Professor Scott Galloway calls Elon Musk a 'traitor to the West', compares him to the Rosenbergs

New York University professor and podcaster Scott Galloway has called SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk a 'traitor to the West'. He compared Musk to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted of espionage and executed for passing nuclear weapons secrets to the Soviet Union.

Galloway made the remarks on Election Day on his 'Prof G Podcast'. He was referring to reports that SpaceX restricted Starlink satellite internet speeds in Ukraine last month, reportedly disrupting Ukrainian military operations during the country's war with Russia.

To make his point, Galloway laid out an alternate-history scenario. He said, imagine it is the 1930s, and the United States is contemplating re-entering Europe. It paid a huge price in the First World War, so the idea of going back where it had just left feels deeply unpopular. And this innovator, aviator Charles Lindbergh, is saying, 'No, we should partner with the Germans.'

Galloway continued: imagine Lindbergh was able to raise a large sum of money and buy McDonnell Douglas, an aircraft manufacturer, and put in place an unbelievably innovative guidance system. And then, when President Franklin Roosevelt decided to lend the Royal Air Force B-17 bombers in defence of Europe as a fascist begins to invade the continent, the chief executive of McDonnell Douglas, Charles Lindbergh, decides mid-flight to turn off the guidance systems. As a result, the blitzkrieg increases in fury and British citizens are killed.

'I believe that has almost exactly played out in the last few weeks with Elon Musk throttling back Starlink,' Galloway said. He added, 'And my question is, or my thesis is, we took the Rosenbergs and put them up against a wall and executed them for being traitors. And I realize this is an incendiary statement, but I'll make it, and I believe it. I think Elon Musk is a traitor to the West.'

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed in 1953 after being convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage for the Soviet Union in a case involving United States atomic secrets.

Galloway argued further: 'And I think what is even more dangerous is this zeitgeist within America that the idolatry of innovators and money has created a cloud cover such that traitors to the West are not seen as traitors to the West. That if this had happened in any other age where we were not obsessed with innovators and money, a much different reaction would be playing out for Elon Musk.'

Musk has offered a different explanation. He said Ukraine was using Starlink in violation of the service's restrictions. In his words: 'Using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed.'

Galloway made similar comments on a recent episode of the 'Pivot' podcast with co-host Kara Swisher, saying: 'We lined up the Rosenbergs against a wall. This is a traitor to the West, and he should be held to the same standards as every other traitor in the West.'

In response, Theo Wold, a former White House deputy assistant for domestic policy during President Donald Trump's first term, told Fox News Digital in a statement: 'Comparing Elon Musk to the Rosenbergs is ludicrous. Elon Musk is an innovator who epitomizes the technological advances and optimism that are at the center of Western civilization, which, incidentally, Democrats loved, that is, until Musk exercised his First Amendment freedoms to support Republicans.'

Wold added: 'That is no crime, and the only thing Scott Galloway is pushing for is a nakedly partisan witch hunt and the endorsement of violence against the Antifa Democrats' political enemies.'

Fox News Digital reached out to Elon Musk for comment but did not immediately receive a response. The entrepreneur has been a prominent figure in President Donald Trump's second term and a popular source of criticism for many prominent liberal commentators.