Vance calls for reinstatement of DOGE worker who resigned over racist posts

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: New York Times

Vance Calls for Rehiring of DOGE Staffer Who Quit Over Racist Posts
The vice president said he "obviously" disagreed with some of the man's posts but "I don't think stupid social media activity should ruin a kid's life."

By Ryan Mac and Kate Conger
Feb. 7, 2025
Updated 1:43 p.m. ET

Vice President JD Vance on Friday morning called for the reinstatement of a Department of Government Efficiency staff member who had resigned after being linked to racist posts he made on X under a pseudonym. ... Mr. Vance's declaration on X came after The Wall Street Journal linked a pseudonymous account on the social platform with Marko Elez, a former SpaceX and X employee who had joined Elon Musk's cost-cutting effort that is scrutinizing government spending. Mr. Elez resigned on Thursday, after The Journal reported that he had written posts last year declaring, "I was racist before it was cool" and "normalize Indian hate."

"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 Mr. Vance, whose wife, Usha Vance, is the daughter of Indian immigrants. "We shouldn't reward journalists who try to destroy people. Ever. So I say bring him back." ... Mr. Elez did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Musk also appeared to favor Mr. Elez's reinstatement, and led a campaign calling for the author of the Journal story to be fired for publishing private information. The Journal did not publish private information and simply linked Mr. Elez's pseudonymous posts to his real name. ... On X, Mr. Musk posed a question to his more than 215 million followers: "Bring back @DOGE staffer who made inappropriate statements via a now deleted pseudonym?" ... The answer, from 78 percent of the more than 385,000 users who cast votes in the poll, was a resounding yes.

{snip}

Aric Toler contributed reporting. Jack Begg contributed research.

Ryan Mac covers corporate accountability across the global technology industry. More about Ryan Mac
https://www.nytimes.com/by/ryan-mac

Kate Conger is a technology reporter based in San Francisco. She can be reached at [e-mail]. More about Kate Conger
https://www.nytimes.com/by/kate-conger

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/us/politics/vance-doge-staffer-racist-posts.html

[underpants]

1. Hey look, he was just a little racist a couple of times

🙄

[Dennis Donovan]

2. Racism is a feature, not a bug to these goons. n/t

[Wingus Dingus]

3. Is this a "kid" or an adult professional who should have an extensive background check

that takes months and the very highest level of clearance? They're admitting that they didn't do any vetting at all but turned our nation's computer systems over to literally some dude. Lock 'em up.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

4. We are not having any meaningful elections again, are we. They are going full mask off.

The insult and cruelty is the point because they can.

[Biophilic]

5. And Vance shows where his loyalties lie.

With Musk and racism.

[BoRaGard]

6. "We repubes are all about racism. So shut up, and let us be us." - Shady Vance (R)

[IronLionZion]

7. Racism is required for these a-holes

what ruins people lives is DEI apparently.

[forgotmylogin]

8. Mercy is only for MAGAs.

“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 Mr. Vance

It's not 'stupid social media activity', it's the racism.

Where have I heard this before?

CNN https://www.cnn.com/2016/06/06/us/sexual-assault-brock-turner-stanford/index.html
—
Widespread outrage has erupted over a California judge’s decision to give a former Stanford University swimmer a six-month jail sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. Critics are blasting the decision as far too lenient.

Prosecutors had asked that Brock Turner be sentenced to six years in prison for the January 2015 assault.

“A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him,” Persky said. “I think he will not be a danger to others.”

In 2016, the Supreme Court [...] justices reiterated that “a lifetime in prison is a disproportionate sentence for all but the rarest of children, those whose crimes reflect ‘irreparable corruption.’” (The legal term of art is “permanent incorrigibility,” which allows judges to sound like they’re debating whether Tom Sawyer should be sent to bed without dinner.) In light of that additional ruling, Jones again appealed his sentence. This time his case made it all the way to the Supreme Court. But the court ruled that Jones, now 32, should stay in prison for the rest of his life without the possibility of parole.

The justice who wrote that opinion condemning a man to life in prison for a crime he had committed before he finished high school was the same justice who was accused of trying to rape a girl while he was in high school: Brett Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh, you’ll remember, asked to be judged by the man he’s become—the high school girls’ basketball coach who hires women as his law clerks—not the beer-loving alleged attempted high school rapist he was. He argued, in angry, sneering tones, that his youthful indiscretions (the ones he admitted to, at least) should not bar him from getting a lifetime job. But having been gifted that lifetime power, he turned around and argued that Jones’s youth was no bar at all to a lifetime of imprisonment.

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/kavanaugh-juvenile-decision/

Sure. Let's not ruin a young white male's future just because they made a bad decision and sexually assaulted someone, or posted racist ideals. They didn't know what they were doing, they were in their twenties for goodness sake... You can't expect someone to be responsible for everything they say or do. Sometimes there's a hot lady friend, and an open changing stall, and you grab 'em by whatever you want. How can a man possibly be responsible for their thoughts, impulses, and actions in their late forties, my god.

[LudwigPastorius]

9. Racist hate speech is their shibboleth.

It's how they know somebody is "in the club".

[JoseBalow]

14. shibboleth

A shibboleth ( Biblical Hebrew: שִׁבֹּלֶת, romanized: šībbōleṯ ) is any custom or tradition, usually a choice of phrasing or single word, that distinguishes one group of people from another. Shibboleths have been used throughout history in many societies as passwords, ways of self-identification, signals of loyalty and affinity, ways of maintaining traditional segregation, or protection from real or perceived threats.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibboleth

[JoseBalow]

10. Only if we can have Al Franken back

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

11. I don't think it was Republicans who forced him out. ...

... It was us.

[JoseBalow]

13. I know, that just added insult to injury

He was one of our best

[pfitz59]

12. JD shows his true colors.

And allegiance to the Tech Bros.

[DallasNE]

22. I Think A Phone Call From Musk Moved The Needle nt

[Wiz Imp]

15. He voluntarily resigned. There is no way he was forced to resign by political opponents

of the administration - they have no power to do that. SO why should he be allowed to rescind his resignation? Are they gonna allow all Federal workers who resigned because of their bogus "buyout" scheme to rescind their resignations? Why should he get special treatment? I guarantee you the vast majority of people who resigned due to the bogus offer are not horrible racists like this lowlife is.

[Prairie Gates]

16. He also called for the destruction of the state of Israel

Not having THIS JOB - you know, working on senstive government databases - isn't ruining somebody's life, by the way. What a weird thing to say.

[electric_blue68]

18. When you REVEAL Who You ARE on Whatever Platform there ARE Consequences. Eff off, Vance.

[NNguyenMD]

19. This little shit hated Indians, Musk wants him back...

Sends a text to Vance (who’s wife was born of Indian immigrant parents) and tell him write a post on X saying to give the little shit another chance to give him cover, he includes Trump on the text to strong arm his feckless soul to make such an embarrassing post.

Now JD gets to explain to his wife and half-Indian kids, why he is defending a little shit who’d sooner shoot their whole family dead in the street when given the chance. That’s how this all went down.

[DallasNE]

20. Incredibly Stupid Idea

If there is no consequences for being openly racist then the floodgates are opened for more racist comments. I can't think of anything that would be more stupid than reinstating this openly racist individual. You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube like they propose.

[riversedge]

21. "This man has an Indian wife and children, and doesn't even have the balls to stand up against racism towards them,"

Social Media Mocks JD Vance's Defense Of DOGE Staffer Who Made Anti-Indian Posts

"This man has an Indian wife and children, and doesn’t even have the balls to stand up against racism towards them," one person wrote. "What a bad husband & dad."

David Moye Feb 7, 2025, 04:34 PM EST

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jd-vance-defense-of-racist-mocked_n_67a662e1e4b0d9a21f36f717

Link to tweet

Ron Filipkowski responsed to Vance:


@RonFilipkowski
Which one did you disagree with?

"Normalize Indian hate."

"You could not pay me to marry outside my ethnicity;" or

"I was a racist before it was cool."

[aggiesal]

23. Why is this kid so important? Things that make you go hmmmm. n/t

[bronxiteforever]

24. Lucky that the guy wasnt Haitian.

Those people only get hate from the Vance clan. The VP is a racist.

[AverageOldGuy]

25. Memo to JD Vance (that's not his real name):

Go fuck your sofa.

[Evolve Dammit]

28. What is his real name?

[sakabatou]

26. "Racism is fine," says Vance.

[live love laugh]

27. Losing a job is "ruining" his life? GTFOH

[BlueHurricane]

29. Suddenly the Republican Regime cares about people not having jobs?

Sorry...meant to say..

Suddenly the Republican Regime cares about 'white supremacists' not having a job.

Fixed it.

[mdbl]

30. Only the Nazi's that lose their job

Everyone else can pound salt.