As the chairman of the Department of Government Efficiency, billionaire Elon Musk has been laying off thousands of federal employees. On Thursday, he published a message on X that stated, “Hitler did not murder millions of people.” Employees in the public sector did.
“Millions of people were not murdered by Stalin, Mao, or Hitler,” the tweet stated. Their employees in the public sector did.
Musk’s repost, which seems to have been removed, sparked outrage from the Anti-Defamation League and a labor union.
The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees’ president, Lee Saunders, retaliated:
“Teachers, librarians, firefighters, nurses, and other public servants in America put the safety, health, and strength of our communities before their own financial gain.They are not genocidal killers, despite what the wealthiest guy in the world suggests.
“Elon Musk and the billionaires in this administration are unaware of the daily struggles faced by actual people.” Because of this, he is so eager to cut off people’s jobs, Medicaid, Social Security, and Medicare,” Saunders stated.
The tweet was described as “deeply disturbing” by the Anti-Defamation League, a nonprofit organization that works to prevent antisemitism.
In his repost, Musk likened federal employees to three of the most prolific murderers of the modern era.
Six million European Jews were murdered during the Holocaust by Nazi leader Adolph Hitler, who also killed millions more civilians during World War II. Six to nine million Soviet citizens were murdered by dictator Josef Stalin as a result of incarceration, famine, and executions. Additionally, it is estimated that between 30 and 45 million people died from malnutrition and sickness as a result of Mao Zedong’s actions as chairman of the Chinese Communist Party.