A staff member of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a newly formed department in the Trump administration headed by Elon Musk, resigned after his racial social media posts from the past surfaced online. However, he will likely be reinstated.
As per reports, the DOGE employee named Marko Elez (25) was fired after The Wall Street Journal reported some racist posts by a now-deleted X account linked to him. Elez had reportedly posted inflammatory remarks last year from a pseudonymous account.
“Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool,” he posted in July last year. In another post made in September, he said, “You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity”. In the same month, Elez posted, “Normalise Indian hate”. The posts no longer exist. The information of Elez’s resignation was confirmed by White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt.
Elon Musk held a Twitter poll after Elez’s resignation asking X users whether he should be reinstated. 78 per cent votes came in favour of reinstating him.
Bring back @DOGE staffer who made inappropriate statements via a now deleted pseudonym?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 7, 2025
While disagreeing with Elez’s racist posts, US Vice-President J D Vance, who is married to someone of Indian origin, came out in his support and said that he should be given a second chance. Vance commented on the Twitter poll held by Musk and said, “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. We shouldn’t reward journalists who try to destroy people. Ever. So I say bring him back. If he’s a bad dude or a terrible member of the team, fire him for that.”
Here’s my view:
— JD Vance (@JDVance) February 7, 2025
I obviously disagree with some of Elez’s posts, but I don’t think stupid social media activity should ruin a kid’s life.
We shouldn’t reward journalists who try to destroy people. Ever.
So I say bring him back.
If he’s a bad dude or a terrible member of… https://t.co/OgG6Z3hKPE
Responding to Vance’s comment, Musk said that Elez would be brought back. “To err is human, to forgive is divine,” Musk wrote.
🫡
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 7, 2025
He will be brought back.
To err is human, to forgive divine. https://t.co/TV6SJIb5P6
Marko Elez, a computer science major from Rutgers University, worked for Musk at SpaceX, including on Starlink satellites and X. He also co-founded a startup named Unimetrics.io that connected high-school students with their mentors to help them with their college applications.
