Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) is slamming Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, which the billionaire tech mogul maintains is slashing only wasteful public spending — despite key services and safety nets like Social Security being impacted.
The California Democrat spoke Monday in Ohio at a City Club of Cleveland event about President Donald Trump’s economic policies and said Musk’s “campaign of mass firings” has left his elderly constituents fearful that Social Security and “basic services” will vanish.
“Two weeks ago, a mom hugged me in tears.” Khanna told the crowd. “Her 3-year-old, a NICU survivor, now needs home care and a nurse to be able to take him to school. ‘What will happen to him?’ she asked. There’s fear, Elon, in the families you don’t see.”
Musk was once a progressive darling for pioneering luxury electric vehicles and pushing for interplanetary travel with his Tesla and SpaceX companies, respectively, but tarnished his reputation in recent years by endorsing Trump and gutting the federal workforce.
The world’s richest man spent a fortune to help reelect Trump and was then tapped to root out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government. He has since ominously called Social Security, one of America’s most enduring safety nets, a “Ponzi scheme.”
On Monday, Khanna left the increasingly unpopular billionaire with some advice.
“I’ve known Elon for 15 years.” he said. “Lately, it’s been a little rocky. I’ll save the profanity, but he keeps following and unfollowing me on X [formerly Twitter]. You know, like you do with an ex. I’ll say this about Elon. He’s a tech genius, but he should stick to cars and Mars.”
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In February, Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) warned that Musk and his DOGE workers are “actively dismantling” the U.S. Department of Education. The following month, the agency laid off 1,300 employees — and Trump signed an executive order to shut it down.
Musk has since gotten into a public spat with Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro over the president’s steep international tariffs on imports to the U.S. — as even the world’s richest man relies on functioning global supply chains to keep his companies intact.