Elon Musk Clashes with Attorney Marc Elias

Elon Musk Targets Marc Elias

Elon Musk has launched an attack on attorney Marc Elias*, accusing him of “undermining civilization” and questioning whether he suffers from “generational trauma.”

Tech Empire, Political Influence, and Power Plays—Inside the Musk Machine.

Marc Elias Responds

Mr. Musk,

You recently criticized me and another prominent lawyer fighting for the rule of law and democracy in the United States. I am used to being attacked for my work, particularly on the platform you own and dominate.

I used to be a regular on Twitter, where I amassed over 900,000 followers — all organic except for the right-wing bots who seemed to grow in number. Like many others, I stopped regularly posting on the site because, under your stewardship, it became a hellscape of hate and misinformation.

I also used to buy your cars — first a Model X and then a Model S — back when you spoke optimistically about solving the climate crisis. My family no longer owns any of your cars and never will.

But this is not the reason I am writing. You don’t know me. You have no idea whether I have suffered trauma and if I have, how it has manifested. And it’s none of your business.

However, I will address your last point about generational trauma. I am Jewish, though many on your site simply call me “a jew.” Honestly, it’s often worse than that, but I’m sure you get the point. There was a time when Twitter would remove antisemitic posts, but under your leadership, tolerating the world’s oldest hatred now seems to be a permissible part of your “free speech” agenda.

Like many Jewish families, mine came to America because of trauma. They were fleeing persecution in the Pale of Settlement — the only area in the Russian Empire where Jews were legally allowed to reside. Even there, life was difficult — often traumatic. My family, like others, lived in a shtetl and was poor. Worse, pogroms were common — violent riots in which Jews were beaten, killed and expelled from their villages.

By the time my family fled, life in the Pale had become all but impossible for Jews. Tsar Nicholas II’s government spread anti-Jewish propaganda that encouraged Russians to attack and steal from Jews in their communities. My great-grandfather was fortunate to leave when he did. Those who stayed faced even worse circumstances when Hitler’s army later invaded.

That is the generational trauma I carry. The trauma of being treated as “other” by countrymen you once thought were your friends. The trauma of being scapegoated by authoritarian leaders. The trauma of fleeing while millions of others were systematically murdered. The trauma of watching powerful men treat it all as a joke — or worse.

As an immigrant yourself, you can no doubt sympathize with what it means to leave behind your country, extended family, friends and neighbors to come to the United States. Of course, you probably had more than 86 rubles in your pocket. You probably didn’t ride for nine days in the bottom of a ship or have your surname changed by immigration officials. Here is the ship manifest showing that my family did. Aron, age three, was my grandfather.

As new immigrants, life wasn’t easy. My family lived in cramped housing without hot water. They worked menial jobs — the kind immigrants still perform today.

Some may look down on those immigrants — the ones without fancy degrees — but my family was proud to work and grateful that the United States took them in. They found support within their Jewish community and a political home in the Democratic Party.

I became a lawyer to give back to the country that gave my family a chance. I specialize in representing Democratic campaigns because I believe in the party. I litigate voting rights cases because the right to vote is the bedrock of our democracy. I speak out about free and fair elections because they are under threat.

Now let me address the real crux of your post.

You are very rich and very powerful. You have thrown in with Donald Trump. Whether it is because you think you can control him or because you share his authoritarian vision, I do not know. I do not care.

Together, you and he are dismantling our government, undermining the rule of law and harming the most vulnerable in our society. I am just a lawyer. I do not have your wealth or your platform. I do not control the vast power of the federal government, nor do I have millions of adherents at my disposal to harass and intimidate my opponents. I may even carry generational trauma.

But you need to know this about me. I am the great-grandson of a man who led his family out of the shtetl to a strange land in search of a better life. I am the grandson of the three-year-old boy on that journey. As you know, my English name is Marc, but my Hebrew name is Elhanan (אֶלְחָנָן) — after the great warrior in David’s army who slew a powerful giant.

I will use every tool at my disposal to protect this country from Trump. I will litigate to defend voting rights until there are no cases left to bring. I will speak out against authoritarianism until my last breath.

I will not back down. I will not bow or scrape. I will never obey.

Defiantly,

Marc Elias

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USA: Bought the Power, Soon the Fall?

A golden throne on a crumbling foundation—when power is built on wealth and deception, collapse is only a matter of time.

Charles Kushner—father of the newly appointed U.S. ambassador to Paris—is a real estate developer and disbarred attorney, convicted (and later pardoned by Trump) for, among other crimes, tax fraud, witness tampering, and illegal campaign contributions. In reality, he faced 16 federal charges.

He is also the son of Joseph Kushner—the grandfather of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law—who was himself a real estate mogul (it runs in the family, as Jared is one too). But before all that, Joseph Kushner was a Holocaust survivor. His family, like Marc E. Elias’s, hailed from the former Soviet Union. And like his descendants, he benefited from federal aid and subsidies—just like a certain Elon Musk.

This is how these immigrants built massive fortunes and continue to reap the rewards of a federal system that a small elite has co-opted—with help, in their boss’s case, from Russian-Soviet interests and the evangelical “BBQ-sauce nationalists” (Zionist-nationalists).

Meanwhile, the Federalist Society (conservative legal minds) paved the way, while the Heritage Foundation (Project 2025: Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise) and the Hoover Institution (education, healthcare, economic, and national security policies) designed the governance roadmap—with the free-market dogma of the Chicago Boys, conceived by Milton Friedman, Nixon’s advisor, and imposed globally by Reagan and Thatcher. Benjamin Netanyahu (aka Bibi-Moush’chat, Bibi-Shakran, Bibi-Pesha—take your pick), a close friend of Jared Kushner, is a product of the same school of thought.

And yet, all of this is unfolding before our eyes, inside the world’s most powerful nation. Putin grins, Xi Jinping observes—already preparing specialized weaponry for Taiwan and beyond (as he’s already begun securing strategic positions in the South China Sea). The risk of global conflagration is rising—Europe included. Some massacres have already happened; more will follow.

Let’s not forget that Trump is infamously inept at management—or governance, for that matter. Not to mention his glaring narcissism—a fascinating psychological case study. And had he not inherited his father’s New York real estate fortune—nearly losing it all in the ’90s—he would have collapsed long ago.

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*.Marc E. Elias is an American attorney specializing in election law and campaign finance. A former Democratic Party counsel, he played a key role in multiple legal battles over U.S. presidential elections, particularly in 2020, where he fought to expand mail-in voting and protect electoral rights.

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The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial team.