Left-wing media host Cenk Uygur chides Democratic Party after exchange with Elon Musk
Left-leaning media host Cenk Uygur on Tuesday chided Democrats after engaging with X owner Elon Musk over ways to improve the Department of Defense budget.
The conversation came following Musk's appointment to the new federal Department of Government Efficiency. President-elect Donald Trump charged him and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy with confronting wasteful government spending.
Uygur, who hosts the progressive news show The Young Turks, wrote to Musk via X Monday offering insight about how to organize the country's military spending.
"Hey put me in charge of the Pentagon," he wrote. "I'll slash $400B easy. That'll get you 20% to your goal of $2T, right out of the gate. I went to Wharton three years before you. I own a media company, so I know how to run a business. If you really want to cut, put me in, coach."
Musk responded, saying "specific suggestions are welcome."
"As you know, you'd need to see the line items in the budget, but I have one suggestion already," Uygur wrote. "The generals are not allowed to get a job with defense contractors for ten years. They authorize so much wasteful spending because they're going to get hired by those same companies."
The exchange led Uygur to come away with a newfound respect for Republican leadership, he wrote.
"I asked to put me in charge of cutting the Pentagon," Uygur wrote. "And he said - what are your suggestions? I run the largest left-wing network online and a Democratic leader has NEVER asked me that question. The idea that they would take advice from a populist is disdainful to them."
"Now, which side seems more open and inclusive?" he continued. "Which side seems more welcoming and which side tries really hard to drive you away if you disagree even a little with orthodoxy? Which side is asking for suggestions and which one is demanding compliance and obedience?"
Musk on Tuesday also responded to Uygur's post suggesting Democrats "hate their base" and have devolved into "the less tolerant party."
"Yeah," Musk cheered.
More Democratic figures are beginning to reckon with changing tides in Washington following Trump's victory in the presidential election. "The Daily Host" Jon Stewart on Monday described the election as a rejection of the nation's bureaucratic government
"The election that we just had was a repudiation of the status quo," Stewart said. "An overly regulated system that is no longer responsive or delivering for the needs of the people."
