Twitter on Fire After Elon Musk Calls Elizabeth Warren 'Senator Karen' in Spat Over Taxes

© REUTERS / Patrick PleulTesla CEO Elon Musk gestures as he visits the construction site of Tesla's Gigafactory in Gruenheide near Berlin, Germany, August 13, 2021.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk gestures as he visits the construction site of Tesla's Gigafactory in Gruenheide near Berlin, Germany, August 13, 2021. - Sputnik International, 1920, 15.12.2021
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Elon Musk has had a strained relationship with the Democrats ever since the coronavirus pandemic began, when he clashed swords with Californian authorities over safety measures that prohibited his company Tesla from reopening its factory in the city of Fremont.
Elon Musk set Twitter on fire after the tech maverick locked horns with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
The feud began after the lawmaker suggested that Musk, the world's richest man, lives off society due to the "rigged" tax code of the United States, referring to a report by ProPublica, revealing that several US billionaires, including Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos, business magnate Warren Buffett, and Musk paid no taxes.

The outlet cited a "vast trove of Internal Revenue Service data", which showed that Musk paid no income tax in 2018 with capital losses.

"Let’s change the rigged tax code so The Person of the Year will actually pay taxes", Elizabeth Warren wrote, referring to Time magazine's decision to bestow the title on Musk.

The SpaceX and Tesla CEO quickly launched a diatribe against the Democrat. Musk said that he is going to pay more taxes than anyone else in the history of the US, apparently referring to the proposed billionaire tax the Biden administration plans to introduce. According to a forecast by The Washington Post, the tech maverick, whose net worth currently stands at $251 billion, would pay $50 billion in taxes under the new legislation over its first five years.

Musk then tweeted "Don’t spend it all at once … oh wait you did already", apparently referring to the massive spending packages proposed by the Democrats before attacking Warren personally.

He first posted a news article accusing the lawmaker of lying about her ancestry, before calling Elizabeth Warren "Senator Karen".

"You remind me of when I was a kid and my friend's angry Mom would just randomly yell at everyone for no reason. Please don't call the manager on me, Senator Karen", Musk wrote.

Warren, who is white, has for years claimed that she has some Native American ancestry, specifically from the Cherokee tribe. The senator even took a DNA test, which showed that she is mostly European, but strongly "supported the existence of an admixed Native American ancestor" in the range of "6 to 10 generations ago". Her claim has been criticised by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle as well as Native American tribal leaders.

Karen is a pejorative slang term used to describe angry middle-aged white women, often racist, who use their privilege to demand their own way. When depicted in memes, Karen asks to speak to the manager or calls police.

Elon Musk's feud with Elizabeth Warren made waves on social media.


While one side supported the Massachusetts senator…



….the other side backed Musk.


Many deemed that Musk's Karen remark was rude and severely chastised the entrepreneur for it.



Other users accused Warren of hypocrisy and said she herself is a parasite.



Still others simply enjoyed the moment.
This is not the first time that the Tesla CEO has clashed with a Democrat. Last month, Musk snapped at Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders after the latter suggested that billionaires should pay more in taxes. Musk responded to Sanders, who is one of the nation's oldest lawmakers, saying "I keep forgetting that you're still alive".
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