Elon Musk announces hiring of former DOGE employee Marco Allez
Washington, DC: Elon Musk’s announcement that he will rehire Marko Elez, a former employee of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), who was sacked for tweeting racist remarks, has sparked a new controversy in the United States, according to The Hill.
After many racist messages from a now-deleted account were made public by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Elez resigned on Thursday (US local time), according to The Hill. One tweet from September allegedly stated, “You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity,” while another wrote, “Normalize Indian hate.”
“Bring back @DOGE staffer who made inappropriate statements via a now-deleted pseudonym?” Elon Musk requested in an X poll. which 78 percent of respondents said “yes.”
After US Vice President JD Vance cited Musk’s article on X, Musk decided to rehire Elez. Musk stated, “He will be brought back,” in his message. Errors are human, but forgiveness is divine.
“I don’t think stupid social media activity should ruin a kid’s life,” Vance said, expressing issue with some of Elez’s remarks. He also pushed for giving Elez another opportunity, saying that he should only be dismissed “if he’s a bad dude or a terrible member of the team.”
Because his wife, Usha Vance, is Indian, VP Vance’s remarks attracted notice. The United States’ first Indian-American second lady is Usha Vance, an Indian-American lawyer. Her parents are immigrants from India, originally from Andhra Pradesh. US-born and raised, Usha attended renowned universities like Yale and Cambridge to finish her studies.
Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna, however, criticized Vance’s comments and asked whether Elez will provide an apology for his post that said, “Normalize Indian hate,” before being rehired.
In response, Vice President Vance defended his stance, saying that a society that “denies grace to people who make mistakes” is the real danger to his children, not racist online bullies.
VP Vance continued his statements by pointing out that his children will form opinions throughout their lives, saying, “They will develop views that they later think are wrong or even gross.” I’m grateful that I was raised in a society that valued learning and growth, where I was able to own up to my errors and provide forgiveness to others.
Congressman Khanna restated his previous position in his response to the vice president, stating, “If you are going to rehire someone to represent you & the USA, why not require he apologize for saying “normalize Indian hate?” He maintained that grace is not withheld from individuals who make errors.
Racism against individuals of Indian descent has been a topic Khanna has previously discussed. He denounced individuals who targeted Sriram Krishnan, an Indian-born man who was named Senior Policy Advisor for Artificial Intelligence at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy by President Donald Trump in December of last year.
