Inside Bernie Sanders' Feud With Elon Musk

Bernie Sanders has never been scared of criticizing billionaires or wealth inequality. And the senator recently proved that he's still as fired up as ever by sparring with Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder Elon Musk on Twitter. "We are in a moment in American history where two guys — Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos — own more wealth than the bottom 40% of people in this country," the Vermont politician tweeted on March 18, 2021. "That level of greed and inequality is not only immoral. It is unsustainable." Musk's net worth has been estimated to be as high as $185 billion.

Per The Independent, Sanders has been focused on income inequality as the new chair of the Senate's critical Budget Committee. The senator said in a recent statement that the US is "moving toward an oligarchic form of society where the very rich are doing phenomenally well, and working families are struggling in a way that we have not seen since the Great Depression." Bernie Sanders went on to say that big corporations should be taxed fairly, while treating "their employees with the dignity and respect they deserve."

Elon Musk shot back at Bernie Sanders by claiming that his wealth would lead to improved space travel and multi-planetary development. After the website CleanTechnica published an attack on Sanders for his comment, Musk replied to their article on Twitter, writing, "I am accumulating resources to help make life multiplanetary & extend the light of consciousness to the stars." The senator wasn't impressed by his defense, however.

"Space travel is an exciting idea, but right now we need to focus on Earth and create a progressive tax system so that children don't go hungry, people are not homeless and all Americans have healthcare," Sanders tweeted in response to Musk. "The level of inequality in America is obscene and a threat to our democracy."

As The Independent reported, this isn't the first time Musk and Sanders have clashed. In 2020, the politician pointed out the amount of government subsidies Tesla had received, tweeting, "Every time Elon Musk pokes fun at government assistance for the 99%, remember that he would be worth nothing without $4.9 billion in corporate welfare." 

In response, the South African billionaire called him a "docile puppet of big oil."