The Briefing with Jen Psaki
Muskquerade: Elon Musk's Havoc Is Not What Voters Bargained For
09 Feb 2025
As Elon Musk elbows his way into every corner of the government, Jen Psaki is joined by Senator Cory Booker to discuss the importance of fighting back against Musk's hostile government takeover and his concerns about a potential "constitutional crisis" if Musk defies court orders to temporarily limit DOGE's power. Next, Jen shares her wide-ranging interview with Governor Wes Moore, covering the challenges of governing amid Trump's efforts to dismantle federal agencies, and why the a diverse governing body matters in the face of GOP's war DEI. Then, Jen sounds the alarm on the band of tech bros who have been granted access to sensitive government data as a part of Elon Musk's DOGE team. Jen is joined by Former Twitter Executive Rumman Chowdhury to offer her takeaways from Musk's acquisition of Twitter that could serve as helpful advice on how to deal with his current takeover of Washington, DC. Later, Jen is joined by attorney Chris Mattei to discuss a lawsuit defending FBI agents from retribution. Finally, Jen shares details about her new project, 'The Blueprint with Jen Psaki', a podcast that launches this week, which explores the question of what’s next for Democrats and how they can win again.Check out our social pages below:https://twitter.com/InsideWithPsakihttps://www.instagram.com/InsideWithPsaki/https://www.tiktok.com/@insidewithpsakihttps://www.msnbc.com/jen-psaki
Full Episode
Well, Donald Trump might be giving Elon Musk free reign to wreck the federal government. But the good news is the backlash is getting stronger and louder every day. I'm going to talk to Senator Cory Booker about what Democrats and the courts are doing to fight back. Plus, my exclusive interview with Maryland Governor Wes Moore, whose state is dealing with this assault in real time.
And later, I'll talk to the former Twitter executive who's giving out free advice to federal workers about how to handle a Musk takeover. Okay, I kind of think that, I mean, to some degree, what we are seeing from Donald Trump right now is sort of what we expected. The strange obsessions and the constant bluster and the wild pronouncements, none of that is anything really that new.
There was also the talk about taking over Greenland and Canada and the Panama Canal. There was the short-lived trade war with nothing to show for it. There was the decision just yesterday to strip security clearances from people he doesn't like. There was the third-person announcement that he's appointing himself chairman of the Kennedy Center.
And I could go on and on and on, but I'm not going to. The point is, if you have been following Donald Trump for the last decade, and many of you I know have been, this is all very much what you might expect from a Trump 2.0. And I guess this continuation of the Trump show is, on some level, what a slight majority of the American people may have voted for. I don't know.
But what you may not have bargained for, what they may not have bargained for, and I certainly didn't, is what I'm going to call Musk 1.0. I actually think it's safe to say people were not prepared for the way Trump has basically ceded his power. I mean, there's a reason. Time magazine's latest cover shows Musk sitting in the Oval Office behind the Resolute Desk.
And I'm just going to leave that up there for a second because why not? And because over the past few weeks, Elon Musk has elbowed his way into nearly every corner of the government, shuttering agencies, firing employees, gaining access to the sensitive personal data belonging to millions of Americans. In an interview that's going to air later today, Trump said he's not done yet.
I'm going to tell him very soon, like maybe in 24 hours, to go check the Department of Education. He's going to find the same thing. Then I'm going to go to the military. Let's check the military. We're going to find billions, hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud and abuse. And, you know, the people elected me on that.
I mean, did they really? Did the American people really elect you to let Elon Musk do what he's doing? Because it turns out the American people don't love it. A new poll out just this morning shows that just 23 percent of all Americans say they want Musk to have a lot of influence over government operations and spending. And boy, does he seem to have a lot of influence.
And this dissatisfaction isn't just showing up in polls. I mean, it's also showing up in real life. We saw protests all across the country this week and big ones here in Washington. Like this protest you can see on the screen from the country's largest federation of unions.
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