Tech baron Elon Musk backed calls for the US to withdraw from NATO and the United Nations after months of badmouthing the two international organizations.
“I agree,” Musk, 53, wrote on X in reply late Saturday to MAGA influencer Gunther Eagleman’s suggestion that “It’s time to leave NATO and the UN.”
Musk did not elaborate on the specifics of why he wants the US to pull out of NATO and the UN, but the suggestion came after several social media users pointed to Sen. Mike Lee’s (R-Utah) call to pull out of both.
Last month, Lee, 53, who has drawn frequent reposts and interactions from Musk on X, introduced legislation alongside other lawmakers to pull out of the UN and decried it as “a platform for tyrants and a venue to attack America and her allies.”
On Saturday, Lee publicly suggested that the US pull out of NATO, pointing to Norwegian fuel supplier Haltbakk Bunkers’ announcement that it would stop helping the US Navy refuel in protest of President Trump’s confrontation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday.
“Europe doesn’t love us,” Lee chided on X Saturday. “Let’s leave NATO.”
Norway, a NATO ally, publicly announced that it would continue to help refuel US military ships despite Haltbakk Bunkers’ announcement and call for a boycott of helping out US military ships.
The US helped form NATO in the aftermath of World War II as a bulwark against the Soviet Union, and the powerful military alliance — the core of which is that an attack on one member constitutes an attack on all members — now has 32 members.
The UN was also formed after WWII as a successor to the League of Nations to promote dialogue between nations.
Trump, 78, and other conservative figures have publicly groused that NATO allies don’t pull enough of their own weight and that elements of the UN have been overly harsh to the US.
Musk is known to have Trump’s ear, serving as a “special employee” at the White House and informal boss of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), despite the administration arguing in court documents that he is not formally in charge or even an employee of the cost-cutting entity.
While Musk didn’t delve into his rationale on Saturday, in the past, Musk has argued that the US makes up a disproportionate amount of NATO’s power and has questioned why NATO continued to exist after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Musk has also previously asserted that the US spends too much money on the UN. Last fiscal year, Congress approved $1.54 billion for the UN’s core budget. The US also funds other UN entities.
Trump has publicly demanded NATO allies spend vastly more on defense and accused European nations of taking advantage of America’s military umbrella.
Last month, he also cut off funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and pulled out of the UN Human Rights Council.
