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Vinod Khosla, Elon Musk debate over Trump on X
Indian-American businessman Vinod Khosla and billionaire Elon Musk engage in a public verbal sparring match over Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump
Vinod Khosla and Elon Musk / (Photo Courtesy: @vkhosla/X, @elonmusk/X)
Within hours of US President Joe Biden withdrawing his ambition to face Republican opponent Donald Trump for re-election, prominent Indian-American businessman Vinod Khosla and billionaire Elon Musk engaged in a public verbal sparring match over the next US President.
While Khosla demanded an "open convention" for the Democrats to select "a more moderate" candidate, Musk replied by urging Khosla to put his weight behind Republican Donald Trump and his running mate J.D Vance. This set off their X (formerly Twitter) debate over Trump.
After Biden's announcement, The Indian-American wrote on X, “Time to have an open convention and get a more moderate candidate who can easily beat @realDonaldTrump. @GovWhitmer and @GovernorShapiro would be a great thing for America not held hostage between MAGA extremists and DEI extremism…”
Time for @GovWhitmer, @GovernorShapiro, @GovAndyBeshear, @KamalaHarris to step up and declare candidacy ASAP. Too much is at stake to not have a proper process at the convention, hopefully with ranked choice voting there.
— Vinod Khosla (@vkhosla) July 21, 2024
To this, the CEO of X, Tesla, and SpaceX replied, “Come on, Vinod. Trump/Vance LFG!!”. In response, Khosla explained why he would never support Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, who "lies, cheats, demeans women and hates immigrants.”
"He may cut my taxes or reduce some regulation but that is no reason to accept depravity in his personal values. Do you want a President who will set back the climate by a decade in his first year? Do you want his example for your kids as values?," Khosla questioned Musk.
Hard for me to support someone with no values, lies, cheats, rapes, demeans women, hates immigrants like me. He may cut my taxes or reduce some regulation but that is no reason to accept depravity in his personal values. Do you want President who will set back climate by a… https://t.co/2E7FqQUjH2
— Vinod Khosla (@vkhosla) July 21, 2024
Musk retorted by acknowledging that the former president has his flaws but his government will uphold meritocracy and individual freedoms. Musk also claimed that Trump does not dislike Khosla, who is known to be a Democratic donor.
“Meet him and find out for yourself. I'm not suggesting that Trump is without flaws, however, we need an administration more likely to be meritocratic and promote individual freedoms over the heavy hand of government,” Musk replied.
However, Khosla did not back down and argued that meritocracy and individual freedoms are not enough for him to support Trump, who disregards climate policies and abandons his morals.
“But abandon climate and "drill baby drill? Be MAGA (Make America Great Again) and abandon NATO and American leadership and moral authority. I was a socially liberal registered fiscal Republican till climate made me switch to Independent,” Khosla said referring to Trump’s speech at the Republican National Convention(RNC) where he said that he would “drill oil” in the country.
Agree on not trusting media. Agree on meritocratic and promote individual freedoms. But abandon climate and "drill baby drill? Be MAGA and abandon NATO and American leadership and moral authority? I was a socially liberal registered fiscal Republican till climate made me switch…
— Vinod Khosla (@vkhosla) July 21, 2024
Musk replied to this too by saying that civilization still needs oil and gas. "I don't think we should demonise an industry that is essential for humanity to function,” he said adding that despite Trump’s policies the sustainable fuel industry is growing and continue to grow.
Civilization does need oil & gas for quite some time. I don’t think we should demonize an industry that is essential for humanity to function.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 22, 2024
However, as you know, sustainable energy production and consumption is growing very rapidly and is tracking to exceed use of…
Musk also argued that the United States pays “absurdly higher than other allies” for the maintenance of NATO. He questioned, “Why are American taxpayers paying for the defense of Europe when Europe is fully capable of doing so itself?”. Khosla has not responded to this tweet.
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