'Defund Musk': Robert Reich calls for government takeover of SpaceX and Starlink — and Elon responds
Robert Reich is urging Democrats to "defund" Elon Musk and absorb his companies if Democrats gain control of the government.
At the same time, the former member of the Bill Clinton administration said Musk is bribing his way into politics.
'Musk represents the power of oligarchy in America over democracy.'
Reich, who served as President Clinton's secretary of labor from 1993 to 1997, recently explained his desire to see progressives eliminate Musk's government contracts while also taking ownership of his corporations entirely.
On his podcast "The Coffee Klatch," Reich called Musk an "emblem" for why there needs to be a wealth tax on billionaires; he described it as a "one-time 5% tax" across the country.
Reich quickly followed this policy recommendation with another suggestion: "We've got to defund Musk."
"He's dependent on government contracts. He is dependent on us. We taxpayers are subsidizing Elon Musk," Reich stated, before revealing some of his gripes with the billionaire.
Reich's chief complaint was that Musk is "deciding by himself" whether or not the Ukrainian government should have access to his internet service, Starlink.
"How can one man make that kind of decision for all of us, for Ukraine, and we are subsidizing him?" Reich said.
Cutting to the chase, Reich repeated, "Defund Musk. I mean this," before adding that Democrats should start "laying the groundwork for nationalizing Starlink and SpaceX."
"Nationalize it," he reiterated. "It should be a public corporation. We should not ever have that kind of power in one person's hands, one private person's hands."
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After a clip of the podcast began circulating on X, Musk replied that "stealing companies is a serious crime."
"Prison for Reich," the X owner added.
The billionaire seemingly matched his rhetoric to that of the former government official, who called Musk "Exhibit A in terms of the billionaire takeover of America."
"This is the oligarchic problem," Reich went on. "Musk represents the power of oligarchy in America over democracy."
Reich then cited Musk's support for Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton as example of him trying to "bribe his way into politics" like a baron from the late-1800s Gilded Age.
At the same time, pal Heather Kinlaw Lofthouse joined Reich in criticizing Musk for saying he would target anyone who picked a fight with him.
Lofthouse is the executive director for Inequality Media, Reich's "nonpartisan media and civic action organization".
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Following the calls for Musk's businesses to be taken over by the government, Lofthouse said Democrats were not trying to fight him, but rather were simply holding him accountable.
"It's not a fight. It is accountability. I mean, it is, holding him accountable is what people are talking about. And so he's getting ahead of it, threatening, threatening, threatening, threatening — with his money, with his power, with his reach."
Lofthouse pointed to Musk's estimated $38 billion in government contracts and his ending of USAID as just some of the "many things" Democrats need to "fix" if they regain power.
It is important to note that according to government records, Lockheed Martin received more than $70 billion in government contracts in 2023 under President Joe Biden. RTX was the second-biggest government contractor at $31.3 billion.
Lockheed Martin received over $52 billion under Biden in 2024, as well.
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FALLING STARS: Hollywood woke-erati on the outs as Skydance soars
She’s no Dolly.
Now, it must be tough to live in the shadow of a beloved icon like Dolly Parton. Still, kid sister Stella Parton is working hard to stand out — in all the wrong ways.
The New York Times wasn’t happy about David’s handiwork. You can’t do satire that impacts ... us!
She’s always been more partisan than the country music legend. Fine. That’s a choice. A less responsible choice? Wishing death on an entrepreneur because you don’t like his politics.
The younger Parton just wished death on Elon Musk and hoped he would be eaten by worms sooner than later. Oh, and she says Musk will rig the midterm elections.
We always did wonder who inspired her big sister's breakout hit ...
Taika break
Remember when director Taika Waititi was a thing?
The New Zealand cutup gave us “The Hunt for the Wilderpeople” and the amazing “Jojo Rabbit.” Even his “Thor: Ragnarok” made us smile. Then, it all went downhill for the wacky auteur.
The less said about “Thor: Love and Thunder,” the better. His fact-based soccer comedy “Next Goal Wins” flopped with critics and audiences. His attempt to modernize the classic ‘80s fantasy “Time Bandits” crashed after one woke season.
Little people couldn’t apply, and it showed.
Now, his latest project is getting skewered before its release. “Klara and the Sun” stars “It” actress Jenna Ortega of “Wednesday” fame. The film sports a blistering 27% “rotten” score at Rotten Tomatoes.
The film’s modest release pattern just got cut in half. The rascally Critical Drinker devoted a “Crash and Burn” episode to the fading auteur last year. Looks like he might have material for a whole new installment ...
Let's get small
Is Sacha Baron Cohen auditioning for an “Incredible Shrinking Man” reboot?
2006's “Borat" gave the British funnyman "great success" — one he's been trying to recapture ever since. Sure, he’s aligned with Quentin Tarantino for the director’s upcoming play, but Cohen’s Midas touch disappeared a while ago.
This weekend, his new comedy “Ali G: Who Iz I?” debuts in a few hundred theaters. That wasn’t the original release plan, but the film’s footprint keeps on shrinking.
The film will only be in select theaters one weekend too, even if the film performs well. That’s unlikely.
So what happened? Cohen went woke, raged against free speech, and turned his signature characters into anti-Trump vehicles. Cohen was already exhibiting signs of TDS in “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” the depressing sequel to one of Hollywood’s most outrageous comedies.
Not "very nice!"
'Curb' your socialism
Talk about a thin skin.
The New York Times reported on Larry David’s new Air Mail satirical column. David’s target? The Democratic Socialists of America. David is a loud and proud liberal, but even he understands the mania lurking not too far beneath the DSA surface.
And he called it out, including the group’s uneasiness with Jewish people. That’s being delicate. David isn’t. The column finds the DSA renaming them the Bagel People and shipping them out of Israel.
The New York Times wasn’t happy about David’s handiwork. You can’t do satire that impacts ... us! So it created a “blowback”-style description suggesting the column drew a large, negative response. Except it had no tangible proof of that, so the Old Gray Lady found a few angry social media users posting about the column and gave them all the gravitas of a retired war general.
The newspaper even sought a few of them out to extrapolate on their rage with modest results, at best.
The Times desperately wanted to attack David for mocking its beloved DSA. And it bent Journalism 101 to do it. To be fair, that’s pretty on brand for the newspaper in 2026 ...
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Merger meltdown
And you thought the left and the media (but we repeat ourselves) loathed Elon Musk already. Now, the tech trillionaire is investing in Skydance to the tune of $1 billion. And that number might grow in the coming weeks.
Skydance has become a Hollywood behemoth with remarkable speed. David Ellison’s original Skydance Media merged with Paramount Global last year, creating Paramount Skydance. This month, that company swallowed Warner Bros. Discovery and renamed the whole operation Skydance. The result puts Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., CBS, CNN, HBO, and two major streaming services under one roof.
And the Ellisons aren’t exactly your standard Antifa-adjacent Hollywood studio clan. Which raises an intriguing possibility: One of the biggest entertainment companies in America may actually make room for the half of the country Hollywood Inc. has spent years ignoring.
Or at the very least, it could finally drive Mark Ruffalo completely around the bend.
Elon Musk threatens to go after Democrats' puppeteers after hearing their post-election plan to attack him
Tech trillionaire Elon Musk issued a warning to Democrats after hearing their plans to investigate him over his time in the Trump administration.
Musk was responding to an article with a bevy of comments from Democrats saying they will hound him and his many companies if they win power in the midterm elections.
'Those who pick fights with me should understand that I will find out who is really pulling the strings and come for them, not just their puppets.'
Democrats have long accused Musk of having various conflicts of interest with the actions he took when he headed up the Department of Government Efficiency.
"Live by the sword, die by the sword. Those who pick fights with me should understand that I will find out who is really pulling the strings and come for them, not just their puppets …" he wrote Wednesday on X, the social media platform he owns.
In another post, he responded to liberal talking head Kara Swisher claiming Musk could have been in jail if Kamala Harris had won the 2024 presidential election.
"And that's not because she's some avenging fury. It's because there's a lot of questions around different companies of his," she said.
"If Donald Trump loses the House and the Senate ... I'd be worried if I were him! No matter how rich he is, there are all these agencies, some of which he put a knife in and killed in the DOGE, many of whom were investigating him," she claimed. "He stopped half a dozen investigations of his various companies."
Musk responded simply, "Message received."
Democrat Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington pointed to recent allegations that Musk had restricted Ukraine's use of Starlink internet ahead of a damaging Russian attack.
"What happens when one guy gets a giant contract from the government and then uses it to do something that shuts down communication in a war that has been extremely important to the United States to support Ukraine?” she said.
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"Congress must demand a full accounting of the damage Mr. Musk and DOGE caused, and we will not let anyone obstruct our oversight," said Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), who is also a ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Spokespeople for Musk did not respond to multiple requests from Politico for comment.
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