What the Democrats’ Musk Whisperer Thinks Now
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Consultant Ro Khanna has recognized Elon Musk for greater than a decade, so he thought he ought to increase some considerations concerning the billionaire’s assault on the federal authorities the place he would make sure you see them. Posting on the platform Musk owns, the California Democrat mentioned yesterday that Musk needs to be hauled earlier than Congress to elucidate himself. “Musk’s assaults on our establishments are unconstitutional,” Khanna wrote.
It took Musk simply 16 minutes to reply: “Don’t be a dick.”
The 2 continued their dialog over textual content message, Khanna instructed me. In non-public, Musk displayed the identical anger over Khanna’s criticism of his unrestrained efforts to root out supposed authorities waste and fraud. When Khanna once more urged Musk to look earlier than Congress to suggest spending cuts—moderately than carry them out by fiat—Musk replied by revealing that he had a really totally different imaginative and prescient of his job as chair of President Donald Trump’s Division of Authorities Effectivity. Khanna wouldn’t present me their change, however he described Musk’s reply this fashion: “I believe his view is, ‘I didn’t come to Washington to offer a report back to Congress.’”
The banter between the pair was friendlier. When Trump appointed Musk to steer a staff scouring the federal authorities for spending cuts, few Democrats reacted extra positively than Khanna, who rapidly provided to companion with Musk on slashing the protection finances.
Nearly alone amongst Democrats, Khanna has been keen to have interaction with and infrequently defend the billionaire proprietor of Tesla and SpaceX as Musk moved additional to the proper and have become a Trump loyalist. Even now, Khanna can’t assist however marvel at Musk’s success in enterprise. “I all the time thought he was a outstanding entrepreneur,” Khanna instructed me. “He has an eccentric brilliance to him.”
Musk wrote a laudatory blurb for Khanna’s first e book, and he would confer with the Silicon Valley Democrat, who twice backed Bernie Sanders for president, as “a smart average.” Khanna, in flip, has linked Musk with members of Congress in each events. In 2023, he persuaded a skeptical Musk to work with a Republican-led Home committee investigating China. (Notably, Musk didn’t take one other piece of recommendation Khanna provided him when he began getting concerned in politics: “Keep on with automobiles and Mars.”)
Like many individuals in Washington, Khanna assumed that Musk’s DOGE would gap up in an workplace for just a few months and situation a report recommending cuts for Congress to think about. Musk, after all, has carried out rather more than that. With Trump’s approval, he has ignored Congress and burrowed deep into federal departments, sidelining profession civil servants, all however eviscerating USAID, and getting access to the Treasury Division’s fee programs.
“Possibly I used to be naive,” Khanna instructed me. I had known as to hunt his insights on what Musk is doing and what he finally desires; Musk’s critics, each Democrats and Republicans, have speculated that his targets within the authorities are tied to his enterprise pursuits. Khanna prompt that Musk’s motivation is extra easy. Musk “is on a maniacal mission to save lots of the nation from fiscal collapse,” Khanna mentioned, and thinks “that he’s going to determine all the wasteful spending and all the inefficiencies in a authorities that nobody has been ready to determine.” Musk believes, Khanna mentioned, “that individuals like me are in the way in which of what he thinks is within the American curiosity.”
To Musk’s critics—who now embody Khanna—it’s not simply folks standing in his approach however the Structure. “We have to be sure that Elon Musk has an allegiance to the Structure,” Khanna instructed me. Do you suppose he does? I requested him. “No, I don’t,” Khanna replied. “That’s why we have to push again on him.”
Musk’s assault on the federal government has difficult Khanna’s standing within the Democratic Occasion. Khanna has made no secret of his ambitions for increased workplace, and yesterday he delivered a speech through which he known as on People to “stand as much as the unholy alliance of wealth and energy.” However nowhere in his tackle did he point out Musk, and a few progressives see him as having vouched for a plutocrat who’s now taking a sledgehammer to all they maintain expensive.
For weeks earlier than Trump took workplace, Khanna prolonged his hand to work with Musk and DOGE on protection cuts. He instructed me that the supply stays—however solely “if he dedicated to following the Structure.” He added: “There’s loads of belief that must be rebuilt at this level.”
He nonetheless appears to see himself as a possible bridge between Democrats and Musk. But when the previous two weeks are a sign, any affect Khanna had with Musk is likely to be gone. I requested Khanna whether or not, in any case these years, he had misjudged Musk. He replied: “I underestimated how far he would go.”
