‘You’re a Low-Down, Dirty, No-Good Person’: Rep. Maxine Waters Goes In on Elon Musk As Tim Walz, Democrats Shred SpaceX Billionaire for White House Takeover
Democratic lawmakers are condemning Elon Musk’s alleged takeover of federal financial systems and access to sensitive taxpayer data as he makes moves that could impact the nation through his appointment to President Donald Trump’s administration.
You might remember Tim Walz. Ran for vice president. Round-faced, non-threatening, affable — the embodiment of “Minnesota Nice.”
Walz, who remains governor of Minnesota, is also good for the occasional putdown. He put the Trump campaign back on its heels in late July when he said of the Republican ticket, “These guys are just weird.”
Democratic vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, speaks at a rally to kick off his “Driving Forward” Blue Wall Bus Tour at the KI convention center on October 14, 2024, in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Walz is joined by Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer at the rally. (Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)
Walz struck again Monday in a post on Threads, owned by the competition of the target of his scorn: “Elon Musk is a terrible president.”
“Elon Musk is running this country to the ground. I wish we had elected people like you in charge of this country,” wrote one fan on Threads.
“You’re irrelevant, why are you still here?” wrote another commenter, echoing a popular refrain.
Musk’s ascendance is a sore spot for President Donald Trump, not one to share the spotlight. He’s been supportive of Musk’s efforts so far but insists he’s still in charge.
“Sometimes we won’t agree with it, and we’ll not go where he wants to go,” Trump said. “But I think he’s doing a great job. He’s a smart guy.”
White House spokesman Steven Cheung fired back at the wannabe veep with a schoolyard taunt popular on the far right: “Tim Walz is a cuck.”
A “cuck,” short for cuckold, is defined as “a man whose wife is unfaithful” or a “weak or submissive man.”
The Merriam-Webster dictionary added it doubles as an “insulting and contemptuous term for a man who has politically progressive or moderate views.”
After Musk spent $290 million helping Trump’s re-election bid, the president appointed the Tesla founder head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, which is not a congressionally enacted agency. He frequently appears by the president’s side, leading many to label him a “shadow president,” if not the real POTUS.
The world’s richest man has raised serious concerns about his approach to the job of slashing wasteful spending. This past week alone, he accessed sensitive Treasury Department systems containing Americans’ most personal data and announced that the U.S. Agency for International Development — the agency tasked with distributing American foreign aid to war-torn places such as Gaza, Ukraine and sub-Saharan Africa — was being shut down.
His cuts have hit the poor the hardest; on Monday he announced the dismissals of Internal Revenue Service staffers who oversaw the system that allows Americans to file their taxes for free online. However, the portal was still active as of Wednesday morning.
Musk and his associates have threatened career civil servants who’ve spoken out against the power grab and dismissed rival politicos as the sore losers out to protect a corrupt and bloated bureaucracy.
While he may not be president, he’s leveraging his government appointment to wield power unprecedented for an unelected private citizen.
“Elon Musk, you didn’t create USAID. The United States Congress did for the American people,” said Democratic Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin. “And just like Elon Musk did not create USAID, he doesn’t have the power to destroy it.”
Hundreds of protesters, joined by a group of Democratic lawmakers, gathered outside the U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday, decrying what they called Musk’s “hostile takeover” of federal financial systems. Demonstrations escalated as crowds spilled into the streets, blocking traffic.
A dozen members of Congress—including Reps. Maxine Waters, Al Green, Ayanna Pressley, Jasmine Crockett and Sens. Chuck Schumer, Jeff Merkley, and Richard Blumenthal—joined the rally.
Protesters voiced outrage over reports that Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) team had gained access to sensitive financial data, including Social Security payments, Medicare reimbursements, and tax refunds—systems handling trillions in annual transactions.
“Nobody told you you can get all of our private information. Nobody told you you can be in charge of the payments of this country,” Waters said, who also called Musk a “low-down, dirty, no-good person.”
“We have told you you’ve made enough money off our government yourself, and now you want to take everybody else’s payroll and make sure that they don’t make the kind of money that you’ve made.”
“Oh, you want to use our money to go to Mars? No, we want to use our money right here in Washington, DC, in this country. We want to make sure that all of our federal employees are protected,” she continued.
“We’ve got to make sure that you know and understand nobody elected you. You think you’re the pro-president of the United States of America, the co-president that can take over, go into our private payment system and do whatever you want to do. You got another thought coming? We’re going to stop you right now!”