Elon Musk just added Melinda French Gates to his list of billionaires' ex-wives who 'might be the downfall of Western civilization'

• Melinda French Gates endorsed President Joe Biden on Thursday, and Elon Musk isn't happy about it.

• "Might be the downfall of Western civilization," the mercurial billionaire said in response.

• In March, Musk criticized another billionaire's ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, for her charity work.

Melinda French Gates has given her first presidential endorsement, and Elon Musk isn't too happy about it.

"Might be the downfall of western civilization," Musk said in response to an X post by the Babylon Bee staffer Ashley St. Clair about French Gates' endorsement of President Joe Biden.

French Gates endorsed Biden in an X post published Thursday.

"I've never endorsed a presidential candidate before," she wrote. "But this year's election stands to be so enormously consequential for women and families that, this time, I can't stay quiet."

In March, Musk similarly criticized Jeff Bezos' ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, for her charitable giving.

"'Super rich ex-wives who hate their former spouse' should filed be listed among 'Reasons that Western Civilization died,'" Musk said in a now deleted X post on March 6.

And it sure looks like endorsing Biden has earned French Gates a spot on Musk's list of bad billionaire exes.

"Many super villain arcs being pursued under the guise of philanthropy," St. Clair said in a follow-up post.

"Yeah," Musk replied.

For what it's worth, Musk isn't a fan of French Gates' ex-husband, Bill Gates, either.

Musk's biography says the Tesla CEO was furious that the Microsoft founder had shorted his company's stock.

"How can someone say they are passionate about fighting climate change and then do something that reduced the overall investment in the company doing the most? It's pure hypocrisy," Musk told his biographer, Walter Isaacson.

To be sure, Musk's contempt for Gates' former spouse may also stem from his own distaste for Biden.

Musk has repeatedly criticized Biden after Tesla was excluded from the president's 2021 electric-vehicle summit.

"Biden held this EV summit, didn't invite Tesla. Invited GM, Ford, Chrysler, and UAW. An EV summit at the White House," Musk told the journalist Kara Swisher in September 2021. "Didn't mention Tesla once, and praised GM and Ford for leading the EV revolution."

The mercurial billionaire has also criticized Biden's handling of the southern-border crisis and accused the Democratic Party of being "controlled by unions."

In November, Musk told the journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin at The New York Times DealBook Summit that he was unlikely to vote for Biden. Musk has, however, stopped short of endorsing former President Donald Trump.

That said, Musk does seem to have grown increasingly closer to Trump.

Last week, Musk said in a Tesla shareholder meeting that he received random phone calls from Trump. The former president, Musk said, was "very nice" on the phone.

"I have had some conversations with him, and he does call me out of the blue for no reason," Musk said. "I don't know why, but he does."

Representatives for Musk and French Gates did not respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.

Correction: June 21, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misnamed a New York Times journalist. His name is Andrew Ross Sorkin, not Aaron Ross Sorkin.

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