Scrambling for a talking point to leverage amid a dismal polling trend, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) sought an apology from Elon Musk on a key voter issue.
(Video Credit: MSNBC)
Over the weekend, the world’s richest man was asked about recent actions from President Donald Trump’s administration after he concluded his duties as a special government employee. Musk’s suggestion that he was “in a bind” found Schumer fuming on MSNBC in an effort to pin “lasting damage” on the former point man of the Department of Government of Efficiency (DOGE).
“He says he’s in a bind. The American people are in a bind because of what Musk did,” the New York lawmaker told MSNBC’s Jonathan Lemire on “Morning Joe” Monday. “His DOGE, which, you know, didn’t go, didn’t do as much as he wanted it to do, but still did huge amounts of damage in terms of the firing of employees, the decimation of agencies like health care, like going after — making sure drugs and food is safe, nuclear energy is safe, the FAA — we need to bolster and he — I believe they put a freeze on it. They didn’t hire new people.”
Schumer was specifically reacting to Musk’s interview on “CBS Sunday Morning,” where the billionaire attempted to steer the conversation back to SpaceX after being asked about the administration’s actions temporarily halting student visas.
“I don’t want to speak up against the administration, but … I also don’t want to take responsibility for everything the administration is doing,” he explained, having previously expressed disappointment that the DOGE cuts had not been codified.
Still, the Democratic leader insisted, “Over and over again, what Musk did with his DOGE is gonna cause lasting damage to the American people. And just saying now he’s out of the administration and he’s in a bind, that’s ridiculous. He ought to be apologizing to the American people for what he has done if, for some reason, he sees the light. I don’t know if he does or not, but that’s what we need — an apology and him to tell Trump to undo the damage that he has done.”
The lawmaker’s attempt to demonize Musk over his efforts to expose the waste, fraud, and abuse within the federal government comes as Democrats are losing their long-held foothold with middle-income Americans and as Republicans are still viewed as better for the economy.
Sharing a number of polls Monday, CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten joined “CNN News Central” and revealed the GOP held anywhere from an eight-point to a 12-point advantage via their economic plan despite, “months of economic uncertainty in which the stock market’s been going bonkers, in which the tariff wars that Americans are against have been going on.”
The analyst went on to add that a CNN poll spoke to “Democratic ills more than anything else” as it showed how, after more than 35 years, the Republican Party had closed a 23-point advantage to tie the Democratic Party as “the party of the middle class.”
“Donald Trump and the Republican Party have taken that mantle away and now a key advantage for Democrats historically,” said Enten, “has gone adios, amigos.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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