Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy Warn of Increasing World War III Risk — ‘The US as We Know It Will Cease to Exist’

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and U.S. presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy have cautioned about the increasing risk of World War III erupting. “I think we are sleepwalking our way into World War III,” Musk said. Ramaswamy warned: “If we enter a major conflict, anything resembling World War III against a Russia-China alliance with potentially Iran and/or North Korea included on the other side, the United States as we know it will cease to exist.”

Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy Discuss World War III Risk

Tesla and Spacex CEO Elon Musk and U.S. presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy discussed their perspectives on the growing risk of World War III Monday during a discussion on social media platform X. The discussion, titled “Where is Israel-Hamas war headed? Could this lead to WW3?,” was hosted by venture capitalist David Sacks, with Ramaswamy as the co-host. In addition to Musk and Ramaswamy, the event featured several other speakers, attracting an audience of over 915,000 listeners.

Musk said “the most important issue” to discuss is “how do we avoid World War III?” He explained that “World War III is a civilizational risk that we may not recover from,” therefore we need to “prioritize avoiding World War III” and not let “a regional conflict rapidly become a global conflict.” The billionaire cautioned:

People are overestimating U.S. military power … We don’t have the power differential that we used to have.

“A combination of Russia, China, and Iran should be viewed as very strong relative to the West,” the Tesla boss emphasized. “We are not fighting small fry here … It is a massive battle where the industrial capacity is of comparable size to the Western alliances.”

The billionaire continued: “We do not have an overwhelming advantage in industrial might … and the foundation of war is economic power, especially industrial output … In fact, it may be the case, if not now in the future, it probably will be that a Russia-China-Iran alliance can outproduce the Western alliance.”

Musk explained: “The point is that in order for there to be a global conflict of World War III, you have to have two superpower alliances like that, where one cannot easily defeat the other one, and that is the case. And that, I think is a massive shift in thinking that most people do not understand.”

The Spacex chief pointed out: “Russia has the raw materials and China has the industrial capacity — Frankly, a perfect match from a war standpoint.” He added: “Unfortunately, our [U.S.] policy has been driving, forcing really, Russia and Iran to ally with China. It’s been forcing them. What choice have we given them?” He stressed:

We need to stop doing that. It’s unwise, and I think it will lead to immense risk to civilization … We need to make sure we are not putting civilization itself at stake, which is World War III.

‘The United States as We Know It Will Cease to Exist’

Ramaswamy shared Musk’s concern about World War III being a civilizational risk. He said during the discussion that “a different way of saying civilizational risk because there’s a lot of other things that would also cease to exist” is to say that “If we do enter World War III, it is likely that the United States as we know it will cease to exist.”

The presidential hopeful emphasized that “it’s important for people to understand” the risk to the United States in case of WWIII, “especially when the U.S. homeland is as vulnerable as we have been in modern memory, not just from a border perspective but from missile defense or cyber defense or defenses against super electromagnetic pulse attacks.”

He additionally highlighted various factors amplifying the risks, such as “Russia’s hypersonic missile capabilities, nuclear capabilities,” which he noted are ahead of the U.S., and “China’s naval capacity, which arguably is ahead of ours.” Moreover, “our economic dependence on China” and a range of other factors, when you consider the Western allies in contrast to the “alternative alliance between Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea,” have heightened the risks, he detailed.

Reiterating that “The existence of the United States itself is what we are talking about as being on the line here,” Ramaswamy emphasized:

If we enter major conflict, anything resembling World War III against a Russia-China alliance with potentially Iran and/or North Korea included on the other side, the United States as we know it will cease to exist.

‘We Should Restore Normal Relations With Russia’

Musk also believes that it’s imperative for the U.S. to restore normal relations with Russia. “From a civilizational risk standpoint, we should restore normal relations with Russia … because the alternative is … an axis of immense power against the West and laying the groundwork for World War III,” the billionaire cautioned.

“I see no benefit and only bad things, frankly, in prolonging the Ukraine and Russia conflict … bad things for Ukraine and bad things for the United States and bad things for the world,” Musk opined. “So we should seek peace. I think immediately we should seek to restore normal relations as soon as possible. This is not some kind of reward for Russia. This is simply recognizing the realities and the risks that the world faces and ensuring that there is the highest likelihood of a positive future for human civilization.”

The billionaire concluded: “The most important thing is avoiding World War III because we may never recover from World War III and I think currently the risk of World War III is increasing rapidly. And I think if relations are renormalized with Russia, the probability of World War III is dramatically lower.” Musk stressed:

I think we are sleepwalking our way into World War III … with one foolish decision after another.

Do you agree with Elon Musk and presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy about the risk of World War III? Let us know in the comments section below.