Elon Musk has reposted a tweet suggesting that Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong were not responsible for murdering millions of people.
The post, amplified by Musk to his 219.6 million followers, blamed “public sector workers” for the atrocities carried out in the name of some of the most barbarous tyrants in modern history.
It was unclear whether the DOGE boss was seeking to defend the infamously ruthless former leaders of Germany, China, and the Soviet Union, or looking to encourage debate over the mass killings carried out in their names.
The MAGA billionaire shared a post on his X platform by an account with the username @TheAlice Smith that read: “Stalin, Mao and Hitler didn’t murder millions of people. Their public sector workers did.”
By highlighting a post blaming “public sector workers” and painting them in a negative light, Musk is likely to draw the ire of the thousands of federal staffers his Department of Government Efficiency has targeted for job cuts and slashed budgets during the unrelenting purge of government departments since Donald Trump returned to the White House.
While the post doesn’t suggest a denial of the Holocaust that left six million Jews dead during World War II, as it appears to concede that millions were murdered, it will almost certainly raise questions once more about Musk’s motivation in promoting such a controversial message.
The Tesla CEO faced a storm of criticism for a gesture at a Trump inauguration event in January that was remarkably similar to the Nazi salute used by Hitler and his followers. The controversial gesticulation was subsequently celebrated and aped by neo-Nazis and other far-right groups.
Musk was condemned by Jewish leaders, but later condemned his critics on X, saying: “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is soo tired.”
The world’s richest man didn’t add any comment to his repost on Wednesday night.
Six million Jews were systematically killed as a result of Hitler’s maniacal quest for what he saw as racial purity during his reign as Germany’s Führer between 1933 and 1945, when he shot himself in his Berlin bunker as Allied troops stormed the German capital towards the end of World War II.
Stalin, who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953, had nearly a million of his own citizens murdered and millions more are thought to have perished in forced labor camps, famine, and massacres under his regime.
“Chairman” Mao Zedong founded the People’s Republic of China and led the country from 1949 until his death in 1976. During that time, tens of millions died as a result of maltreatment, starvation, and Communist Party purges.
