Elon Musk attacks Ro Khanna, they call each other robber and may head to court
If his X posts are an indication, Elon Musk believes American politician Rohit Khanna, more popularly known as Ro Khanna, is a robber because of
If his X posts are an indication, Elon Musk believes American politician Rohit Khanna, more popularly known as Ro Khanna, is a robber because of the way he has made money in the stock market. Ro Khanna, meanwhile, is using the same word to describe Musk, calling him a "robber" as he equates the billionaire with "robber barons" of late 19th century America. Read Full Story Well, Elon Musk is beefing again publicly and this time he is taking a shot at US politician and Congressman Ro Khanna. The trigger seems to be Khanna's criticism of Musk’s stint at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). According to Khanna, Musk slashed government funding for a number of programmes without due diligence and that it resulted in real-world harm to people. Appearing on the I've Had It podcast, Khanna criticised Musk's work at DOGE and how it eventually led to dismantling of USAID.
Referring to a study published in The Lancet, Khanna claimed that reduction in the USAID funding had devastating consequences for vulnerable people. "They're celebrating that (Musk) created 4,400 millionaires (after the SpaceX IPO), but they don't talk about 4.5 million children whom he possibly sentenced to death by dismantling USAID," Khanna said during the podcast. Khanna, a Democrat who is considered left of the centre on political and policy spectrum, then suggested that Musk "needs to answer for that." Musk, who is not a fan of politicians like Khanna who earlier argued for higher taxes on billionaires, hit back. He threatened legal action against the Congressman and accused him of making false claims. Responding on X, the social media platform he owns, Musk fired back. Reacting to reports of Khanna's remarks, he wrote: "Time to sue this liar." The Tesla and SpaceX CEO later defended DOGE's approach, arguing its aim was to ensure aid money was reaching legitimate recipients.
"The reality is that money was being sent to corrupt politicians under the guise of aid," Musk wrote in another post. The exchange soon became more personal. Musk repeatedly referred to the Khanna as "Ro the Robber" and accused him of questionable stock trading activity. In one post, Musk wrote: "Liars and stock insider traders like Ro the Robber should be in prison!!" He also responded with a simple "Yes" to another post that suggested Khanna should be arrested. After Musk threatened to sue him, Khanna told CNBC that he was willing to debate the billionaire on live television. He also termed Musk a robber, quoting an X post. "Ro against the Robber Barons of our time," he wrote. Often some people nowadays term Silicon Valley billionaires “robber barons”. Originally the term was used in the late 19th century for ultra rich like Andrew Carnegie and J P Morgan, who were accused of amassing big fortunes after "robbing" the public through their business practices.
The BriefWire