Elon follows the Trump playbook

Picking fights is the surest way to consolidate power on Twitter.

In 2011, Donald Trump began tweeting. Embodying the pugnacious persona he’d developed on The Apprentice, Trump used Twitter to pick fights. He picked fights with comedian Rosie O’Donnell. He launched diatribes against China and Iran. He subscribed to conspiracy theories about global warming and President Obama’s birth certificate. His tweets were design…