Amid emerging differences between the US and its European allies on the Ukraine conflict, President Donald Trump’s close adviser and Department of Government Efficiency chief Elon Musk has publicly supported the withdrawal of the US from both NATO and the UN.
“I agree”, he posted in response to a post on X by political commentator and MAGA activist Gunther Eagleman, saying: “It’s time to leave NATO and the UN”, sharing a post by Republican Senator Mike Lee calling for such a move.
In February, Senator Lee of Utah had also introduced the Disengaging Entirely from the United Nations Debacle (DEFUND) Act, proposing a complete US withdrawal from the UN and termed the world body a “platform for tyrants” that attacks America and its allies, and has not been able to stop wars, genocides, human rights violations, and pandemics despite all its funding.
Musk had supported Lee’s stand, noting in a post on X that the US “provides way too much funding to the UN and associated entities”.
This is not the first time that Musk has questioned the US membership in NATO, which last month only, he had termed “anachronistic” and not relevant in the post-Cold War era. He also questioned the rationale behind American taxpayers covering a significant portion of Europe’s defence costs, highlighting that the US pays for nearly 67 per cent of NATO’s military expenses, despite spending only 3.5 per cent of its GDP on defence.
Trump has also criticised NATO, urging members to increase defence expenditure and threatening to withdraw from it, on the grounds that the US bears an unfair financial burden for European security.
However, this was not the only post by Musk on geopolitical affairs on Sunday.
Sharing an October 3, 2022 poll he posted on a formula for peace between Russia and Ukraine, he posted: “What I said over 2 years ago was that Ukraine should seek peace or suffer severe loss of life for no gains.
“The latter was Zelensky’s choice. Now, he wants to do that again. This is cruel and inhumane,” he wrote, in a reference to the infamous and public spat between Trump and the Ukrainian leader, ending with the latter’s virtual expulsion from the White House.
In the poll, he proposed reconducting elections of annexed regions under UN supervision and Russia to leave if that is will of the people; Crimea formally part of Russia, as it has been since 1783 (until Khrushchev’s mistake); water supply to Crimea assured, and Ukraine remains neutral.
Responding to the 40.9 per cent votes in favour and 59.1 per cent ‘no’ votes, Musk had said: “This is highly likely to be the outcome in the end – just a question of how many die before then”.
Continuing the attack on the Ukrainian leader, Musk also reposted, without comment a report about then President Joe Biden losing his cool over Zelensky’s unstoppable demands, and a cartoon of a version of the trolley controller’s ethical dilemma, with the figure named Zelensky and bearing the caption: “You can stop the tram at any moment, but you refuse because you need guarantees that it won’t start moving again in a few years”.
The tech billionaire also commented: “Zelensky damaged himself severely in the eyes of the public. Just a fact” to a shared CNN report noting that the number of people who now think the US is helping Ukraine too much is up from 7 per cent to 41 per cent and the trust in Zelensky fell from 72 per cent to under 48 per cent.
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