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# Elon Musk Calls New York Times ‘Mouthpiece of the State’ Over Headline Calling Deep State ‘Kind of Awesome’Zachary LeemanMar 19th, 2024, 11:12 am(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)**Elon Musk **called the New York Times a “mouthpiece of the state” over an opinion piece calling the “deep state” actually “kind of awesome.”“**Donald Trump** is obsessed with “the deep state.” We went on a road trip across the U.S. to find the people behind this scary-sounding entity. Turns out, they’re kind of awesome,” the New York Times wrote on X, formerly Twitter, when promoting the work by **Adam Westbrook** and **Lindsay Crouse**.The story is based around a video of a collection of interviews with government workers from the Environmental Protection Agency and elsewhere.“As we met the Americans who are being dismissed as public enemies, we discovered that they are … us. They like Taylor Swift. They dance bachata. They go to bed at night watching “Star Trek” reruns. They go to work and do their jobs: saving us from Armageddon,” the Times piece reads.The headline for the piece (“It Turns Out the ‘Deep State’ Is Actually Kind of Awesome”) quickly caught fire on social media and earned a fair amount of critics, including Musk.“They are the mouthpiece of the state,” Musk wrote.**Glenn Greenwald** and others also targeted the New York Times over the choice in phrasing.Musk’s shot at the New York Times follows his heated interview with **Don Lemon**, which debuted Monday on X, the platform Musk owns.***New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"**Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!*Tags: Deep StateElon MuskNew York TimesZachary Leeman covered pop culture and politics at outlets such as Breitbart, LifeZette, BizPac Review, HollywoodinToto, and others. He is the author of the novel Nigh. He joined Mediaite in 2022.