‘Normalize Indian Hate’: JD Vance Supports Musk’s Protege Ousted From DOGE for Past Racist Posts
- Despite the spiteful and xenophobic posts, Marko Elez could be re-hired by the recommendation of Vice President Vance who said “not to reward journalists who try to destroy people.”
Vice President JD Vance wants Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to rehire a staff member who resigned after he was linked to social media posts that espoused racism. Marko Elez resigned yesterday (Feb. 6) after The Wall Street Journal linked the 25-year-old DOGE staffer to a deleted social media account on X that advocated for racism and eugenics.
In its report, The Journal mentions several of Elez’ hate-filled tweets, against many ethnicities, including Indians. In a post in September, the account wrote: “Normalize Indian hate,’ which The Journal says is “in reference to a post noting the prevalence of people from India in Silicon Valley.
While Elez was called out for his racism by many on social media, Vance’s support for him is surprising, given that his wife Usha is an Indian American, a daughter of Indian immigrants from Andhra Pradesh.
Replying to a poll Musk launched on X asking users whether the staffer should be rehired. Vance replied that Elez should rejoin DOGE. “Here’s my view: I obviously disagree with some of Elez’s posts, but I don’t think stupid social media activity should ruin a kid’s life,” Vance wrote on X. “We shouldn’t reward journalists who try to destroy people. Ever,” said Vance, referring The Journal’s story. “So I say bring him back,” Vance wrote. “If he’s a bad dude or a terrible member of the team, fire him for that.”President Donald Trump later endorsed Vance’s recommendation.
The Wall Street report came after it said it had “established links between 25-year-old Elez and a social media account on Musk’s platform, X, that was deleted in December.” The @nullllptr account previously went by the username @marko_elez, The Journal reported. “The user behind the @nullllptr also described themselves as an employee at SpaceX and Starlink, where Elez has worked,” The Journal said, citing archives of Elez’s personal website.
In its report, The Journal mentioned several of Elez’ hate-filled tweets, against many ethnicities. ““I was racist before it was cool,” read on post, while another said: “You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity,” the Journal reported.
The Journal shared another post from the account. “I would not mind at all if Gaza and Israel were both wiped off the face of the Earth,” @nullllptr wrote.
Just before he was let go, Elez had been approved by a federal judge along with another DOGE staff member to have access to the payment system at the U.S. Treasury, but the judge restricted his ability to share data from the system.
Elez was among six young engineers tasked with modernizing software and technology to increase efficiency and productivity within government agencies. Among them is Akash Bobba – a New Jersey native and Berkley graduate d technology to increase efficiency and productivity within government agencies. News reports indicate that though Bobba has an impressive resume for a 22-year-old, he and his colleagues do not have any experience in government affairs. As India Today notes, the new hires, “all aged between 19 and 24, some barely out of college and one reportedly still in one, has raised concerns about their qualifications and potential access to sensitive government data.”
According to a report inWired, Bobba is listed in internal government records as an “expert” at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). He directly reports to Amanda Scales, “the new chief of staff who was previously involved in hiring at Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI,” the report said. He has been “working emails at the General Services Administration (GSA) emails and A-suite level clearance at the agency with access to all physical spaces at IT systems, Wired reported, citing sources.