After President Joe Biden stepped out of the 2024 presidential race, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee, Indian-American billionaire Vinod Khosla and Tesla CEO Elon Musk found themselves at odds over their views on Donald Trump's candidacy.

Khosla, a notable investor in OpenAI and a Democratic donor, proposed an "open convention" to select a more moderate candidate, suggesting Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro as alternatives to Harris. He argued that the nation needs a president who is neither far-right nor overly progressive.

"Time to have an open convention and get a more moderate candidate who can easily beat @realDonaldTrump. @GovWhitmer and @GovernorShapiro would be a great thing for America not held hostage between MAGA extremists and DEI extremism. Unique opportunity for a better moderate path. Every socially liberal, climate and fiscal voter should want it to balance our approach," Khosla tweeted.

In response, Musk, who has recently shown support for Trump, urged Khosla to back Trump and his running mate, JD Vance. "Come on, Vinod. Trump/Vance LFG!!" he tweeted.

Khosla rejected Musk's suggestion, citing Trump's personal conduct and policies as his reasons. "Hard for me to support someone with no values, lies, cheats, rapes, demeans women, hates immigrants like me,” he replied.

“He may cut my taxes or reduce some regulation but that is no reason to accept depravity in his personal values. Do you want President who will set back climate by a decade in his first year? Do you want his example for your kids as values?" Khosla added.

Musk countered by asserting that Trump does not harbor animosity towards Khosla and that his administration would foster meritocracy and individual freedoms.

"He doesn’t hate you. In fact, I think he likes you. Meet him and find out for yourself. How many times have you read something in the media where you know the real story, but what they printed was diabolically false? Well, it’s way worse in politics, which is a blood sport," Musk said.

While acknowledging that Trump has flaws, Musk maintained that America requires "an administration that is more likely to be meritocratic and promote individual freedoms over the heavy hand of government. Many years ago, that was the Democratic Party, but now the pendulum has swung to the Republican Party."

Khosla agreed on the importance of meritocracy and individual freedoms but expressed concerns over Trump's stance on climate change and the potential impact on American leadership and moral authority.

"Agree on not trusting media. Agree on meritocratic and promote individual freedoms. But abandon climate and 'drill baby drill'? Be MAGA and abandon NATO and American leadership and moral authority? I was a socially liberal registered fiscal Republican till climate made me switch to Independent (sic)," Khosla responded.

In a subsequent tweet, Khosla questioned Musk on whether he could "forgive [Trump] for trying to subvert democracy on Jan 6 and push for insurrection just to win?" Musk did not respond.

Vinod Khosla, a prominent venture capitalist and co-founder of Sun Microsystems, hosted a fundraiser for Biden in May and previously supported Hillary Clinton in 2016. Although he has refrained from endorsing Kamala Harris, he has called for an "open convention" and "ranked choice voting" to reflect the "will of the people."