Elon Musk has suggested that Mackenzie Scott is donating to organisations, including Democrats, to take aim at her ex-husband, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
On Memorial Day, 30 May, Mr Musk tweeted “in remembrance of those who fell to preserve the light of freedom”.
“You don’t care about freedom, Elon. If you did you wouldn’t be supporting Donald Trump,” a Twitter user responded.
Mr Musk said that he supports “free speech, but not any one candidate. In fact, I gave money to and voted for Hillary and then voted for Biden. However, given unprovoked attacks by leading Democrats against me and a very cold shoulder to Tesla and SpaceX, I intend to vote Republican in November”.
“Why commit to the Republicans?” another account holder asked.
“It’s rather hard to support a party when prominent members of that party keep attacking me and sidelining Tesla and SpaceX!” Mr Musk wrote.
“What do you think changed with the recent Democratic party?” a third Twitter user asked. “I believe when Obama was running the office, he was an ardent supporter of Tesla/SpaceX and you in general. I wonder what happened now?”
“True. Tesla was attacked by [2012 Republican nominee Mitt] Romney in two of three presidential debates,” Mr Musk said. “Those lines were fed to him by a particular individual in the oil and gas industry. The Dems turned negative over the past ~12 months. At least part of it is Mackenzie’s donation to PACs posing as charities.”
“The Democrat vs Republican tribalism among otherwise intelligent people is most distressing. Demonizing everyone who would vote for an alternate party is not constructive,” he added.
One Twitter user tweeted a link to a CNN story laying out Ms Scott’s donations to various charities. Mr Musk said that “it’s safe to say that Mackenzie [ahem] Scott is not exactly a big fan of her ex-husband”.
“Unfortunately, a lot of others are getting caught in the crossfire,” he added.
Progressive Democrats have put forward Mr Bezos and Mr Musk, the two richest people in the world, as troubling symbols of staggering economic inequality.
Ms Scott and Mr Bezos got divorced in 2019 after 25 years. She received a quarter of Mr Bezos’s Amazon stake.
Via The Giving Pledge, Ms Scott said she would donate her fortune during the course of her life. On 1 June, she was valued at $36.7bn, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
“When our giving team focuses on any system in which people are struggling, we don’t assume that we, or any other single group, can know how to fix it,” she wrote on Medium on 23 March.
“We don’t advocate for particular policies or reforms. Instead, we seek a portfolio of organizations that supports the ability of all people to participate in solutions. This means a focus on the needs of those whose voices have been underrepresented,” she added.
Ms Scott has so far given away $12bn of her wealth to at least 1,257 groups, according to The New York Times.
