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Representative Ro Khanna had known Elon Musk for over a decade, so he thought he should raise concerns about the billionaire attack on the federal government, which would ensure they could see. A California Democrat posted on a platform owned by Musk and said yesterday that Musk should be transported before Congress to explain himself. “The attacks of masks on our facilities are unconstitutional,” Kanna wrote.
It took Mask only 16 minutes to respond, “Please don’t get a penis.”
The two continued their conversation over texting, Kanna told me. In private, Musk showed the same outrage at Kanna’s criticism of his unlimited efforts to eradicate government waste and fraud. When Kanna once again urged Musk to appear in Congress to encourage spending cuts by Fiat, Musk has a very different vision of his job as chairman of President Donald Trump’s Office of Government Efficiency. I answered by revealing that I had it. Kanna didn’t show me their exchange, but he explained Mask’s reply in this way: “His view is, “I did not come to Washington to report to Congress. I think so. ”
The jokes between the pair were once friendly. Democrats responded more positively than Kanna, who promptly offered to work with Musk to cut their defense budget when Trump appointed Musk to lead a team scrutiny of the federal government to cut spending. There were few staff members.
Virtually only among Democrats, Kanna is willing to engage and sometimes defend Tesla and SpaceX billionaire owners, as the mask moved further to the right and became Trump’s loyalty. Even today, Kanna can only marvel at the success of masks in business. “I always thought he was an amazing entrepreneur,” Kanna told me. “He has an eccentric glow towards him.”
Musk wrote a praise blurb for Kanna’s first book, but he said that Silicon Valley Democrats were “wise medium” to support Bernie Sanders twice for the president. I called. Khanna has linked the musks of both parties with members of the Congress. In 2023, he convinced the skeptical Musk to work with a Republican-led House committee investigating China. (In particular, Musk didn’t receive another advice Kanna offered him when he began to get involved in politics: “Sticking to cars and Mars.”)
Like many people in Washington, Kanna assumed that the mask doge would puncture holes in offices for several months and issue a report recommending cuts that Congress should consider. Of course, the mask did more. With Trump’s approval, he ignored Congress, digging deep holes in the federal department, stumbling on career civil servants by the sidelines, removing USAID, and gaining access to the Treasury payment system.
“Maybe I was naive,” Kanna told me. I was calling for him to seek his insight into what Musk is doing and what he hopes for in the end. Musk critics, both Democrats and Republicans, speculate that his target in government is tied to his business interests. Kanna suggested that Mask’s motivation was easier. Musk “is on a maniac mission to save the country from fiscal collapse,” Kanna said, adding, “he thinks he’s going to grasp the wasteful spending and all the inefficiencies of the government that no one could understand. Outside. “Musk said Kanna “believes people like me are in the way of what I think is in America’s interests.”
For mask critics now including Kanna, it is not just the people standing in his way, but the constitution. “We need to make sure Elon Musk is loyal to the Constitution,” Kanna told me. Do you think he is? I asked him. “No, I won’t,” Kanna replied. “That’s why we need to push him back.”
Musk’s attacks on the government have created a complex position in the Democratic Party. Kanna keeps his ambitions for a higher office unsecret, and yesterday he gave a speech urging Americans to “support an unholy alliance of wealth and power.” But nowhere in his speech he mentioned musk, and some progressives guarantee that he now has a monetary hammer to everyone they cherish now I watch him.
A few weeks before Trump took office, Kanna reached out to work with Musk and Doge to work together. He told me the offer was still there, but “if I promised to comply with the Constitution.” He added: “There’s a lot of trust that needs to be rebuilt at this point.”
He still appears to see himself as a potential bridge between the Democrats and Musk. However, if the last two weeks are signs, it is possible that Kanna has no longer had any effect on Musk. I asked Kanna if he misunderstood Musk after all these years. He replied: “I underestimated how far he would go.”
