, insurrectionists were approaching the Capitol, and the building went into lockdown.

Cheney wrote, “Jim Jordan approached me. ‘We need to get the ladies off the aisle,’ he said and put out his hand. ‘Let me help you.’ I swatted his hand away. ‘Get away from me. You (expletive) did this.’”

Media tidbits

• TV star and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says on the “All the Smoke” podcast that season 16 will be his last on “Shark Tank.” The show is currently in season 15. And The Dallas Morning News’ Brad Townsend reports that Cuban is in the process of selling a “significant percentage of the (Mavericks) to Miriam Adelson, the widow of Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.” Townsend added that Cuban will continue to have operational control of the NBA team even though Adelson would own greater than 50% of the franchise.
• Forbes with the “30 Under 30” in media.
• The Washington Post’s Timothy Bella with “Sandy Hook families offer Alex Jones a deal to settle $1.5 billion debt.”
• USA Today’s Patrick Ryan with “Robert De Niro says Apple, Gotham Awards cut his anti-Trump speech: ‘How dare they do that.’”
• Variety’s Brian Steinberg with “Sean Hannity Aims to Keep Opinion Out of Fox News’ Newsom-DeSantis Debate: ‘The Less of Me, Probably, the Better.’”
• Florida author Tim Dorsey, who wrote more than two dozen novels about a unique character named Serge Storms, has died. He was 62. The Tampa Bay Times book critic Colette Bancroft wrote that Dorsey had recently been having health problems. Before his successful career as a book author, Dorsey worked as a reporter at The Alabama Journal and The Tampa Tribune.

Hot type

• The New York Times Book Review with “The 10 Best Books of 2023.”
• And from The New York Times Magazine, Brett Martin with “I Wanna Be Curated: Can You Really Put Punk in a Museum?”

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