Dean Phillips: ‘Right Now, It’s the Boy Who Cried Wolf’ for Democrats

COATES: “Well, they would notably argue that they‘re trying to have some oversight. They would like to know what the functions that he is doing are. They want more transparency, and they don‘t like power being ceded to him with little, frankly, accountability or even that transparency. That doesn‘t give you pause?”
PHILLIPS: “Sure. That‘s what I said. I‘m conflicted because the way this is being approached — look, if I could wave my magic wand, I would also identify ways to reduce waste in the federal government. When I ran for president, Laura, that was one of my propositions, to engage one of the world‘s foremost consulting firms to literally look at the entire federal budget and make thoughtful recommendations to Congress about how we could actually become more efficient, more effective. That was a proposition of mine. Unfortunately, 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. 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. And Democrats are being steamrolled. And I‘m deeply concerned about that. Yes, Musk is not elected. He has no accountability other than 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.”