Tesla CEO Elon Musk after being appointed by US President Donald Trump to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has sparked several controversies involving USAID, racism, DOGE, and US Treasury payments data.

Recently, Musk decided to rehire Marko Elez, a former DOGE employee, after an X poll showed overwhelming public support. 

Tesla’s CEO polled users on whether Elez, who resigned over his past racist social media posts, should be reinstated. With 78% voting in favour, Musk announced Elez’'s return, stating, “To err is human.”  

Elez, 25, stepped down on Thursday after his past posts resurfaced online. In one now-deleted post, he wrote, “Normalise Indian hate,” while another read, “You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity.” A post from July further stated, “Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool.”

Trump administration supporting racism?

On Friday, Musk shared a poll captioned, “Bring back DOGE staffer who made inappropriate statements via a now-deleted pseudonym?” 

This post saw a 78% positive response, while just 22% voted against his rehiring.

Meanwhile, reacting to Musk’'s post, US Vice President J D Vance said, “Here’s my view: I 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 team member, fire him for that,” he added.

To this, Musk replied, “He will be brought back. To err is human, to forgive divine.”

Indian-origin Congressman Ro Khanna chips-in debate

In the rehiring row of Elez, Vance and Indian-origin Congressman Ro Khanna indulged in a war of words.

"Are you going to tell him to apologise for saying 'Normalise Indian hate' before this rehire? Just asking for the sake of both of our kids," Khanna came down on Vance's tweet.

Replying to Silicon Valley Congressman, Vance said, "For the sake of both of our kids? 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 congressmen to act like whiny children."

To this, Khanna replied, "No one is denying grace to people who make mistakes. I respect Usha (praised her publicly) & defended your family from some of the vicious attacks. But if you are going to rehire someone to represent you & the USA, why not insist he apologize for saying 'Normalise Indian hate?'"

The war of words continued after Vance took another dig at Khanna saying, "I don't even worry that much about trolls on the internet. You know what I do worry about, Ro? That they'll grow up to be a US Congressmen who engages in emotional blackmail over a kid's social media posts. You disgust me," he added.

Finally, the Indian-origin Congressman said, "Saying I am 'whiny' & 'you disgust me' maybe your way of showing strength. Personally, I don't think you have to hurl insults or be mean-spirited to have a free exchange ideas. Our country, at its, best (Lincoln/Douglass) was not like that and you at your best JD were not either."

The USAID row

In a separate controversy, Aravind Srinivas, an Indian-origin CEO of Perplexity AI, just stirred the pot in the USAID shutdown controversy—directly challenging Elon Musk. 

Taking a playful jab at the Tesla chief, Srinivas posted on X: “Considering raising $500B from USAID. Funding secured. Stop me if you can @elonmusk.”

His remark follows the Trump administration’s recent decision to dismantle USAID, calling it the biggest mass firing in government history. Labelling the agency ‘corrupt’, the administration dismissed thousands of its officials.  

Musk himself had previously criticised USAID, calling it a “criminal organisation” that deserved to be shut down.

Notably, a federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump from placing 2,200 workers at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on paid leave, hours before it was due to happen.