Not one more dime! PBS ‘conservative’ David Brooks likens Musk to Pol Pot, Mao and Stalin

Author and political commentator David Brooks sparked outrage and calls for the defunding of PBS after outrageous comments about Elon Musk.

The New York Times columnist likened the billionaire Tesla CEO to infamous mass murderers in history on “PBS Newshour” as he blasted the cuts to USAID under Musk’s leadership of the Department of Government Efficiency.

“So far, 55,000 adults have died of AIDS in the four months since Trump was elected; 6,000 children are dead because of what DOGE did. That’s just PEPFAR, the HIV. You add them all up, that’s 300,000 dead, and we’re four months in,” Brooks claimed.

“You add that all up and accumulate that over four years, the number of dead grows very high,” he added.

NYT/PBS “conservative” David Brooks likens Elon Musk to Pol Pot, Mao and Stalin:

“At least semi-responsible for the deaths of probably by the end of this, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people. That’s Elon Musk’s legacy.”

“The people who work at Tesla and SpaceX… pic.twitter.com/Eo22DYMZVF

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) June 1, 2025

“There are mass murderers in the world, Pol Pot, Mao Tse Tung, Stalin. We don’t have anybody on the list from America,” railed Brooks, who is touted as a “conservative voice” at the New York Times.

The shuttering of USAID made Musk partially responsible for the mass deaths, according to Brooks, who acknowledged that they are not “the same kind of genocide” as those under the worst mass murderers in history. Just for good measure, Brooks also threw in a jab at anyone who works for SpaceX or Tesla.

“The casualty counts Brooks cited were provided by a Boston University digital tracker that monitors deaths that it claims occur from changes in U.S. foreign aid created by Global Health Professor Brooke Nichols,” Fox News noted. “When filtered for USAID cuts, the tracker states that 99,528 adults and 207,680 children have died this year from ‘funding discontinuation.’”

Brooks was raked over the coals on X, where calls to defund PBS were as loud as those slamming the “conservative” writer.

The shareholders at Tesla should sue David Brooks for slandering their company.

And why don’t we have a media watchdog anymore, for standards?

All these people do is lie and smear and yet there are never repercussions.

And not one more dime for PBS or NPR.

— MJAustenofcourse (@Austen12341) June 1, 2025

@elonmusk How is that not defamation? I think that prominent people need to start dropping lawsuits on these liars who clearly believe they can spout any kind of vicious slanders with impunity.

— Lara Runger (@xanaduladylara) June 1, 2025

I’m sorry, but this is just fn evil. To insinuate that @elonmusk is somehow on par with the worst mass murderers in history is sick. This “death tracker” is a mathematical model based on some woke BU mathematician’s fever dreams. And now it’s being mainstreamed as fact.… https://t.co/5OnMJfGcCK

— Steve Gordon (@stevemgordon67) June 1, 2025

Isn’t it weird how everytime the Fake News “conservatives” are not actually conservatives?

— Cash Loren (@CashLorenShow) June 1, 2025

Where are all of these deaths happening? Who is dying? Where are the bodies?

— RedVirgoStacy (@stacy_redvirgo) June 1, 2025

Defund PBS now!

— Sherry Renaud (@sherryhanna53) June 1, 2025

Sue that P.O.S. for Defamation @elonmusk

— TJ Allison (@TJAllisonGolf) June 1, 2025

Senior Staff Writer
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

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