Elon Musk announced on Friday his decision to rehire a former DOGE staffer, Marko Elez, who resigned from a Treasury Department post following the exposure of his tweets advocating for racism and eugenics. Musk's decision came after both Vice President JD Vance and former President Donald Trump endorsed the reinstatement of the staffer.
On Musk's social media platform, X, he reacted to Vance's recommendation by stating that Elez would be brought back to his position at DOGE. Musk commented, "To err is human, to forgive divine," highlighting his inclination towards forgiveness in response to social media activity.
Earlier that day, when Trump was asked about Elez's controversial posts and Vance's supportive stance, Trump aligned himself with the vice president. "Well, I don't know about the particular thing," Trump remarked during a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, adding, "But if the vice president said that... I'm with the vice president."
Elez tendered his resignation on Thursday after inquiries from The Wall Street Journal to the White House about his connection to an X account responsible for the inflammatory tweets.
On Friday morning, Musk initiated a public poll on X asking users whether Elez should be rehired to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The poll, which concluded with over 385,000 votes, saw 78% participants favoring Elez's return.
Vice President Vance weighed in on the poll, expressing that while he disagreed with some of Elez's posts, he did not believe "stupid social media activity should ruin a kid's life." He criticized journalists who aimed to "destroy people" and reiterated that Elez should be given another chance.
Following the poll, Vance engaged in a heated exchange with Rep. Ro Khanna over a particularly offensive post linked to Elez's account. Khanna questioned Vance about seeking an apology before rehiring Elez, while Vance retorted that Khanna should "grow up," adding that racist trolls online don't pose a direct threat to his family.
Vance, known for his Scots-Irish heritage, further expressed disdain in another post, stating, "You disgust me."
Elez was part of the DOGE team, a group tasked with cutting federal spending and reducing the U.S. workforce, initiatives spearheaded by Trump. In September, Elez's account tweeted, "You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity," and in the same month, it posted, "Normalize Indian hate," commenting on the prevalence of Indian individuals in Silicon Valley.
These posts surfaced after Vance had been chosen as Trump's running mate. Vance's wife, Usha Vance, is the first Indian American and Hindu to serve as the second lady of the United States.
Previously, the same account boasted, "Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool," and even suggested, "I would not mind at all if Gaza and Israel were both wiped off the face of the Earth."
Musk, who also serves as Tesla's CEO, emphasized through his poll whether Elez should be reinstated despite his inappropriate statements made under a now-deleted pseudonym.
