In a recent online debate, Indian-American billionaire Vinod Khosla and Tesla CEO Elon Musk clashed over their views on Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy following President Joe Biden’s decision to not run for the 2024 election and his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.
Vinod Khosla, an OpenAI investor and Democratic donor, advocated for an “open convention” to select a more moderate candidate. He proposed Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro as potential alternatives to Harris, emphasizing the need for a president who is neither extreme right nor overly progressive.
“Time to have an open convention and get a more moderate candidate who can easily beat @realDonaldTrump. @GovWhitmer and @GovernorShapiro would be a great thing for America not held hostage between MAGA extremists and DEI extremism. Unique opportunity for a better moderate path. Every socially liberal, climate, and fiscal voter should want it to balance our approach,” Khosla tweeted.
Elon Musk, who recently endorsed Trump, responded by encouraging Khosla to support a Trump-Vance ticket. “Come on, Vinod. Trump/Vance LFG!!” he tweeted.
Khosla firmly rejected Musk’s suggestion, criticizing Trump for his personal values and policies. “Hard for me to support someone with no values, lies, cheats, rapes, demeans women, hates immigrants like me,” he replied. “He may cut my taxes or reduce some regulation, but that is no reason to accept depravity in his personal values. Do you want a President who will set back climate by a decade in his first year? Do you want his example for your kids as values?”
Musk countered by asserting that Trump does not harbor animosity towards Khosla and that his administration would support meritocracy and individual freedoms. “He doesn’t hate you. In fact, I think he likes you. Meet him and find out for yourself. How many times have you read something in the media where you know the real story, but what they printed was diabolically false? Well, it’s way worse in politics, which is a blood sport,” Musk said.
While acknowledging Trump’s flaws, Musk emphasized the need for an administration that favors meritocracy and individual freedoms over heavy government intervention. “Many years ago, that was the Democratic Party, but now the pendulum has swung to the Republican Party,” Musk added.
Khosla agreed on the importance of meritocracy and individual freedoms but raised concerns about Trump’s environmental policies and his potential impact on American leadership and moral authority. “Agree on not trusting media. Agree on meritocracy and promoting individual freedoms. But abandon climate and ‘drill baby drill’? Be MAGA and abandon NATO and American leadership and moral authority? I was a socially liberal registered fiscal Republican till climate made me switch to Independent,” he said.
In a subsequent tweet, Khosla questioned Musk’s willingness to forgive Trump for his actions on January 6th, related to the insurrection. Musk did not respond to this query.
Vinod Khosla, a prominent venture capitalist and co-founder of Sun Microsystems, hosted a fundraiser for Biden in May and previously endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016. While he has not endorsed Kamala Harris, he continues to advocate for an “open convention” and “ranked choice voting” to better reflect the will of the people.
