Former US Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday took an apparent swipe at billionaire Elon Musk over his stance on empathy, while conceding that she is deeply concerned about the current state of the world, in one of the few public appearances she’s made since leaving office.
Speaking at the Australian Real Estate Conference, Harris alluded to recent remarks by Musk, who has now significantly scaled back his role in the Trump administration — a stark contrast to his constant presence by President Donald Trump’s side in the early days of his second term.
“There was someone that is very popular these days, at least in the press, who suggested that it is a sign of the weakness of Western civilisations to have empathy,” Harris said, according to The Guardian, without naming Musk.
“Imagine. No, it’s a sign of strength to have some level of curiosity and concern and care about the well-being of others,” she continued.
During an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience in March, Musk suggested that while caring for others is important, it’s a double-edged sword.
“The fundamental weakness of Western civilisation is empathy, the empathy exploit,” Musk said. “There it’s they’re exploiting a bug in Western civilisation, which is the empathy response.”
Musk has limited his role in the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, the cost-cutting initiative he repeatedly touted, amid polls showing that the public was souring on him and signs of trouble for his electric car company Tesla, seeming to stem in part from his involvement in the Trump administration. But what appears to have been a “turning point” for Musk was the defeat of the conservative candidate he backed in the race for a seat on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court, according to The New York Times. Musk privately acknowledges his involvement was counterproductive, the Times added.
The tech billionaire, a major donor in Trump’s 2024 campaign, has also said he will scale back his political donations going forward.
“In terms of political spending, I’m gonna do a lot less in the future,” he told an economic forum in Qatar last week.
“I think I’ve done enough,” he added.
Harris, who is reportedly mulling a run for California governor following her defeat in the 2024 presidential race, also expressed profound concern about the current state of the world amid Trump’s pursuit of his America First agenda.
“I do worry that it is important that we remember history,” Harris told the audience, according to The Guardian, without referencing Trump. “It’s important that we remember the 1930s. It’s important that we remember that history has taught us that isolation does not equal insulation.”
