'Stalin, Mao, and Hitler didn't murder millions—The public sector did': Elon Musk shares controversial post to defend DOGE job cuts

Elon Musk, a billionaire and Trump supporter, shared a controversial post suggesting that the mass killings under Hitler, Stalin, and Mao were carried out by public sector workers rather than the dictators themselves. The original tweet by Alice Smith (@TheAliceSmith) has garnered thousands of shares.

On Thursday, Musk reshared the post stating: "Stalin, Mao and Hitler didn't murder millions of people. Their public sector workers did." The timing suggests a possible criticism of federal employees targeted for redundancy since Trump's return to the White House through his Department of Government Efficiency.

Whilst the post does not explicitly deny the Holocaust, which claimed over six million Jewish lives during World War II, it appears to deflect responsibility from Hitler. This isn't Musk's first controversy regarding Nazi-related content. The Tesla chief executive previously drew criticism for making a gesture at Trump's January inauguration event that resembled a Nazi salute.



In response to criticism, Musk stated: "Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The 'everyone is Hitler' attack is soo tired." Social media users reacted strongly, with one commenting: "We have reached the "Hitler did nothing wrong" stage of Elon Musk totally not being a Nazi." Another user on X (formerly Twitter) wrote: "Elon Musk is a fascist prick using the same socialist smokescreen that Hitler and Goebbels used. They pretended to care about socialist issues only to attract workers to their Nazi schemes."