A Republican strategist thinks that allies of Donald Trump's are using Elon Musk as a kind of shield for the unpopular government cuts the president is pushing through.
NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Melanie Zanona reported that Musk met with Republicans on Wednesday because they're facing a lot of backlash back home for the cuts. At the same time, as the cuts are being rolled out, Republican lawmakers haven't been included in any discussions about what cuts are being made and when, leaving them in the dark.
"I encouraged him to go as fast as possible because we're going to lose our guts," said one Republican talking to NBC.
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Republican strategist Rick Tyler laughed at the GOP lawmakers for being too scared to do unpopular things.
"Well, I love the comment about 'we lose our guts.' These guys are spineless cowards. That's why they have Elon Musk there to begin with, because he provides a huge shield to them," Tyler said of the Republican members of Congress, who have failed to make budget cuts over the years but also want to give tax cuts.
"Look, as I said, I think government needs to be reformed. It needs to be smaller and more responsive," he said. "But this is not the way to go about it. Where is the new design? What is the design to make it work with less people? And that's what doesn't exist because government has exponentially been slower than the private sector in reforming and being adaptable to modern standards."
He mentioned an "assembly line," saying that if 1,000 people are cut off, the line will screech to a halt.
"If, in fact, you rebuild the assembly line to be automated and work for a dozen people, then that can work. But you can't just fire all of these people and then, let's hope that it works. Hope is not a plan," he explained.
He also said that Republicans must codify the cuts into law; otherwise, when Democrats take over, all of his executive orders will be overturned.
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