Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk Fight On X Over Donald Trump's Election Chances
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, two of the richest men in the world, got into a small disagreement on X late Wednesday night. All over President-Elect Donald Trump's reelection chances.
Musk was instrumental in Trump's campaign and has been part of the transition team, frequently photographed with Trump, amid promises to revamp the government's spending and efficiency through the appropriately named DOGE Agency. And he posted on Wednesday that he was told, at Mar-a-Lago, naturally, that while he believed Trump would win re-election, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos didn't.
Per Musk, Bezos believed that a Harris election win would mean disaster for Tesla and SpaceX stock, as Democrats would turn their attention to punishing Musk for daring to campaign against him.
"Just learned tonight at Mar-a-Lago that Jeff Bezos was telling everyone that @realDonaldTrump would lose for sure, so they should sell all their Tesla and SpaceX stock," Musk posted.
But Bezos immediately denied it, responding to Musk from his X account with a simple: "Nope. 100% not true."
Musk accepted it, replying "Well, then, I stand corrected," with a crying laughing emoji.
LANCASTER, Pa. - SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk speaks during an America PAC town hall on October 26, 2024 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Musk donated more than $75 million to America PAC, which he co-founded with fellow Silicon Valley venture capitalists and tech businessmen to support Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
Richest Men On Earth Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos Getting Into Social Media Disagreements
Musk and Bezos have a combined estimated net worth of nearly $540 billion, and are widely considered to be the two richest people on earth. And they're fighting on social media, just like the rest of us.
How many times in history has the public been able to see the two wealthiest people in modern times disagreeing with each other like this, in real time? In a way, it's comforting to see that all the money in the world doesn't change the human desire to argue on the internet.
In another way though, underneath Musk's post, which has no specific source attached to it, only Elon repeating what he said he heard, is a more sinister truth. Bezos may not have told friends and family to sell Tesla and SpaceX stock ahead of the election, but he'd have been justified in doing so.
There's little doubt that the Democrat Party would have weaponized their power at a federal level to make Musk's life harder because he campaigned against them. Particularly if they'd gotten control of the House and retained the Senate. And that's a legitimately terrifying premise.
Musk's crime is that he left the Democrats and campaigned with Trump because of his belief that unrestrained illegal immigration would be immensely damaging to the country, among many other right-wing priorities. For that, his accomplishments at Tesla and SpaceX could have been attacked by politically motivated Democrats.
That's all they care about, and they're more than happy to wield the power of federal agencies to make life harder for those who disagree with them. Even the richest man in the world.