MSNBC’s host of All In, Chris Hayes, got the facts wrong on Thursday as he criticized Elon Musk, who was preparing to make his way out of office. As a special government employee, Musk was granted only 130 days to lead DOGE in rooting out waste and corruption within the government. In that time, Musk has cut an estimated $175 billion in unnecessary spending across the board. However, Hayes asserted that Musk’s step down had nothing to do with the expiration of his work period, but rather being a result of the fact that “No one likes the guy.”
Hayes huffed that, “Earlier this month, The Atlantic … quotes the General Counsel for the American Federation of Government Employees as saying, quote, ‘We kicked him out of town. If he had stayed in the shadows and done this stuff, who knows how bad it would have been? But no one likes the guy.’”
What exactly the American Federation of Government Employees did to ‘kick’ Musk out of the White House remains unclear. But Hayes and other Democrats are confident that his exit from office was nothing other than a complete implosion on his part. As Hayes put it:
Did you feel that down into your toes, that full body cringe? Well, Musk is now leaving in disgrace because lots of people felt that way when they were around him. He was wholesale rejected by about everyone. We've seen report after report after report that everyone simply couldn't stand the guy. Doesn't matter how rich he is.
Coming hot off the heels of a CBS interview where Musk somewhat distanced himself from President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill proposal, the media was quick to take his words as a sign of the growing tension between Musk and both the President and his Cabinet.
Hayes himself pointed to a New York Times article detailing a disagreement between Musk and several cabinet members including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Reading just a little further into the article, however, reveals that, despite their cabinet meeting argument, at the end of the day, these men could put their differences aside for the good of the nation. The article reads:
Tammy Bruce, a spokeswoman for the State Department, responded, ‘Secretary Rubio considered the meeting an open and productive discussion with a dynamic team that is united in achieving the same goal: making America great again.’ In a post on X on Friday, Mr. Duffy praised Mr. Trump and the work Mr. Musk’s team is doing and said it was an effective cabinet meeting. He added that ‘the DEI Department at the FAA was eliminated on day 2’ and that Mr. Trump’s ‘approach of a scalpel versus a hatchet and better coordination between Secretaries and DOGE is the right approach to revolutionizing the way our government is run.’
Believe it or not, disagreements are not what defines politics; it is the ability to compromise, the ability to put aside differences with those you disagree with for the greater good, that makes a good politician. As Musk prepared to leave office, President Trump hosted an event and press conference honoring him on Friday, making it apparent that being “wholesale rejected,” as Hayes put it, was far from the main takeaway of Elon Musk’s time with DOGE.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read.
MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes
May 29, 2025
8:05 p.m. EST[ON SCREEN HEADLINE: Elon Musk Departs Washington With His Brand Battered]
(…)
CHRIS HAYES: I mean, again, you got to just concede it where it is. I mean, this is a guy who is profoundly charismatic, silver tongued, eloquent, amazing communicator. Yes, it is a tough spot to be associated with those toxic Trump policies. Maybe that explains the sudden, massive unpopularity, but this is you, right?
[Cuts to video]
ELON MUSK: This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy. Chainsaw!
[Cuts back to live]
HAYES: HAYES: Did you feel that down into your toes, that full body cringe? Well, Musk is now leaving in disgrace because lots of people felt that way when they were around him. He was wholesale rejected by about everyone. We've seen report after report after report that everyone simply couldn't stand the guy. Doesn't matter how rich he is.
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, quote, “We kicked him out of town. If he had stayed in the shadows and done this 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 forays into American politics I've encountered. His Waterloo, sort of electorally speaking, came in April. Remember that, in the State of Wisconsin? Remember what he did there?
Guy thought he was so popular, that he was such a good politician himself that he flew in from out of state and wore a cheesehead and flexed his newfound political muscles in the State Supreme Court race. And he spent a small fortune of his own money in support of the conservative candidate, Brad Schimel. And it didn't work. His candidate lost by ten points, and voters, they really didn't like Musk.
(…)
