The Washington Post scrapped an upcoming print ad from a pair of advocacy groups calling for the firing of Elon Musk as head of the Department of Government Efficiency. The nixed wrap ad — one of two ads purchased for $115,000 by Common Cause and the Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund that were slated to run on Tuesday — shows the White House superimposed over Musk with a bright red backdrop and the caption “Who’s running this country: Donald Trump or Elon Musk?” The wrap adds that Musk has “created chaos and confusion” and “is accountable to no one by himself.” “The Constitution only allows for one president at a time,” the wrap notes. The pair of ads are part of a petition from Common Cause and SPLC to “raise a massive public outcry demanding US lawmakers take action before more damage is done.” At the time of publication, the petition had 95,556 signatures. The ads come as President Trump has given Musk’s DOGE apparent free rein to bulldoze the federal workforce as the duo looks to slash the federal budget, though Trump insists Musk does nothing without his approval. Musk and his staff have been hampered to some degree by recent lawsuits, but the media mogul’s carte blanche has led to speculation that he is the real power behind the Resolute Desk. After sending the Post the artwork on February 11, Common Cause was told three days later that the Post would not be able to run the wrap, a spokesperson for the group told CNN. The advocacy groups had signed a contract with the Post and were waiting for a final review from the newspaper before sending over the funds. When the advocacy group asked the Jeff Bezos-owned outlet whether there was anything they could do to alter the wrap to make it more suitable, they were simply told that the Post could not run it. “When we asked questions, they said they couldn’t tell us, but they didn’t want to lose the whole commission, so they were wanting to run the interior ad,” the spokesperson said. “The interior ad was not a problem.” The second ad, which was slated to appear inside the paper’s physical Tuesday edition, echoes the wrap’s messaging, featuring a full-sized photo of Musk with the caption “no one elected Elon Musk to any office.” Though the Post was amenable to publishing the inside ad, Common Cause told the paper to forget it and walked away.
via cnn: Washington Post opted not to publish anti-Musk ad campaign after initially being open
