Elon Musk and the Soros family come from different sides of the political track. The Tesla CEO has been handed a newly created role in the Trump administration, while the billionaire Soros family backed Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
Musk and the Soros clan are no strangers to swapping gibes online—but it seems something akin to a truce has finally been reached. (That being said, by now, we know to take Musk’s posts on X with a pinch of salt.)
The latest tangle between the parties occurred last night when Alex Soros—son of billionaire investor and entrepreneur George Soros—responded to an article about the popular vote count during the election.
The post claimed that although Trump had won the election, his mandate from the popular vote was not the landslide reflected by the majority he held in electoral votes (EVs).
Journalist and author John Nichols posted on X: “On election night, Trump claimed a ‘powerful mandate.’ At that point, he was winning well over 50% of the vote. But there were tens of millions of uncounted votes. As the count nears completion, it reveals that most Americans did not vote for Trump.”
Trump comfortably won the election in terms of EVs at 312 to 226.
At the time of writing, bipartisan tracker the Cook Political Report attributes 74,253,871 popular votes to Harris (48.24%) and 76,806,388 (49.9%) to President-elect Trump.
This is the point on which Alex Soros responded, writing: “It is not a powerful mandate, and the numbers are important ‘they provide Democrats and progressives, however, is an argument against despair and surrender.’ This was a close election. Not a surprise!”
Musk—who poured millions into the Trump campaign and joked he would be “f–ked” if the Republican nominee didn’t win the Oval Office—replied to Soros’s post, writing: “I would be curious to meet and understand your goals better.”
The 39-year-old Soros replied: “I often learn most from people whose views are different than my own. Open to meeting.”
Whether Musk’s offer is genuine remains to be seen, but the young Soros does have a significant pool of funds to use for philanthropic purposes.
Chaired by Alex Soros, the Open Society Foundations reportedly spent $1.7 billion in 2023 alone, bringing its total expenditure to $22.7 billion in its history.
The organization funds independent justice, democratic, and human rights groups, including paying for scholarships for Black students in South Africa during apartheid and investing in legal efforts to protect the rights of American and European Muslims.
The Open Society Foundations did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
Soros vs. Trump
While the exchange seems fairly straightforward, this wouldn’t be the first time Musk has proposed a meeting that has never come to fruition.
What’s more, Musk’s apparent olive branch is a marked departure from his views on the Soros family so far.
When Alex Soros backed Harris, Musk hit back that the powerful billionaire had merely chosen his next “puppet.”
Writing on X in mid-July, the SpaceX founder said: “I’d just like to thank @AlexanderSoros for not keeping everyone in suspense about who the next puppet would be.”
Let’s not forget that Musk also likened Soros’s father, George, to X-Men supervillain Magneto because the investor dumped Tesla stock.
The statement was a loaded one.
Musk—intentionally or otherwise—had compared Soros, a Holocaust survivor, to a fictional character known to have escaped a Nazi death camp after losing every member of his family.
When Musk was informed that society misunderstood the character and perhaps the same could be inferred of Soros, the X owner doubled down: “You assume they are good intentions. They are not. He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity.”
