USA Today columnist Rex Huppke took aim at Elon Musk one last time as the CEO departs the Department of Government Efficiency and heads back to the private sector.
“We hear you’re going through a bit of a rough patch lately,” Huppke opened the column. “Your electric-car brand and overall reputation are in the toilet, people are saying not-nice things about you, and the whole ‘King of the Department of Government Efficiency’ thing didn’t work out the way you wanted.”
He railed against Musk's arrogant attitude during his time at DOGE before noting how the CEO is now backtracking on some of his attempted political prowess.
“There are a lot of emotions involved when a person realizes that bad behavior can have consequences,” Huppke said. “But see, here’s the thing, big fella. You were downright gleeful about putting people out of work. You called the U.S. Agency for International Development ‘a criminal organization.’ And while you were doing all this, you changed your social media user name to 'Harry Bōlz' and had this at the top of your profile page: ‘Circumcisions at a discount, now 50% off!’”
“Now, can you see how that kind of attitude and behavior might upset some people?” He asked Musk. "Can you see how it might eat away at your credibility? We think you can, buddy. We think you’re big enough and smart enough to connect these two dots.”
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Huppke noted that Musk has been speaking out about how “disappointed” the House spending bill was. The columnist tried to “comfort” Musk by saying, “Hey, we get it. It’s not nice when other people try to take the government you tried to ruin and find a different way to ruin it, even if that way screws over the same poor people you were trying to screw over.”
Later adding, “We want to validate your feelings, while also helping you understand that you are no less harmful than all those congressional Republicans. In fact, you’re all equally terrible.”
Giving Musk some advice, Huppke suggested looking up “a human emotion called ‘shame,’ and it’s something you might want to Google when you’re not busy working on an ugly electric truck that won’t sell or a rocket that will almost inevitably explode.”
It wasn’t all bad, Huppke reminded Musk, “You can learn from all of this. You can become a better person. Or you can keep being a self-absorbed dingus who nobody likes. It’s really up to you, pal.”
Huppke signed the open letter from “Your country, unfortunately, America.”