February 10, 2025 • 8 mins
Marko Elez resigned after racist and eugenicist tweets surfaced, but Elon Musk is bringing him back to DOGE—at the urging of Vice President JD Vance and President Donald Trump. The move followed a public X poll where 78% voted for his return. Now, fierce backlash and political clashes are erupting over what this decision says about accountability in the Trump administration.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast.
This is a show where we discuss the critical crossroads that
shape SpaceX, Tesla X, The Boring Company and Neurolink.
I'm your host Will Walden. Will 1 of DOGE employees, Marco
Alez really get his job back after resigning over doing
(00:23):
racist tweets? But also, why did Vice President
JD Vance and President Donald Trump push for his rehiring
after those tweets were shown? And what does this say about how
the administration views past online behavior now?
Elon Musk announced Friday that Marco is a former staffer at the
Department of Government Efficiency will be rehired after
(00:47):
resigning from a Treasury Department post due to the
exposure of tweets promoting racism and eugenics.
Musk made the decision followinga public endorsement from Vice
President JD Vance and support from President Donald Trump.
Noel has stepped down on Thursday after the Wall Street
Journal questioned the White House about his connection to an
ex account that had posted inflammatory remarks.
(01:11):
And within hours, Elon Musk conducted a poll on X asking
whether Eles should be reinstated to doge.
By Friday morning, the poll had gathered more than 385,000
votes, with 78% of his return inthe favor.
So Vance was among those who publicly backed Eles responding
(01:32):
to Musk's poll by arguing that past social media activity
should not permanently ruin someone's career.
He said. Here's my view.
I obviously disagree with some of Les posts, but I don't think
stupid social media activity should ruin a kid's life.
We shouldn't reward journalists who destroy people ever.
Now Trump, when asked about the situation during a press
(01:55):
conference with Japanese Prime Minister, did not comment
directly on the past remarks butaligned himself with his vice
president. He said, well, I don't know
about that particular thing, butif the vice president said that,
did you say that I'm with the vice president?
Noeles, 25, had been working as part of DOGE, which is a team
(02:17):
assembled by Donald Trump to reduce federal spending and cut
the government workforce. And before his resignation, he
had recently been approved by a federal judge to access the US
Treasury's payment system. The same judge placed
restrictions, and Howeles and other DOGE staffers could share
data from that system. Now, criticism of the past
statements from Ales intensifiedafter the Wall Street Journal
(02:40):
reported on multiple tweets froman account linked to him.
One post from September read Youcould not pay me to marry
outside of my ethnicity. Another from the same month
stated Normalize Indian hate in response to a discussion about
the prominence of Indian professionals in Silicon Valley
(03:04):
now. The revelations prompted a
heated exchange between Vance and Representative Rokhana,
Democrat from California, who questioned whether Les should
apologize before being rehired. Saying are you going to tell him
to apologize for saying normalize Indian hate before
this rehire? Khana, who's Indian American,
(03:24):
asked Vance on X. Just asking for the sake of both
of our kids now. Vance, whose wife is Indian
American, dismissed Khanna's concerns.
He said grow up. Racist trolls on the Internet,
while offensive, don't threaten my kids.
You know what does? A culture that denies grace to
people who make mistakes. A culture that encourages
(03:45):
congressman to act like whiny children.
And in a follow up post, Vance added, You disgust me.
Now, the controversy surroundingLes comes amid a broader push by
the Trump administration to reshape key government agencies.
Since taking office, Trump has removed Democratic commissioners
from the National Labor Relations Board and the Equal
(04:08):
Employment Opportunity Commission.
He has also replaced officials at the Department of Justice and
the FBI. Now we're going to tie all this
together in a little bit, but we're going to stop to take a
break from one of our sponsors. But before we do that, even I
want to tell you about a weird statistic that I've noticed in
the back end here on Spotify andon Apple Podcasts.
(04:32):
That of all the people that listen to the show and there's
10s of thousands of you every month, 100,000 of you every
month. The fact that only about 50% of
you are actually subscribed, that's kind of weird to me
because people listen to the show and they keep listening,
but they never subscribe. I noticed in the statistics that
(04:55):
that's the way it works and all you have to do is hit the
subscribe button real quick. And my promise to you is that I
will continue making episodes for you.
I'll do my best to pump out as many good episodes as possible.
Now, I will continue to make these episodes and if you hit
the subscribe button, you have my word that I'll continue to
(05:17):
make them better. So let's hear from the sponsor
and then we'll get back into theepisode.
Alez, who previously worked for X and SpaceX, has been part of a
group of young consultants brought into DOGE.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright, addressing concerns about DOGE
staffers being given sensitive government access, defended
(05:38):
their role, saying the government is old and maybe a
little bit stodgy. That's what they said in an
interview Friday with NBC or CNBC.
We've got some young kids. Think young gun management
consultants coming in to take a critical look at how things are
run. And reports of service that a
DOGE staffer was granted access to the Energy Department's IT
(05:58):
system, fueling concerns over security protocols.
However, Wright dismissed such worries.
They said I've heard these rumors.
They're like seeing our nuclear secrets.
None of that is true at all. They don't have security
clearances now. Treasury Secretary Scott Besen
also commented on the role of DOGE staffers in his department.
(06:19):
Speaking with Bloomberg on Thursday, Besant confirmed that
he had personally vetted one of the two Treasury employees from
Musk's DOGE team, though he did not specify for Les was among
them, he said. These are highly trained
professionals. This is not some roving band
running around doing things. In the situation surrounding
Eliza's resignation and reinstatement is added to the
(06:40):
ongoing debate over accountability for past online
behavior. Social media posts included
statements beyond those targeting specific ethnic
groups. One post from last summer read,
Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool.
Another, which was a few weeks earlier, stated I would not mind
at all if Gaza and Israel were both wiped off the face of the
(07:03):
earth now. Musk's decision to reinstate
Allez marks another instance of the billionaire using X polls to
influence personal decisions. And Musk has previously polled
users on whether to reinstate banned accounts NX, including
that of Trump, after a suspension in the aftermath of
the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
And by the time Musk declared Allez would be rehired, the
(07:24):
debate had already escalated into a broader discussion about
political loyalty, media scrutiny, and forgiveness.
Now, whether the reinstatement will be the end of this
controversy remains to be seen. There's a lot of work going on
with Elon Musk and Doge in all departments of the government.
(07:44):
We'll see how much money they can strip out, see how much
money they can save America, andalso if they can save it by
doing it legally. There are going to be some
lawsuits in the near future. And we will bring you all of
that information if you subscribe.
So thanks again for subscribing.Hey, thank you so much for
(08:11):
listening today. I really do appreciate your
support. If you could take a second and
hit this subscribe or the followbutton on whatever podcast
platform that you're listening on right now, I greatly
appreciate it. It helps out the show
tremendously and you'll never miss an episode.
And each episode is about 10 minutes or less to get you
caught up quickly. And please, if you want to
(08:31):
support the show even more, go to patreon.com/stage Zero.
And please take care of yourselves and each other.
And I'll see you tomorrow.
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast.
This is a show where we discuss the critical crossroads that
shape SpaceX, Tesla X, The Boring Company and Neurolink.
I'm your host Will Walden. Will 1 of DOGE employees, Marco
Alez really get his job back after resigning over doing
(00:23):
racist tweets? But also, why did Vice President
JD Vance and President Donald Trump push for his rehiring
after those tweets were shown? And what does this say about how
the administration views past online behavior now?
Elon Musk announced Friday that Marco is a former staffer at the
Department of Government Efficiency will be rehired after
(00:47):
resigning from a Treasury Department post due to the
exposure of tweets promoting racism and eugenics.
Musk made the decision followinga public endorsement from Vice
President JD Vance and support from President Donald Trump.
Noel has stepped down on Thursday after the Wall Street
Journal questioned the White House about his connection to an
ex account that had posted inflammatory remarks.
(01:11):
And within hours, Elon Musk conducted a poll on X asking
whether Eles should be reinstated to doge.
By Friday morning, the poll had gathered more than 385,000
votes, with 78% of his return inthe favor.
So Vance was among those who publicly backed Eles responding
(01:32):
to Musk's poll by arguing that past social media activity
should not permanently ruin someone's career.
He said. Here's my view.
I obviously disagree with some of Les posts, but I don't think
stupid social media activity should ruin a kid's life.
We shouldn't reward journalists who destroy people ever.
Now Trump, when asked about the situation during a press
(01:55):
conference with Japanese Prime Minister, did not comment
directly on the past remarks butaligned himself with his vice
president. He said, well, I don't know
about that particular thing, butif the vice president said that,
did you say that I'm with the vice president?
Noeles, 25, had been working as part of DOGE, which is a team
(02:17):
assembled by Donald Trump to reduce federal spending and cut
the government workforce. And before his resignation, he
had recently been approved by a federal judge to access the US
Treasury's payment system. The same judge placed
restrictions, and Howeles and other DOGE staffers could share
data from that system. Now, criticism of the past
statements from Ales intensifiedafter the Wall Street Journal
(02:40):
reported on multiple tweets froman account linked to him.
One post from September read Youcould not pay me to marry
outside of my ethnicity. Another from the same month
stated Normalize Indian hate in response to a discussion about
the prominence of Indian professionals in Silicon Valley
(03:04):
now. The revelations prompted a
heated exchange between Vance and Representative Rokhana,
Democrat from California, who questioned whether Les should
apologize before being rehired. Saying are you going to tell him
to apologize for saying normalize Indian hate before
this rehire? Khana, who's Indian American,
(03:24):
asked Vance on X. Just asking for the sake of both
of our kids now. Vance, whose wife is Indian
American, dismissed Khanna's concerns.
He said grow up. Racist trolls on the Internet,
while offensive, don't threaten my kids.
You know what does? A culture that denies grace to
people who make mistakes. A culture that encourages
(03:45):
congressman to act like whiny children.
And in a follow up post, Vance added, You disgust me.
Now, the controversy surroundingLes comes amid a broader push by
the Trump administration to reshape key government agencies.
Since taking office, Trump has removed Democratic commissioners
from the National Labor Relations Board and the Equal
(04:08):
Employment Opportunity Commission.
He has also replaced officials at the Department of Justice and
the FBI. Now we're going to tie all this
together in a little bit, but we're going to stop to take a
break from one of our sponsors. But before we do that, even I
want to tell you about a weird statistic that I've noticed in
the back end here on Spotify andon Apple Podcasts.
(04:32):
That of all the people that listen to the show and there's
10s of thousands of you every month, 100,000 of you every
month. The fact that only about 50% of
you are actually subscribed, that's kind of weird to me
because people listen to the show and they keep listening,
but they never subscribe. I noticed in the statistics that
(04:55):
that's the way it works and all you have to do is hit the
subscribe button real quick. And my promise to you is that I
will continue making episodes for you.
I'll do my best to pump out as many good episodes as possible.
Now, I will continue to make these episodes and if you hit
the subscribe button, you have my word that I'll continue to
(05:17):
make them better. So let's hear from the sponsor
and then we'll get back into theepisode.
Alez, who previously worked for X and SpaceX, has been part of a
group of young consultants brought into DOGE.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright, addressing concerns about DOGE
staffers being given sensitive government access, defended
(05:38):
their role, saying the government is old and maybe a
little bit stodgy. That's what they said in an
interview Friday with NBC or CNBC.
We've got some young kids. Think young gun management
consultants coming in to take a critical look at how things are
run. And reports of service that a
DOGE staffer was granted access to the Energy Department's IT
(05:58):
system, fueling concerns over security protocols.
However, Wright dismissed such worries.
They said I've heard these rumors.
They're like seeing our nuclear secrets.
None of that is true at all. They don't have security
clearances now. Treasury Secretary Scott Besen
also commented on the role of DOGE staffers in his department.
(06:19):
Speaking with Bloomberg on Thursday, Besant confirmed that
he had personally vetted one of the two Treasury employees from
Musk's DOGE team, though he did not specify for Les was among
them, he said. These are highly trained
professionals. This is not some roving band
running around doing things. In the situation surrounding
Eliza's resignation and reinstatement is added to the
(06:40):
ongoing debate over accountability for past online
behavior. Social media posts included
statements beyond those targeting specific ethnic
groups. One post from last summer read,
Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool.
Another, which was a few weeks earlier, stated I would not mind
at all if Gaza and Israel were both wiped off the face of the
(07:03):
earth now. Musk's decision to reinstate
Allez marks another instance of the billionaire using X polls to
influence personal decisions. And Musk has previously polled
users on whether to reinstate banned accounts NX, including
that of Trump, after a suspension in the aftermath of
the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
And by the time Musk declared Allez would be rehired, the
(07:24):
debate had already escalated into a broader discussion about
political loyalty, media scrutiny, and forgiveness.
Now, whether the reinstatement will be the end of this
controversy remains to be seen. There's a lot of work going on
with Elon Musk and Doge in all departments of the government.
(07:44):
We'll see how much money they can strip out, see how much
money they can save America, andalso if they can save it by
doing it legally. There are going to be some
lawsuits in the near future. And we will bring you all of
that information if you subscribe.
So thanks again for subscribing.Hey, thank you so much for
(08:11):
listening today. I really do appreciate your
support. If you could take a second and
hit this subscribe or the followbutton on whatever podcast
platform that you're listening on right now, I greatly
appreciate it. It helps out the show
tremendously and you'll never miss an episode.
And each episode is about 10 minutes or less to get you
caught up quickly. And please, if you want to
(08:31):
support the show even more, go to patreon.com/stage Zero.
And please take care of yourselves and each other.
And I'll see you tomorrow.
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