Bernie Sanders and Elon Musk Start Twitter War Over Billionaire Tax

The feud is over the Make Billionaires Pay Act.

| Aug 09, 2020 03:08 AM EST

Created: Aug 09, 2020 03:08 AM EST

It's not every day that two famous and well-respected people battle it out on Twitter so when it happens you definitely pay attention.

The fighting began Friday night when Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk replied on Twitter to an article about a bill proposed by Senator Bernie Sanders that would create a one time tax for billionaires to cover the medical costs for millions of Americans for one year.

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The proposed bill would cost Musk an estimated $27.5 billion. This clearly did not make Musk happy as he posted an often used meme about the Vermont senator.

pic.twitter.com/kogvN4rMJ8
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2020

The meme challenges people to chug someone else's beer every time Sanders mentions a free program. Sanders, of course, replied by tweeting a 2015 Los Angeles Times article that stated that Musk had received $4.9 billion in government subsidies for SpaceX, Tesla and Solar City.

Well, he wrote:

Every time Elon Musk pokes fun at government assistance for the 99%, remember that he would be worth nothing without $4.9 billion in corporate welfare. Oh, Elon just l-o-v-e-s corporate socialism for himself, rugged capitalism for everyone else. https://t.co/rj8FgwEDMQ pic.twitter.com/bxHcXul925
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) August 7, 2020

Musk was quick to respond with two more tweets calling Sanders' statements "bs" and stating that Tesla was doing more than any other firm to support green energy. He even went so far as to call Sanders a "puppet" for big oil:

And why aim your attacks at Tesla, when we’re doing more than any other company on Earth to advance green/sustainable energy? Have you read the news? https://t.co/34tzBk5TIv
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 8, 2020

The feud ended there as Sanders did not reply after that but it did result in quite some news coverage. The Make Billionaires Pay Act would tax the 467 richest Americans for a period from March 18 through to January 1, 2021.

Plenty of Americans are living through the COVID-19 pandemic without any health insurance causing them to incur significant medical bills. A little help would be more than well-received.