Elon Musk calls New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani a 'thief and liar' over city-owned grocery plan
Musk dismissed the proposal on X, arguing AI and robots will eventually deliver goods for free
MediaBias Comparison Desk
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised
This article was written at the MediaBias News desk from the one-paragraph digests an aggregator publishes for each of the outlets listed below it, together with 2 of those outlets' own reports read in full. How we do it
Elon Musk calls New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani a 'thief and liar' over city-owned grocery plan
Photograph: IBTimes UK (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Elon Musk responded on X to a clip of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani outlining a plan for city-owned grocery stores, calling him a 'thief and liar'.
- Musk argued that AI and robots would eventually deliver goods and services for free, making government-run grocery stores unnecessary.
- The proposal, part of a forthcoming Request for Proposal process, aims to address food insecurity in underserved areas of New York.
- No details on funding or structure for Mamdani’s plan have been confirmed.
Elon Musk criticised New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on X after Mamdani outlined a proposal for city-owned grocery stores. The plan, part of a forthcoming Request for Proposal (RFP) process, would invite businesses and individuals to operate publicly owned grocery stores across New York’s five boroughs. Mamdani presented the scheme as a way to tackle food insecurity in areas underserved by private supermarkets.
The exchange began when tech investor Jason Calacanis posted a video of Mamdani discussing the proposal. Calacanis argued that the RFP process would prioritise diversity, equity and inclusion criteria over commercial competence. He claimed that private retailers like Costco already sell groceries at near-zero profit margins, making the plan redundant. Musk responded by dismissing the proposal as irrelevant, writing that AI and robots would soon deliver goods and services for free.
Musk’s comments were unusually blunt. He accused Mamdani of trying to undermine the free market and labelled him a 'thief and liar'. In a separate reply to Calacanis, Musk alleged that Mamdani’s plan was a 'propaganda tool' and that he did not care about 'logic arguments'. Musk has previously argued that AI and robotics will create a post-scarcity economy where basic goods are free, though critics have questioned the feasibility of this vision.
Tesla has said it is retooling its Fremont plant to focus on its Optimus humanoid robot, with an ambition to produce around one million robots per year. The company has not demonstrated that robots can produce and deliver essentials at zero cost. Rival firms, including BYD, are also developing humanoid robots, but the sector remains speculative.
What the coverage left out
No centre- or right-rated outlets ran this story at all. None of the reports below mention whether Mamdani or his office responded to Musk’s comments.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
- IBTimes UK led on Elon Musk’s personal attack against Zohran Mamdani, quoting Musk’s description of the mayor as a 'thief and liar'. The report framed the exchange as part of a broader argument about government intervention in markets, noting that Musk has increasingly cast state-led economic policies as threats to innovation. It also highlighted Musk’s claim that AI and robots would eventually deliver goods for free, though it noted that no evidence supports this as a near-term possibility.
- The report included Calacanis’s criticism of the RFP process, specifically his claim that it would prioritise diversity and inclusion over commercial competence. It also quoted Calacanis’s assertion that private retailers like Costco already sell groceries at 'zero profit margin'. IBTimes UK described Musk’s vision of a post-scarcity economy as 'far stranger' and noted that critics, including Senator Bernie Sanders, have challenged Musk to support a wealth tax if he believes money will soon become irrelevant.
- The report did not omit the lack of confirmed details on how Mamdani’s grocery plan would be funded or structured. It also included Tesla’s stated ambition to produce one million Optimus robots annually, while noting that the company has not demonstrated the ability to deliver goods at zero cost.
Centre
We hold no leaning breakdown for this story, so there is nothing to report about the centre.
Right
We hold no leaning breakdown for this story, so there is nothing to report about the right.
Read it at the source
1 outlet, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
1Centre
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Right
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Not rated
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
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