For many months, peace reigned between Elon Musk and George Soros.
The legendary investor had become, through Soros Fund Management (SFM), his hedge fund, one of the shareholders of Tesla last year. The electric vehicle maker is the crown jewel of Musk's empire, which includes SpaceX, Twitter, Neuralink and The Boring Company Co.
But in early May, SFM indicated in a regulatory filing that it had liquidated all of its Tesla shares as of March 31. A few days after this revelation, Musk launched a series of violent invectives and accusations against George Soros, 92. Some of these attacks have fueled conspiracy theories of his fans.
Musk compared Soros to the character Magneto, a Jewish supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe, who "hates humanity" and who "wants to erode the very fabric of civilization."
Soros is Jewish and a Holocaust survivor.
Differences
Musk then accused Soros of buying off district attorneys by funding their election campaigns so that they become his "pets" and obey his orders.
"Soros astutely identified a massive arbitrage opportunity in district attorney elections, where a relatively small amount of money has outsized influence," the billionaire said on May 17. "Soros’s instructions to his pet prosecutors were (essentially) to minimize prosecuting even violent criminals."
"That’s why a criminal – someone who had already stabbed his roommate – could brutally assault Dave Chapelle on stage with that same deadly weapon and yet receive merely a misdemeanor!" Musk charged, without providing evidence.
The attacks drew criticism from civil rights groups.
Soros had remained silent until a new interview with the Wall Street Journal.
"I'm the go-to man when they want to blame someone," Soros told The Wall Street Journal in an interview when asked about Musk's invectives.
Basically, Soros says that he's an easy target when things go wrong or things don't go the way people want them to.
In the same interview, Soros announced that he was stepping down and handing over the baton to his 37-year-old son Alexander, who goes by Alex. Alex told the newspaper that he is "more political" than his father. For example, he indicated that he will expand the causes funded by Open Society Foundations to voting and abortion rights, as well as gender equity, and will continue to finance the campaigns of left-leaning U.S. politicians.
Twitter Spaces Between Musk And Alex Soros?
Open Society Foundations is a network of entities with operations across the globe, that has set itself the goal of promoting democracy, human rights and press freedom. OSF also funds many progressive causes and NGOs worldwide.
There is one point on which Alex Soros agrees with Musk, who has become a new conservative hero since he transformed Twitter into a bastion for right-wingers and free speech. This is free speech. Alex Soros believes that free speech has been restricted too much on college campuses and everywhere else, aligning with what Musk has been saying for several months.
Musk did not hesitate to comment on this position of the new boss of the Soros empire.
"If @AlexanderSoros is serious about freedom of speech, then we have common ground," the tech mogul said on June 11 on Twitter. "But destroying public safety by electing DAs who won’t prosecute violent criminals needs to stop."
DAs stands for District Attorneys.
But journalist journalist Brian Krassenstein, who regularly interacts with Musk on the platform, chimed in, noting that the Soros' goal is not to make society less safe.
"From what I have read from Soros himself, his initiatives are not to make society less safe but to forgo the prosecution of some addicts and those suffering from mental health ailments and instead get them the help they need to recover or get treated appropriately," Krassenstein argued. "Of course one can argue that the DA’s he supported have failed but I wouldn’t necessarily jump to the conclusion that his actions are evil."
That's when Musk issued an unexpected invitation: He's inviting Alex Soros to a live chat on Twitter to clear up doubts about their apparent differences and set the record straight.
"Maybe we should do a Spaces with you, me & Alex to air this out," the billionaire offered.
Alex Soros didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Krassenstein replied that he "would love for that" because there are "a lot of misconceptions all around."
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed last summer, Soros the father said that he has "no intention of stopping" to support progressive candidates running to become prosecutors or for reelection.
"The funds I provide enable sensible reform-minded candidates to receive a hearing from the public. Judging by the results, the public likes what it's hearing," George Soros wrote.
