While Steve Wozniak has long criticized the personality flaws of his late friend and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, he has far more damning things to say about fellow tech mogul Elon Musk.
The 74-year-old entrepreneur shared his thoughts with CNBC on Tuesday at a tech conference in Spain.
“I don’t know what got into his head,” said Wozniak, referring to the Tesla CEO. “Sometimes you get so rich at these big companies, and you’re on top. It goes to your head, and you’re the most incredible person in the world and the brightest, and you’re gonna dictate what others will do.”
As a “special government employee” heading Donald Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, Musk has been dismantling federal agencies with the purported aim of slashing wasteful public spending.
This has led to thousands of federal workers being fired and legal pushback in the courts.
“Bullying is the best way to think of it,” Wozniak told CNBC. “If you’re in school, the bully’s gonna force their way on the little guy. I don’t know, I’ve always favored the little guy over the big guy — and I’ve always favored the consumer of a good over the producer.”
Wozniak had even harsher words for Trump, however.
“There are types of people that you associate with in your life that are good, pleasant, friendly and care about others, care about animals, even,” he told the outlet. “And Trump is not one of them. He’s a disgusting person and has always been and always will be.”
After the Supreme Court thwarted Trump and Musk’s efforts to freeze some $2 billion in foreign aid, Musk urged Republican senators on Capitol Hill to help him find another way to rescind that funding.
Democratic lawmakers resoundingly booed Musk Tuesday evening when Trump thanked him during his address to Congress.
Meanwhile, Wozniak also accused Musk of ruining his electric Tesla vehicles with steadily worsening designs. Wozniak, who invented the Apple I and Apple II computers, owns several Teslas himself.
“Every step up where they changed things in the car, it got worse and worse and worse, and now it is just miserable for user interface,” Wozniak told CNBC. “Coming from Apple, user interface, the way you deal with technology, is the most important thing in the world.”
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He concluded, “And Tesla is the worst in the world at that.”