Former RNC chairman Michael Steele, a longtime Donald Trump antagonist, turned up his frustrations to volume 11 on a recent MSNBC appearance, declaiming against what he characterizes as the chaos being fomented by Trump consigliere Elon Musk and his DOGE-led activities.
As hundreds of thousands of federal workers are targeted for dismissal, American foreign aid appropriated by Congress is shut down, DEI initiatives are eradicated wholly from federal government and legally threatened in the private sector, and grant money is denied to American scientific research institutions working on cancer cures and much else, Steele rages that the American people are being complicit in their own subjection to an authoritarian regime in which Musk has been “given absolute power.”
Steele says below, in a video that is being virally shared: “I just want you to show that you give a [expletive]. That you got a little emotion about the fact that people are losing their jobs indiscriminately. That this individual sitting down the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has given absolute power to one man who brings his son into the Oval Office, whose son says to him, ‘You’re not the president, you shouldn’t be in that chair.’ Now, where did he get that from? He got it from his daddy, because that’s what his daddy thinks of the man who brought him into the Oval Office.”
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Steele characterized Musk and his oligarch team — Musk reportedly spent $300M to support Trump’s campaign — as barbarians set on ransacking the American treasury and shattering the American dream. But unlike the barbarians of yore, Musk and company aren’t at the gate. With Trump’s acquiescence, Musk has gained access to the private data of all Americans (not to mention FBI agents and DOJ lawyers), at a level far beyond the already valuable data he had acquired through the social media platform and other companies he owns.
“So I’d just like to see somebody wake the hell up,” Steel raged, “and get excited about the fact that your country is under assault! They’re not at the gate anymore, they’re in your bedrooms they’re in your living rooms, they’re in your businesses, they got your data, dumb [expletive], they got all your stuff.”
Steel continued: “Elon Musk has his tentacles in everything you’re doing, not just off of X, but now he’s in the Treasury Department, he’s in the Labor Department, he’s in the Department of Homeland Security and nobody seems to give a damn. So that’s all I want. Somebody to show that they care enough to get off their fat [expletive] and say something about it.”
In response a number of commenters posted video of another longtime Trump antagonist, New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is suing Musk, Trump and DOGE over the alleged data mistreatment.
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And while the current MAGA version of the Republican Party is very far from the party that Steele led — to wit none other than Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has been voting against Trump’s cabinet confirmations — Steele is also taken to task in the comments for helping set the stage for Trump’s arrival.
As one commenter wrote: “Well, Michael Steel, aren’t you part of the problem? As a Republican you advocated for small government for years. Now that you’ve created this monster you wanna complain. Give me a break. I love how you former Republicans have the audacity to complain about something you created.”
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