Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) on Thursday tore into an initiative by President-elect Donald Trump's wealthy allies to cut government programs and services.
The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, task force, led by tech billionaire Elon Musk and pharmaceutical entrepreneur/former Trump primary rival Vivek Ramaswamy, has pledged to cut $2 trillion from the federal government, a figure experts have said is essentially impossible.
"Congressman, let me start with you," said Hayes. "I have had to update my priors on this, this whole Elon Musk thing. It started with an interview and Trump was kind of like, yeah, yeah, knock yourself out, sort of lip service. And at some point, I think your colleague, AOC, described it as handing your little kid brother a controller that is not plugged in ... but, watching today, I am like, they are going to do this? They are going to do it? They're going to come for trillions of dollars? Is that your understanding? They are serious about this, now?"
ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE: Senate Dems consider whether Biden should ‘clear the slate’ and pardon Trump
"I mean, it's clear, that these are incoherent, incompetent, self-serving, wannabe oligarchs," said Casar. "So, it is not clear exactly what their plan is. But, like you said, Chris, time and time again, they can't help themselves, they want to provide tax cuts for their billionaire buddies. It doesn't matter what they campaign on."
For example, Casar continued, "In my first term in Congress, where the Republicans took over the House and they supposedly campaigned on crime, and being tough on jobs, the first bill had nothing to do with that. It was a bill ... to cut the IRS' enforcement division that had been expanded, that was supposed to be going after offshore bank accounts, and billionaire tax cheats. I mean, that is what they tend to always come back to."
"And as you pointed out, it is a huge opportunity for progressives to reshape the priority of the Democratic Party, and tank Trump's numbers, by pointing this out, and making it really clear, that it doesn't matter what Trump says, it seems like what he does is put these ridiculous billionaires in charge and try to go after your grandmother's Social Security check," he added.
Watch the video below or at the link here.
- YouTube www.youtube.com
