--- title: "Elon Musk Calls for Firing of Wall Street Journal Reporter Who Found His DOGE Boy’s Racist Tweets" description: "Instead of taking accountability for hiring a racist, Musk has found a new target: the Wall Street Journal reporter, who uncovered him." date: "2025-02-07" modified: "2025-02-07" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/elon-musk-firing-wall-street-journal-reporter-doge-racist-tweets" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "doge" - "elon musk" - "journalism" - "racism" --- # Elon Musk Calls for Firing of Wall Street Journal Reporter Who Found His DOGE Boy’s Racist Tweets ![Instead of taking accountability for hiring a racist, Musk has found a new target: the Wall Street Journal reporter, who uncovered him.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* On Thursday, a 25-year-old staffer for Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) [abruptly resigned]() after the [*Wall Street Journal* asked]() the White House to comment on incredibly racist social media posts he appeared to have made shortly before joining the team. Marko Elez, an inexperienced recent university grad and former X employee, had been [infiltrating the US Treasury's payments system](). Despite Trump administration officials maintaining that he was limited to "read-only" access to the system, *Wired* reported this week that he was in fact able to make extensive changes under the hood. Naturally, the optics of a green operative with incredible access to the government's most sensitive payments, combined with revelations of overt and ugly racism look incredibly bad. But instead of taking accountability for the terrible hire, Musk has found a new target: the *Wall Street Journal* reporter who dug up the racist posts. In a [tweet]() responding to a Musk loyalist [calling out]() *WSJ* reporter Katherine Long, the mercurial entrepreneur raged this morning that "she should be fired immediately." In a [separate tweet](), he called her out for being a "disgusting and cruel person," without offering any evidence. The attack highlights Musk's [well-documented hatred for the media](), which has steadfastly reported on his companies' shortcomings, personal vendettas, and [embracing of far-right extremism](). Since he took over Twitter, Musk's social media platform has repeatedly [suspended journalists](), an [apparent effort to silence his many critics](). That's all despite claiming Musk claiming to be a "[free speech absolutist]()," which in retrospect is absolutely laughable. In case there's any doubt, the things the own 25-year-old staffer tweeted out were absolutely revolting. Elez was behind a deleted profile that backed a "eugenic immigration policy" and argued that "you could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity," according to Long's reporting. "Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool," he reportedly wrote on a separate account last summer. Among other things, Long's reporting highlights glaring oversights in Musk's hiring practices. His team of 20-something DOGE boys aren't just immensely underqualified for the job, but [many of them have a colorful past]() like Elez. Elez's abrupt resignation [also came as revelations were coming out]() that he had been making alterations to the US Treasury's payments system, which paid out a gargantuan $5.45 trillion in 2024. The blog [*Talking Points Memo* reported this week]() that Elez had made "extensive changes" to the system before his write access was revoked on February 5. Whether he lost those privileges because of an [ongoing lawsuit]() aimed at Musk and Elez is unclear. Musk has long outed himself as sharing similar beliefs to Elez's, making [plenty of unabashedly racist comments]() in the past. Musk also has a long track record of [making personal attacks]() aimed at people who don't share his worldview —and now that he's been handed the keys to the government, those personal vendettas are taking an even uglier shape. **More on Musk:** *[Elon's DOGE Boy Who "Resigned" Was Apparently Doing Something Very Naughty With the Treasury's Code]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()