Elon Musk sparks outrage over social repost
Elon Musk sparked more controversy after reposting a social media post comparing federal workers to three of the modern era’s greatest killers.
WASHINGTON − Billionaire Elon Musk, who has been cutting thousands of federal workers as the head of Department of Government Efficiency, on Thursday reposted a message on X saying “Hitler didn’t murder millions of people. Public sector employees did.”
The post read: “Stalin, Mao, and Hitler didn’t murder millions of people. Their public sector employees did.”
Musk’s repost, which now appears to be deleted, drew furious reactions from a labor union and the Anti-Defamation League.
Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, fired back:
“America’s public service workers — our nurses, teachers, firefighters, librarians — chose making our communities safe, healthy and strong over getting rich. They are not, as the world’s richest man implies, genocidal murderers.”
“Elon Musk and the billionaires in this administration have no idea what real people go through every day. That’s why he’s so willing to take a chainsaw to people’s jobs, Medicaid, Social Security and Medicare,” Saunders said.
The Anti-Defamation League, a nonprofit that seeks to combat antisemitism, said the post was “deeply disturbing.”
“It is deeply disturbing and irresponsible for someone with a large public platform to elevate the kind of rhetoric that serves to undermine the seriousness of these issues,” the group said on social media. Musk has more than 219 million followers on X.
Musk’s repost compared federal workers to three of the modern era’s greatest killers.
Nazi leader Adolph Hilter led the murders of six million European Jews in the Holocaust and caused the deaths of millions more civilians in World War II. Dictator Josef Stalin killed between six and nine million Soviet citizens through executions, starvation and imprisonment. And Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong’s policies are estimated to have killed between 30 million and 45 million people through starvation and disease.
Musk’s repost comes at a time when his attack on the federal government has spurred “Tesla Takedown” protests, with Tesla owners being harassed and multiple dealerships being vandalized across the nation.
Back in January, Musk sparked controversy with a gesture that drew comparisons to the Nazi salute while speaking at an inaugural event for President Donald Trump.
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Back then, the ADL defended Musk’s gesture as “awkward,” while it was being panned by critics.
“It seems that @elonmusk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people are on edge,” read ADL’s post.
Since the “Tesla Takedown” protests began, Tesla stock has plummeted, plunging by close to 50% since its peak in December.
Trump hosted an event at the White House on Wednesday to showcase his support for Tesla.
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House Correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal
