Tesla chief Elon Musk and Doge co-founder Jackson Palmer have a spat

  • Jackson Palmer questioned Musk’s coding skills over a past Python script designed to automatically report crypto bots
  • Musk, in response, termed Palmer’s script worse than a 12-year-old’s code

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Dogecoin co-founder Jackson Palmer have in the past pitted against each other, and they are back at it again. This time the conversation is over coding skills.

Palmer’s interview with Crikey

Jackson Palmer, who co-founded popular meme coin Doge alongside Billy Markus, recently spoke to Australian news outlet Crikey, in which he went on an offensive against Elon Musk. Palmer ran down back the memory lane and recalled a time when he created a script to automatically report crypto bots and scams on Twitter, which he says he ran by the Twitter team, Musk, and other crypto influencers. 

However, he claims that it quickly became apparent that the SpaceX Chief Engineer lacked in coding, asking the Doge creator to explain the Python script.

“Elon reached out to me to get hold of that script and it became apparent very quickly that he didn’t understand coding as well as he made out,” Palmer said.

Palmer doubled down on comments he’s made in the past, terming Musk a grifter who sells empty promises that he can’t really deliver on. 

“He’s a grifter. He sells a vision in hopes that he can one day deliver what he’s promising, but he doesn’t know that. He’s just really good at pretending he knows. That’s very evident with the Tesla full-self-driving promise,” Jackson Palmer told Crickey, according to a Monday report.

Musk’s response

The world’s richest man didn’t leave the claims unanswered, rushing to his own defense on Twitter. Musk claimed that it is Palmer whose coding skills are questionable, going as far as suggesting his prowess is lacking compared to a 12-year-old. 

“My kids wrote better code when they were 12 than the nonsense script Jackson sent me. Like I said, if it’s so great, he should share it with the world and make everyone’s experience with Twitter better. If he does, you will see what I mean. Jackson Palmer is a tool,” he said.

Palmer shared his script, which he says worked but might not be as effective now, owing to evolved tactics by phishing accounts.

The pair haven’t always seen eye to eye, with Palmer frequently disapproving of Musk’s antics. Palmer’s distaste extends beyond the billionaire into the cryptocurrency space, which he called “inherently right-wing” in a thread from late last year when he clarified his position. 

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