Alexander Muse aka (@amuse on 𝕏) is one of the largest political accounts on the American right: half a million followers on 𝕏, a daily op-ed habit spread across (at least) three Substacks, and sources inside the administration, Congress, and the Texas statehouse.
Elon Musk has replied to his posts more than 25 times by PolitiFact’s outraged count, Karoline Leavitt and Donald Trump Jr. are among his followers. Combined, his channels reach around ten million Americans a month.
We caught up in late August to discuss the Texas Senate race and who could be voted off Trump Island next.
This interview has been edited for length. All answers are his own.
Let’s establish first who you are, and where you sit in Republican politics.
I’ve been on 𝕏 since 2007. In a previous life I was a tech entrepreneur, and in the startup world being a conservative was the kiss of death, so I just didn’t tell anyone where I stood. After January 6 I was banned. Elon bought 𝕏 and restored my account, and I grew it from maybe 200,000 followers to half a million pretty quickly. Now I do 𝕏 full time: daily op-eds, a newsletter I send to GOP donors. And people from the administration, from Congress, from state politics start contacting you. They give you leads, they give you scoops, and you build a bigger and bigger base of sources. I don’t consider myself a journalist. I’m a commentator with opinions on policy, and I try to share them in a format that’s easily consumed by policymakers. One in a hundred pieces I write suddenly makes a difference.
Can you think of a story where you’ve been really ahead of the curve, either from your own sourcing or your political instincts?
The cabinet selection process, between the election and January 20. I had really good sources in the room, and there was a relatively small group of people gaming out who was going to be picked for each role. What shocked me was the political consultants, the people who run the campaigns and the super PACs, and the outsized influence they have on picking who runs the country. I watched consultants torpedoing their own clients.
Why would someone attack their own client?
Say you’re on the short list for Attorney General of the United States, and you’re currently the attorney general of some state. Your consulting firm wants you to run for Senate in the midterms instead, because a consultant makes a huge percentage of the spend on a Senate race. So they go out and say our own client isn’t confirmable, he’s got all these problems. They’ve done the opposition research, so they’re using their own oppo against their own candidate. The sausage is pretty ugly.