- Utah Sen. Nate Blouin shared graffiti reading "kill trillionaires" on social media.
- Blouin clarified his post was metaphorical, criticizing extreme wealth and capitalism.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah state Sen. Nate Blouin shared a picture of graffiti that read, in part, "kill trillionaires" on social media earlier this week, adding in the caption that he was "metaphorically speaking."
While in Denver to help with Melat Kiros' campaign for Colorado's 1st Congressional District seat, Blouin, D-Millcreek, shared a picture on X and Instagram of the side of a building with the words "tax billionaires, kill trillionaires" spray-painted on the side. The word "trillionaires" was misspelled.
Blouin added "metaphorically speaking" to his post on X.
metaphorically speaking pic.twitter.com/3YEmeLVdbW
— Nate Blouin (@NateForUtah) June 30, 2026
As political tensions and fears of political violence have risen in recent years, some saw the post as targeted toward Elon Musk, the world's richest man and first trillionaire — though his net worth had dropped below $1 trillion due to fluctuations in the stock market as of Thursday afternoon, according to Forbes.
Blouin recently ran an unsuccessful campaign for Utah's 1st Congressional District seat, during which he criticized capitalism and campaigned on heavily taxing billionaires. He reiterated that stance when explaining his post to KSL on Thursday, while also noting that he took the photo of the graffiti but was not responsible for painting the message.
"The ultra-wealthy have captured American politics and built their obscene wealth on the backs of working people who suffer under unfettered capitalism," Blouin said. "I've long been opposed to state-sanctioned violence and repression and will continue to fight for a more fair and just system that promotes peace and prosperity over profit."
He said the post wasn't about a single individual but rather "about a class of people our government should never have allowed to exist, that has accumulated wealth and power by exploiting labor and institutions while the rest of us suffer," though he did state that "Elon Musk's greed and recklessness is responsible for deaths around the globe."
The senator was referring to Musk's role as the head of the Department of Governmental Efficiency early on in President Donald Trump's second term. In that role, Musk bragged about gutting the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, a program that provided humanitarian aid around the world.
A 2025 Lancet study estimated that USAID-funded programs helped prevent more than 91 million deaths globally between 2001 and 2021, and projects that recent funding cuts could result in millions of additional deaths in the coming years.
Musk has claimed that deaths in Africa have "DECREASED after USAID funding was cut, because they're no longer able to push for violent revolution to install leftist regimes!" There is no evidence showing that deaths have decreased continentwide as a result of USAID cuts.
