Elon Musk recently sparked controversy by sharing a post suggesting that mass killings under Hitler, Stalin, and Mao were carried out by public sector workers rather than the dictators themselves. The original post, shared by Alice Smith (@TheAliceSmith) and later quoted by X user Rothmus (@Rothmus), caught the attention of the tech billionaire, who then reposted it. The post stated: “Stalin, Mao and Hitler didn’t murder millions of people. Their public sector workers did.”
While the post does not explicitly deny the Holocaust, in which over six million Jewish lives were lost during World War II, it appears to shift responsibility away from Hitler.
Ironically, Musk reshared the post just days after the Trump administration announced it was withholding approximately $4 million in grants and contracts from Columbia University. The decision came amid accusations that the university failed to curb pro-Gaza protests, which were deemed antisemitic and harmful to Jewish students. The timing of Musk’s post also coincides with discussions about federal employee layoffs, a key issue linked to Donald Trump’s return to the White House and his Department of Government Efficiency.
The post has ignited a heated debate. Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) under the AFL-CIO, issued a sharp rebuttal to Musk’s remarks. Condemning the suggestion that public sector workers were responsible for historical mass killings, Saunders stated: “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’s Nazi salute controversy
Musk has previously faced backlash over Nazi-related controversies, including criticism for making a gesture at Trump’s January inauguration event that some likened to a Nazi salute.
In January this year, during President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, Musk placed his right hand over his heart, then extended his arm outward at an upward angle, palm down, repeating the motion toward the audience behind him. He concluded by saying, “My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured.”
The gesture drew criticism from various quarters. Politicians such as Yolanda Díaz, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Jerry Nadler, along with historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, viewed it as reminiscent of a Nazi or Roman salute.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then defended the Tesla CEO stating he “is being falsely smeared” and that “the radical leftists are really upset that they had to take time out of their busy day praising Hamas to call me a Nazi”. Netanyahu then added “Elon is a great friend of Israel” and has “repeatedly and forcefully supported Israel’s right to defend itself against genocidal terrorists”.