South African-born Elon Musk awkwardly rages over immigrants getting to vote

In a new interview published Tuesday with the wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk raged over “people not born in America” having influence in American elections, delivering his critique with frequent pauses, filler words and throat clearings.

Musk appeared on “The Katie Miller Podcast,” hosted by the wife of President Donald Trump’s top aide, Stephen Miller, where the two discussed immigration trends. While on the topic, Musk suggested that immigrants were becoming increasingly influential in election results, and warned that it could soon turn the United States into a “communist hell.”

“Let’s look at Rep. Illhan Omar (D-MN), who was literally – was voted into power, voted into Congress by… you know… a large group of people from Somalia who are in Minnesota, which is really far from Somalia,” Musk said. “Or [New York City Mayor-elect Zohran] Mamdani, who was voted as – to be mayor by a majority of people who are not, um, born in America. That’s my understanding, at least.”

Omar, who was born in Somalia, has represented Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District since 2019, with the district having a sizable Somalian immigrant population. However, Musk’s suggestion that Somali immigrants were a deciding factor in Omar’s victory are at odds with demographic data, which shows there to be around 100,000 Somali immigrants in the entire state, making up just 1.7% of the state’s population.

Musk’s similar suggestion regarding Mamdani was equally at odds with demographic data. Immigrants currently make up around 38% of New York City’s population, but historical data shows that the percentage of New York City residents born abroad was even higher in the late 19th century, with more than 42% of the city’s population in 1890 being foreign born.

Musk himself is foreign born, hailing from South Africa. His parents, Errol and Maye Musk, raised Elon Musk in South Africa during apartheid, and were enormously wealthy from their holdings in property and emerald mining endeavors. On the family’s wealth during Elon Musk’s youth, Errol Musk said they had “so much money we couldn’t even close our safe.”

Errol Musk has fiercely defended South Africa’s apartheid government that classified the native Black population as second-class citizens, and would end up marrying his adult step daughter whom he’d known since she was 4 following his divorce from Maye Musk, according to reports.

“So, um, and then California, same, big time, situation,” Musk continued. “So, uh, I don’t – we just don’t want to turn into a, um… communist hell, basically.”