Vice President JD Vance got into a heated online spat with Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna after the vice president called for the rehiring of a staffer who quit over racists post.
The former staff member in question was Marko Elez, a former SpaceX employee who joined the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under billionaire Elon Musk.
But the 25-year-old left his position after the Wall Street Journal linked Elez to a now deleted social-media account where he posted in support of eugenics and advocated racism under a pseudonym.
Some of the posts included ‘Normalize Indian hate’ and ‘I was racist before it was cool.’
On Friday morning, Musk posted on X asking his more than 216 million followers whether he should bring back the staff who made what he called ‘inappropriate statements.’
That’s when Vance alson chimed in with his own take on X.
‘I obviously disagree with some of Elez’s posts, but I don’t think stupid social media activity should ruin a kid’s life,’ wrote the vice president, whose wife Usha is the daughter of Indian immigrants.
Vance claimed they should not ‘reward journalists who try to destroy people,’ so Elez should be brought back.
Vice President JD Vance and Congressman Ro Khanna got into a nasty spat on X over whether a former DOGE employee should be reinstated after he quit for making racists posts
Khanna, who is also the son of Indian immigrants, responded to Vance online where he asked the vice president whether he would tell Elez ‘to apologize for saying “Normalize Indian hate”‘ before he’s rehired.
‘Just asking for the sake of both of our kids,’ the progressive California lawmaker wrote.
But that did not sit with the vice president who fired back less than two hours later ‘For the sake of both of our kids? Grow up.’
‘Racist trolls on the internet, while offensive, don’t threaten my kids,’ Vance claimed.
‘You know what does? A culture that denies grace to people who make mistakes. A culture that encourages congressmen to act like whiny children,’ the vice president continued.
Khanna quickly responded a second time where he argued that no one is ‘denying grace to people who make mistakes,’ in another post on X.
‘I respect Usha (praised her publicly) & defended your family from some of the vicious attacks,’ the congressman said, referencing the second lady.
‘But if you are going to rehire someone to represent you & the USA, why not insist he apologize for saying “Normalize Indian hate?”‘ Khanna pressed.
Vance’s response to Khanna after the congressman weighed in on Vance calling for Elez to be reinstated after he left DOGE
The California Congressman’s follow up to Vance’s attack about congressmen being ‘whiny children’
Vance’s original post where he called Marko Elez a ‘kid’ and said DOGE should bring him back
Marko Elez was one of two employees at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) granted access to the Treasury payment system. The White House said he left his position after the Wall Street Journal linked him to an account with racists posts online
The debate over Elez did not just rapidly escalate between Vance and Khanna on Friday.
President Donald Trump was also asked to weigh in at his press conference with the Japanese prime minister.
Trump said he was not familiar with the posts from the ex-staffer but said if Vance had called for him to be reinstated, he would side with his vice president.
The vast majority of Musk’s online X army also backed him bringing Elez back.
But others blasted the decision and Vance’s take on it.
While Vance referred to the former DOGE staffer as a ‘kid,’ some X users pointed out that he is 25-years-old and posted the racist comments last year. ‘He’s 25’ even started trending on the social media app.
Social media users also argued if Elez was viewed as responsible enough to access Americans’ sensitive information with a job at DOGE, he should also be held responsible for writing racist posts on the internet.
