Former Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) — a moderate Democrat who ran unsuccessfully for the party’s presidential nomination in 2024 — sharply criticized his former party colleagues for the way they have responded to tech billionaire Elon Musk’s broad efforts to reshape the federal government.
In an interview with CNN’s Laura Coates on Wednesday, Phillips said Democrats are wrong to be attacking Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), arguing the American people are broadly supportive of the billionaire’s goals to cut waste, fraud and abuse in government — even if some of his tactics have raised legal concerns.
“Democrats are only focused on one thing right now, Mr. Musk. The fact of the matter, he’s quite popular. He has the largest platform in human history, which is, of course, Twitter/X. And I think we’re missing the boat as Democrats,” Phillips said in the interview.
“And all I’m saying is that sometimes it’s better to join them and actually play a role in how the strategy works, rather than — so pathetically, frankly — try to combat something that clearly is a steamroller,” Phillips continued. “And Democrats are being steamrolled, and I’m deeply concerned about that.”
Several Democrats joined the DOGE caucus in Congress when it was first unveiled late last year but have since said they have been shut out of discussions about spending and that Musk has been operating without Congressional input.
Phillips acknowledged the legal concerns with some of Musk’s actions.
“Yes, Musk is not elected,” Phillips said. “He has no accountability other than [President] Donald Trump, and that’s a frightening combination, and I don’t want to cross my fingers. I think Democrats should join the club and then have more credibility to actually raise the alarm about constitutional issues. Right now, it’s the ‘Boy Who Cried Wolf.’”
Asked what Democrats should do to course correct, Phillips nodded back to his 2024 campaign, when he first raised questions about President Biden’s age and fitness for the job and was dismissed by others in the part.
“The course correction, frankly, Laura, I wish had occurred a year-and-a-half ago when I tried to raise the alarm about Joe Biden,” Phillips said. “These are the same Democrats — and many of them I love, and I consider my friends — but they’re the same people who tried to tell Americans that Joe Biden was just fine, and he was going to win, and we knew better.”
“So now to try to establish credibility on issues that Americans actually voted for, which is to make government work more efficiently, is a big mistake,” he said.
