On Tuesday night’s episode of MSNBC’s The 11th Hour, Stephanie Ruhle picked up where she had left off the previous night in vitriolically attacking Elon Musk and his new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk was a central feature of a panel discussion she hosted, featuring Bloomberg senior executive editor Tim O’Brien, and Max Chafkin, also of Bloomberg, who is also co-host of a podcast entitled Elon & Co., which, based on the name, is apparently and a little bizarrely devoted solely to the subject of Elon Musk.
“All right, Max,” Ruhle said, turning to Chafkin, “let’s talk about Elon Musk.” She fumed that Musk was “more than front and center” in the new administration. “I mean, this guy is getting more headlines than Donald Trump.”
Strangely, it seemed that in her eyes Musk’s involvement in government was pretty much criminal, while she showed no sign of having any problem with, for example, George Soros exercising tremendous influence for left-wing causes.
“Yeah, he is not a behind the scenes kind of guy,” Chafkin responded. He then went on to assert, without offering evidence, that Musk “got access to these- or we believe he got access anyway- to these Treasury Department payment systems. This is very strange, you know, it is not a normal thing. It's probably illegal…”
Essentially, he accused Musk on TV of at best very shady activity, offering no substantiation and even seeming to admit that he himself was not 100 percent certain that it was actually true.
Chafkin continued in this vein when he asserted that Musk’s employees, “the DOGE kids,” as he called them, “basically broke into the USAID office as part of what Elon Musk described as- as taking a wood chipper to the agency.”
Effectively, Chafkin, again without offering evidence, accused Musk’s employees of committing a crime right under the nose of the federal government, for which they were somehow not even charged.
O’Brien then chimed in, asserting that Musk had “made a hash of Twitter.” He then stated that Musk bought the platform only so he could “poison the well at Twitter, drive some other- people off the platform, and use it to service his own political- needs.”
“And he's now coming into the federal government,” O’Brien lamented, “He has no experience. One can belittle the idea that you need any experience to run the federal government, but it's not true. We all rely on the federal government when we have a need. People turn to FEMA when there's a natural disaster. All the people that say they hate the federal government, or they don't want the government to intrude in their lives, turn to the government to defend them in foreign wars and to protect them during natural disasters at home.”
The distinction was completely ignored between basic constitutional federal functions, like military protection, and a sprawling and endlessly expanding bureaucracy, like USAID, which was itself artificially created.
“Let’s talk about USAID for a moment,” said Ruhle, “‘because our friend Peter Baker wrote the following: ‘Today, total USAID annual spending to provide food, medicine, shelter, and other services to impoverished countries around the world: $38 billion. Total increase in Elon Musk's personal net worth since the November election: $156 billion.’”
In reality, Musk’s own net worth was in no way relevant to the status of foreign aid, but Ruhle launched into a discussion about how Musk promised to contribute $6 billion to end world hunger, to which Chafkin responded, “he's on to the next thing,” stating that the check “wasn’t cut.”
In fact, this statement was false, Musk had in fact made the $6 billion contribution to his own foundation.
“He has given very little money to philanthropy,” Chafkin went on, “I think in Elon Musk's mind, you know, sending Elon Musk to Mars is a form of philanthropy- maybe the greatest form of philanthropy. It also happens to be a way that, you know, guarantees him if- he were able to convince Trump and NASA and the American public that this was a good idea, it would be worth tens of billions of dollars.”
O’Brien interjected to promote Musk being blasted off to Mars and away from Earth: “Let’s let him go. He can go.”
“Except he wouldn't be doing it on his own dime,” responded Ruhle, “He would now have the US government behind him. And I'm unfamiliar with any group of voters that said going to Mars was a top priority for them.”
MSNBC does indeed seem to have found a new favorite whipping boy more interesting to them than actually reporting the news. As Ruhle herself concluded on Musk’s doings, “We're going to have to keep covering it every night.”
Full transcript below. Click "Expand" to read:
MSNBC’s The 11th Hour
02/04/2025
11:25 PM[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: DEMOCRATS PUSH BACK ON ELON MUSK & DOGE EFFORTS]
STEPHANIE RUHLE: All right, Max, let's talk about Elon Musk. Early days, the idea was, he was going to be kind of hiding in the background pulling strings. But he is even more than front and center. I mean, this guy is getting more headlines than Donald Trump. What is your latest reporting?
MAX CHAFKIN: Yeah, he is not a behind the scenes kind of guy. I mentioned over the weekend he got access to these- or we believe he got access anyway- to these Treasury Department payment systems. This is very strange, you know, it is not a normal thing. It's probably illegal- and just a- huge- expansion of his authority.
And then there was this account of Elon Musk and his- you know, DOGE- these DOGE- young men- young men and- and perhaps a few women, I'm not sure, but- but the DOGE kids who basically broke into the USAID office as part of what Elon Musk described as- as taking a wood chipper to the agency. And this is like a federal agency that is, you know, really important, does all this important work all over the world. And just speaking about it in- just really callous terms of- of destruction.
And- and so- so he has been front and center and potentially, as- those clips show, you know, potentially doing stuff that could prove to be unpopular, I think.
RUHLE: Trump allies- excuse me, Elon Musk and Trump allies argue, “well, we need this. We need somebody to come in. We need like a restructuring guy, to come in, look at these budgets, you know, slash them, clean them up. The United States government has been bloated and lazy for years and years.” But what- why should we believe Elon Musk, right? While he's an extraordinarily successful business guy, he himself is an agent of chaos.
TIM O’BRIEN: Well, and he's not a universal genius, none of us are. He made a hash out of Twitter. You know, Max knows this very well. He didn't understand the media industry. He didn't understand social platforms. And he went in there and essentially blew up a platform that had very valuable relationships and served a very overt need. He-
RUHLE: He would argue it's more successful than ever. He would argue.
[ELON MUSK’S AGGRESSIVE PUSH INTO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT]
O’BRIEN: Well, he- it would be successful if what he wanted to do was- was poison the well at Twitter, drive some other- people off the platform, and use it to service his own political- needs.
RUHLE: Yes, yes and yes.
O’BRIEN: Yeah. So in that regard, sure, that's successful, for him. And if he can blow billions of dollars down the drain in the service of that, fine. But in terms of the finances of it, or in terms of the management of it, it's not objectively successful.
And he's now coming into the federal government. He has no experience. One can belittle the idea that you need any experience to run the federal government, but it's not true. We all rely on the federal government when we have a need. People turn to FEMA when there's a natural disaster. All the people that say they hate the federal government, or they don't want the government to intrude in their lives, turn to the government to defend them in foreign wars and to protect them during natural disasters at home.
And if these guys were very serious about cutting back government spending, they'd have to look at Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security-
RUHLE: And Social Security-
O’BRIEN: -and defense spending. That would- and they're not going to touch any of that, which means their impact on federal spending is going to be next to nil.
If they want to come in and make the agencies themselves function more efficiently, and get a- a bead on what the right level of employment is, and the right way to run those agencies more effectively, you don't come in there and kneecap veterans, who actually have skill sets and expertise and understanding about how to deliver services.
This is performative, and it's- it’s a stage act, and Trump and Musk both like to see themselves as change agents, rather than simply agents of chaos.
RUHLE: Let's talk USAID for a moment, because our friend Peter Baker wrote the following: “Today, total USAID annual spending to provide food, medicine, shelter, and other services to impoverished countries around the world: $38 billion. Total increase in Elon Musk's personal net worth since the November election: $156 billion.”
All of that made me remember, back when Elon Musk- this had to be two years ago- when he said he was willing to spend $6 billion to end world hunger. What happened there?
CHAFKIN: I mean, Tim hinted at this. Twitter was a success as an influence play, and I think there is a way to see what Elon Musk is doing with the government, as an influence play-
RUHLE: But remember when he said, “I will spend $6 billion-
CHAFKIN: I do-
RUHLE: -and I will end world hunger?”
CHAFKIN: I mean, he has- he's on to the next thing. He's- he's on to being this kind of-
RUHLE: That check was never cut?
CHAFKIN: It was- no, it wasn't cut. He's- he has given very little money to philanthropy and his- I think in Elon Musk's mind, you know, sending Elon Musk to Mars is a form of philanthropy is- maybe the greatest form of philanthropy. It also happens to be a way that, you know, guarantees him if- he were able to convince Trump and NASA and the American public that this was a good idea, it would be worth tens of billions of dollars.
RUHLE: And it's been his dream to go to Mars for years and years.
O’BRIEN: Let's let him go.
RUHLE: Yes-
O’BRIEN: He can go.
RUHLE: Except he wouldn't be doing it on his own dime. He would now have the US government behind him. And I'm unfamiliar with any group of voters that said going to Mars was a top priority for them.
O’BRIEN: Also, Tesla has- you know- was a creation, in part, of federal subsidies. It was also innovation, great private enterprise, but it was a nice example of a public-private partnership that ended up being successful. And he's now allied with a president, who wants to gut the EV industry and has no patience for it from a business standpoint. Again, it makes no sense for him to be in that relationship, but I think he's now focused on being performative and not being productive.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: ELON MUSK EXERTS POWER, TARGETS AID]
RUHLE: Performing works at times.
O’BRIEN: Yeah, it does.
RUHLE: We're going to have to keep covering it every night.
(...)
