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Chris Hayes: Elon Musk's stint in government has been an abject failure — and wildly destructive
This is an adapted excerpt from the May 29 episode of 'All In with Chris Hayes.' To put the news in the parlance of SpaceX, it seems Elon Musk's career as co-president to Donald Trump has had a bit of a 'rapid unscheduled disassembly.' Technically, his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) campaign was always billed as temporary, but less than six months into this administration, the man who came in like some sort of MAGA rock star, who was jumping around at Trump rallies, appeared at Cabinet meetings and spoke to adoring crowds at CPAC is now slinking out the side door. By every conceivable metric, Musk's stint in government has been an abject failure. On the substance alone, it has been wildly destructive. A lot of lifelong experts in key positions have lost their jobs. Important medical research has been set back, possibly indefinitely. Government agencies are functioning worse than they were before. There are also huge ramifications for the Global South, where cuts to foreign aid will lead to needless suffering. Musk's fellow billionaire Bill Gates warned that cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, the agency Musk bragged about putting through the 'woodchipper,' could cost millions of lives throughout the world. Experts have also cautioned that tens of thousands of people could die as a result of cuts to the AIDS relief program PEPFAR. So it's clear Musk did real, substantive damage that will be hard to repair, but even by his own standards, his so-called cost-saving, efficiency program failed to achieve what it set out to do. The world's richest man promised to cut federal spending by $2 trillion. But, by his own website's shoddy math, he managed to cut just $175 billion. He barely made a dent. Even the libertarian Cato Institute, which is ideologically very supportive of DOGE's mission, wrote that Musk 'has overpromised and underdelivered on verifiable spending cuts.' Musk assumed that the government is full of lazy bureaucrats who could be fired without any meaningful consequences. But even one of his own DOGE insiders had to concede that's not actually true. In an interview, tech entrepreneur Sahil Lavingia, who Musk placed at the Department of Veterans Affairs, told Fast Company earlier this month: 'I would say the culture shock is mostly a lot of meetings, not a lot of decisions … But honestly, it's kind of fine — because the government works. It's not as inefficient as I was expecting, to be honest. I was hoping for more easy wins.' Lavingia said he found 'himself surrounded by people who 'love their jobs,' who came to the government with a sense of mission driving their work,' according to Fast Company. After that interview was published, Lavingia said his 'access was revoked without warning' and his 'DOGE days were over.' Now that it's clear Americans do not like the behavior and the cruelty of DOGE, Musk, with what is left of his tattered reputation, is doing media interviews trying to distance himself from it all. 'You know, it's not like I agree with everything the administration does,' Musk told CBS News. 'I mean, I agree with much of what the administration does, but we have differences of opinion … But it's difficult for me to bring that up in an interview because then it creates a point of contention. So then I'm a little stuck in a bind where I'm like, well, I don't want to, you know, speak out against the administration but I don't want to — I also don't want to take credit for everything the administration's doing.' It is a tough spot to be associated with those toxic Trump policies, but it's worth remembering Musk is the same guy who was on stage with a chainsaw, bragging about all the cuts he was making to the federal government. Months later, Musk is leaving in disgrace because he was wholesale rejected by everyone. We have seen report after report that members of the administration simply could not stand the guy. Back in March, The New York Times reported on an 'explosive' Cabinet meeting, where Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins all tore into Musk for his haphazard cuts in their respective agencies. Earlier this month, The Atlantic reported on an expletive-ridden screaming match between Musk and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that spilled out from the Oval Office into more public areas of the West Wing. That same article also quotes the general counsel for the American Federation of Government Employees as saying, 'We kicked him out of town … If he had stayed in the shadows and done his stuff, who knows how bad it would have been? But no one likes the guy.' 'No one likes the guy' might be the best summation of Musk's foray into American politics I've encountered. But Musk's 'Waterloo moment' came in April in Wisconsin. He flew in from out of state, wore a cheesehead and flexed his newfound political muscles in the state's Supreme Court race. Musk spent a small fortune of his own money in support of the conservative candidate, Brad Schimel, but it didn't work. Schimel lost by 10 points. Wisconsin voters called Musk a 'pushy billionaire' who was 'cutting everything' and said 'he just makes me very angry.' That's not just in Wisconsin; voters everywhere don't like him. Nate Silver's polling average shows Musk's public approval more than 14 points underwater, with about 54% of Americans saying they disapprove of the billionaire. Musk's intrusion into national politics has also had real financial consequences for his companies. He has lost billions of dollars since he spent more than $270 million to get Trump elected last year. Tesla sales are down big, especially in Europe, where they crashed nearly 50% year over year last month. In the U.S., according to one report, 'A shopping center with a shuttered Bed Bath and Beyond store is in violation of a Detroit suburb's city code for storing dozens of Tesla vehicles on its parking lot.' Generally, I don't think it is good news for a car manufacturer when your flagship, luxury trucks are sitting unsold in a random parking lot somewhere outside of Detroit. Tesla shareholders are now saying the company is in crisis, sending a letter to the company demanding that Musk return to work full time. Thankfully for them, it looks like he has a lot of time on his hands right now. As Musk leaves the government worse off than he found it, it's clear his tenure in Washington was a complete failure, substantively and politically. Musk got high on his own supply and convinced himself the American public would fall in love with his antics. But it turns out, they would much rather he just go away. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Chris Hayes: Trump gets a jet. But it's what he's giving in return that should have Americans worried.
This is an adapted excerpt from the May 13 episode of 'All In with Chris Hayes.' For decades, going back to Ronald Reagan, when an American president makes their first visit to a foreign nation, they almost always go to Canada. It makes sense: They're our top trading partner; we share a language and a very long border. But in 2017, Donald Trump did not do that. Instead, Trump went to the oil-rich kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where he joined in laying hands on a glowing orb. During that trip, he also forged a close friendship with the nation's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who would later invest $2 billion in a business owned by Trump's son-in-law, against the advice of his own economic experts. Eight years later, Trump is president again. This time around, Trump, once again, decided he wasn't going to Canada, the country he openly wants to annex. Instead, the president went back to the Middle East, landing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday, with plans to visit Qatar and the United Arab Emirates next. The Saudis, the Qataris and the Emiratis all clearly understood the assignment. Take the crown prince: He greeted Trump on the tarmac and rolled out the royal purple carpet. Not only did the Saudis welcome Trump with open arms, but they also welcomed his co-president, Elon Musk. However, Musk wasn't the only billionaire on the trip. Trump and the crown prince joined forces to open a U.S.-Saudi investment forum for big-money players from the two nations, with speakers from U.S. firms like Citigroup, BlackRock and Palantir. The White House claims Trump 'secured $600 billion in deals with the Saudi government and firms.' But, according to The New York Times, 'the details the White House provided were vague and totaled less than half that number. And a closer look at the projects the administration provided shows several were already in the works before Mr. Trump took office.' But Trump claimed a big win, and so the president responsible for the 'Muslim ban' posed onstage in front of a massive Saudi flag and was applauded. Trump had some other big gifts ready, too. The president announced a $142 billion arms agreement to provide the Saudis with U.S. weapons and defense contractors to maintain them. He also announced that he plans to lift sanctions on Syria, which Trump said was at the behest of the Saudis. 'Oh, what I do for the crown prince,' he said from the stage. While that announcement was a good one and those sanctions on Syria should be dropped, we should not drop them as a favor to the Saudi crown prince who threw $2 billion at your son-in-law. It's also worth noting that before that announcement, Syria's leader offered to build a Trump Tower in Damascus and said he would give the U.S. mineral rights contracts in his country, according to several sources familiar with the efforts who spoke with Reuters. Mideast diplomacy is one of the most complicated, fraught areas of American foreign policy, and out of the gate, Trump is basically just going down a list of policies that the Saudis and their allies wanted. Policywise, some of those concessions are better than others; corrupt processes can sometimes accidentally create a decent policy here and there. But they're not policies so much as presents for his overseas buddies, and, in return, those buddies are giving him what he wants. Which brings us, of course, to the Qatari jumbo jet. A special Boeing 747 that has been called a 'palace of the sky' and a 'flying mansion.' A luxury item worth $400 million and gifted to Trump by the Qatari royal family over the weekend. It is full of leather, gold and burl wood accents. It sports at least three lounges, two bedrooms, nine bathrooms, five galleys and a private office. Trump is palpably stoked out of his shoes about this thing, like a very rich kid on Christmas morning getting the world's most expensive toy. Accepting this jet would be the most shockingly corrupt act by a president in the history of the presidency. It violates not only the spirit of the Constitution, but literally the text. However, according to Trump, not taking it would be 'stupid.' It seems the only thing that unites the policies Trump has announced on his Middle East tour so far is that they are exactly what the Gulf states wanted. It makes sense, this is the place Trump feels most at home because these countries get Trump in a way they never got any other American president. That's because this American president openly admires despots and envies what they have. The Gulf states that are hosting Trump understand that. They recognize he is not there for 330 million Americans. He is there for himself, and they are there to indulge him. It's not because Trump is a unique force of nature. He is not special; he is just easy. He's not even the first foreign leader to be gifted a 747 by the Qataris. Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdoğan got a half-billion-dollar jumbo jet back in 2018. But this is the thing: The Gulf states have been doing this forever. They don't have huge armies, but they have a lot of oil and a lot of money, and they use it to extend their geopolitical dominance. That only goes so far with a traditional, law-abiding American administration. However, with Trump, a man not just willing but thirsty to trade on the trappings of the office that American voters bestowed on him, the sky is the limit. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Chris Hayes: World Central Kitchen ends work in Gaza, as U.S. continues crackdown on dissent at home
This is an adapted excerpt from the May 6 episode of 'All In with Chris Hayes.' On Wednesday, a federal appeals court ruled that detained Tufts University Ph.D. student Rumeysa Öztürk must be transferred from a detention center in Louisiana, where she has been held for over a month, to Vermont within a week. There, a judge will hear her appeal to be released on bail. Öztürk, a legal resident in the U.S. on a student visa, was snatched off the street by plainclothes immigration agents earlier this year. She is currently being imprisoned for her protected free speech, seemingly after she wrote an op-ed in her school paper last year that was critical of Israel's war in Gaza and Tufts' response to student protests. Öztürk's detention is part of what appears to be an authoritarian attempt to criminalize thought, political speech and protest in this country. Donald Trump and his administration are attempting to use the full force of the government to punish those who disagree with U.S. support for Israel's war. We have seen the state weaponized against legal immigrants like Öztürk, Mahmoud Khalil and others. It is also cracking down on U.S. citizens, putting enormous pressure on public and private universities where some of the most organized and active protests surrounding Gaza have formed. On Wednesday night, at least 80 people were detained at Columbia University after protesters occupied the school's main library and refused to leave. New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who has aligned himself closely with Trump, called the protest 'unacceptable.' This kind of stuff is happening all over the country: Cities and universities are collaborating with the Trump administration's pressure campaign. According to reporting from The Intercept, New York University tried to bar more than 30 pro-Palestinian law students who were under disciplinary investigations from taking their final exams if they did not first renounce their right to protest. The university later walked back that demand amid public pressure. In a statement to the Intercept, a university official said, 'It is not the case that any student is prohibited from taking in-person exams or accessing student health centers as a result of engaging in protest activity. In cases concerning reports of serious disciplinary violations, some students have been asked to sign a use of space agreement which restates the Law School's policy prohibiting disruption during the reading and exam period.' In Texas, a federal lawsuit was filed last week accusing the University of Texas at Austin of collaborating with the state government to suppress 'pro-Palestine speech, in violation of the First Amendment.' Part of that suit includes body cam audio of a police officer questioning the legality of arresting peaceful protesters. It is the closest thing I have seen to McCarthyism in my lifetime. It is an attempt to take a specific, constitutionally protected ideological perspective and intimidate people away from expressing it through threats of force and banishment. It has gotten to the point where, when I saw viral images of musician Dave Matthews holding up signs reading 'Stop the Genocide' and 'Stop Killing Children,' my first thought was to check his immigration status for fear that the Trump administration would have him deported. (Turns out he is a naturalized U.S. citizen.) But it is crucial not to lose sight of what these people are protesting in the first place. Gaza has been bombed for a year and a half. According to Save the Children, 15,000 children have reportedly been killed since the start of the war. The United Nations reports that 1.9 million people have been displaced, as the whole strip has been effectively razed to the ground. (The Israeli military has repeatedly said it does 'everything possible to limit civilian casualties in Gaza.') All of which happened with the sometimes tacit — often explicit — support of the Biden administration, according to a new investigation from Israel's Channel 13, which included interviews with nine current and former U.S. officials. That report was translated by Drop Site News and shared on X. After all that, the Trump administration says the real extremism is happening on college campuses. Now, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is moving on to the newest phase of his plan, which, at least as reported and communicated by ministers in his own government, appears to be bringing about an ethnic cleansing in Gaza. B'Tselem, a prominent Israeli human rights group, has said that ethnic cleansing is already underway. (Israel has strongly denied accusations of ethnic cleansing in Gaza.) But Netanyahu and his administration are openly promising to destroy everything in Gaza and to make life there so miserable that 2 million Palestinians will be forced to flee, and hopes for the return of the remaining hostages being held by Hamas are almost certainly extinguished. Just this week, Israel's finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said, 'Gaza will be completely destroyed,' causing civilians to 'leave in large numbers to third countries.' 'This will change the reality, the history of the state of Israel for decades to come,' he continued. 'We must invent much more than this, especially politically vis-à-vis the United States, and get those third countries. There is a good discourse that is moving forward with them and it should be much more meaningful.' Smotrich is not the only member of Netanyahu's government openly saying stuff like this. In March, The Times of Israel quoted National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir as saying, 'Gaza must endure hell. And hell also means bombing all the aid depots that Hamas holds,' as well as halting the supply of electricity and water, Doing so, he continued, 'will cause mass starvation of Hamas terrorists and their supporters in the Gaza Strip and will allow us to return to war with tremendous force, when Hamas terrorists are weak and exhausted, without any significant ability to fight back — and we can crush them without difficulty.' On Wednesday, Chef Jose Andres' World Central Kitchen announced on social media that '[a]fter serving more than 130 million total meals and 26 million loaves of bread over the past 18 months, World Central Kitchen no longer has the supplies to cook meals or bake bread in Gaza.' It's been more than two months since Israel announced it would stop all goods and humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. Instead of opposing that, our government is enabling it. The Trump administration has been talking about what country will take in the Palestinians through mass population transfers — a phrase that recalls some of the worst episodes in human history. We are facing a U.S. and Israeli policy that is more aggressively radical and extremist, more flagrantly in violation of all international law and human rights, than ever before. But if you point that out, the Trump administration may try to label you a terrorist, an enemy of the state, and have you removed from the country. Meanwhile, too many top figures in the Democratic Party have effectively abdicated their leadership on this issue. What exactly are young Americans who have increasingly soured on Israeli policy in Gaza supposed to do? Should students shut up and pretend their government isn't reportedly abetting mass civilian death and population transfer? I can tell you this: No amount of repression and bullying is going to successfully stamp out the movement against this carnage, and if history is any indication, it is just as likely to make the movement stronger. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Chris Hayes: Rubio's new role is a dangerous step in Trump's effort to consolidate power
This is an adapted excerpt from the May 1 episode of 'All In with Chris Hayes.' After over 100 days of national security chaos and the Signal chat scandal, Michael Waltz is out as Donald Trump's national security adviser. That is the headline, but it hardly does justice to how this all unfolded. It started with reports on Thursday morning that Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, were soon to be removed from their jobs. But by the afternoon, Waltz's ouster was spun into something else. Trump took to Truth Social to confirm Waltz was out and announced his nomination as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. In that same post, Trump also announced Secretary of State Marco Rubio would act as his 'interim' national security adviser. This was an abrupt and incredible shake-up, one that would leave Rubio simultaneously holding at least four official full-time jobs in the government: secretary of state, acting national security adviser, acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, and acting head of the National Archives. The news of Rubio's new role even came as a surprise to those at the State Department. After a reporter asked spokesperson Tammy Bruce about how long the secretary would serve in the position, Bruce responded that she 'just heard' the news. Make no mistake about it: This is a demotion for Waltz. He is out of the core of the security establishment and nominated to a still-open position that does not amount to much in a Republican administration. In fairness to Waltz, he lasted longer than Trump's first national security adviser back in 2017, Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia. (Trump later pardoned him.) Flynn lasted just 22 days, and his departure foreshadowed an administration that was constantly churning through personnel. Whatever the reasons for Waltz being marginalized, Trump is rearranging the deck chairs on a badly listing ship and trying to do it in a way that doesn't look bad for him. Part of that involves him consolidating two of the most important roles in the federal government — secretary of state and national security adviser — and giving them to Rubio. When Rubio was asked at Wednesday's Cabinet meeting if, as secretary of state, he had been in touch with El Salvador about returning Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States and whether a formal request had been made, Rubio said he would 'never tell.' 'You know who else I'll never tell? A judge. Because the conduct of our foreign policy belongs to the president of the United States and the executive branch, not some judge,' Rubio continued. A child of Cuban immigrants who once made his bones in the Senate, standing up against dictators and for the rule of law, is now the face of Trump's draconian, unconstitutional deportation regime. That's the kind of loyalty Trump rewards. In order to cover the incompetence of his administration, the president is now consolidating power even further, giving two powerful positions to one sycophantic subordinate. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Chris Hayes Mocks Trump's Rapidly Declining Approval Ratings: ‘He's Never Been Very Popular'
MSNBC host Chris Hayes examined Donald Trump's approval ratings, which continued to tank this week across the board in areas like the economy, immigration, federal funding for healthcare research and DEI policies. 'What they are doing is widely unpopular,' Hayes said on Thursday night's episode of 'All In with Chris Hayes.' 'Now, the key here is that Donald Trump wants you to believe desperately that he is popular. It's all part of the con.' The MSNBC host said that 'just because he managed to win' even though it was 'the first time in three tries' that Trump conflates the idea of how popular he is. 'Conventional wisdom quickly congealed that America was Trump country, that he was a political Colossus,' he added. 'Remember, the guy won by about a point and a half. Hardly a landslide.' Hayes continued to dive into his specific numbers: 'He was inaugurated with basically the highest approval rating that he has ever had, which also happened to be the second lowest approval rating ever for a new president, topped only by himself the first time around. He's never been very popular, and his approval rating has only gone down since.' Hayes went on to point out that even Fox News was forced to show that the president's numbers have been declining in recent weeks and played a clip of the conservative network comparing his approval ratings to past presidents like Obama, Biden and Bush. 'Boy, that's a tough graphic if you're Donald Trump sitting in the White House watching Fox News all day,' Hayes joked. 'That's the kind of clip that really gets Donald Trump yelling at the TV. In fact, he's now calling for Fox's pollster to be fired. We're not even 100 days in and Trump is already at the 'polls are fake' stage.' Hayes added that Trump's number have taken a hit in every major political issue and started with the economy. The MSNBC host noted that, in theory, this area was traditionally Trump's biggest strength. Despite the issue being his 'bread and butter' Fox News' poll had the president at a 56% disapproval rating in how he was handling the economy, compared to a 38% positive opinion. 'He's underwater by 18 points,' Hayes added. 'It's not hard to see why. He ran on making things cheaper on day one. That was his promise. But maybe you've noticed that things are not cheaper. They are not. Instead, he started a trade war. Tanked the stock market. Is about to make everything more expensive.' He continued: 'The data here is crystal clear, right? Keep in mind, and this is key, stuff hasn't even really started to get more expensive yet. The fallout from the tariffs takes time. There's a delayed reaction before we start seeing shortages and price hikes.' Hayes also dove into his growing unpopularity in areas like immigration, where he said many were probably spooked by the lack of due process his administration has taken. Trump has faced growing backlash in recent weeks for his wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was sent to a terrorist prison in El Salvador without trial. The president has also had ICE abduct several foreign college students, who are here legally, off the streets of their universities. 'We've seen this now a few times,' Hayes said. 'So whatever skills he has at marketing and branding, and they are considerable, one has to say, he does not have the same skills for governing. Turns out, people bought the packaging. But once again, we're all reminded the product inside sucks.' 'Look at those numbers,' Hayes concluded. 'Look at where the country's at. They don't have the American people on their side right now. And I think the data is pretty definitive on that.' You can watch the full 'All In with Chris Hayes' clip in the video above. The post Chris Hayes Mocks Trump's Rapidly Declining Approval Ratings: 'He's Never Been Very Popular' | Video appeared first on TheWrap.
