Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has yet again drawn attention towards a controversial remark made by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman about US President Donald Trump. Hoffman, one of the biggest Democrat donors, had earlier been in the headlines after he said at a public forum that he wished Trump got killed in an assassination.
"Just a reminder that Reid Hoffman really did say in a public forum that he wished President Trump had been killed in the assassination attempt," Musk wrote on X, while tagging a post by former advisor to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Katie Miller.
Just a reminder that Reid Hoffman really did say in a public forum that he wished President Trump had been killed in the assassination attempt https://t.co/rc596IOVjJ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 30, 2026
In her post, Miller attached the screenshot from a July 2024 discussion that was organised at the Sun Valley conference. It highlighted the exchange between Hoffman and venture capitalist Peter Thiel, who has publicly supported the US President.
At that time, Thiel had sarcastically thanked Hoffman for funding legal actions against Trump and suggested that it had made him “a martyr”.
Hoffman then responded with his own sarcastic quip, “Yeah, I wish I had made him an actual martyr.” The discussion came to an end on that uncomfortable note.
Hoffman's remark had resurfaced after the assassination attampt on Trump on July 13, 2024 and had triggered widespread criticism. However, he has clarified that it was not a literal endorsement of violence and was rather intended as dark humour.
LinkedIn Co-Founder Urges Tech Leaders To Denounce Donald Trump
In an opinion piece in The San Francisco Standard, Hoffman wrote that more tech leaders need to “speak out” against Trump's administration after the killing of two American citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis.
The deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti have sparked outrage in the US, with the White House making all possible efforts to damage control its reputation. Hoffman has become the latest in a string of Silicon Valley figures to slam Trump on his sweeping immigration crackdown.
"In the year since President Donald Trump took office, too many Silicon Valley leaders have divested themselves of the responsibility to speak out against the administration's excesses," Hoffman wrote.
He mentioned that the "America we love will survive the current authoritarian push (not to say putsch) only if enough of us — especially those of us fortunate enough to be in positions of leadership and influence — choose to condemn it, and loudly."
Hoffman added, "We in Silicon Valley can't bend the knee to Trump. We can't shrink away and just hope the crisis will fade."
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