Lawrence O’Donnell called out Donald Trump for his uncharacteristic silence after former ally Elon Musk attacked the president’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’.
Speaking on The Last Word on Wednesday night, O’Donnell said Trump’s flurry of announcements, including a travel ban and a ban on foreign students attending Harvard University, was part of a strategy to “turn our attention away from Elon Musk’s war on Donald Trump.”
Musk weighed in on his social media platform X, telling his 220 million followers: “Call your Senator, call your congressman, bankrupting America is NOT ok! KILL the BILL.” The former DOGE chief also retitled Trump’s initiative “the Debt Slavery Bill.”
“Elon Musk is using his loud social media voice to urge Republicans to kill the bill, in a steady stream of angry and bitter tweets,” O’Donnell said.
“And as of tonight, Donald Trump remains cowering in abject silence, in fear of Elon Musk. Now, when is the last time someone with a loud public microphone called Donald Trump or something Donald Trump was doing a ‘disgusting abomination’ without being immediately attacked by Donald Trump?”
O’Donnell referenced Trump’s attack on two music giants last month, when he called Bruce Springsteen “highly overrated” and a “dried out prune” after the hitmaker called the president “corrupt, incompetent and treasonous” during a concert in Manchester.
Trump also posted on his Truth Social account: “Has anyone noticed that, since I said ‘I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,’ she’s no longer ‘HOT?’”
O’Donnell referenced Trump’s attack on two music giants last month, when he called Bruce Springsteen “highly overrated” and a “dried out prune” after the hitmaker called the president “corrupt, incompetent and treasonous” during a concert in Manchester.
Trump also posted on his Truth Social account: “Has anyone noticed that, since I said ‘I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,’ she’s no longer ‘HOT?’”
“Remember, Donald Trump has attacked Taylor Swift for nothing,” O’Donnell pointed out. “Donald Trump attacked Bruce Springsteen for something Bruce Springsteen said at a concert on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.”
“Donald Trump’s rule of life, as he announced in the first book published in his name... is that whenever he is criticized for something he’s doing he always has to hit back harder. But Donald Trump dare not strike back against the richest person in the world.”
“Donald Trump might get there,” O’Donnell noted. “But Donald Trump has never, ever taken longer to get there as he maintains his fearful silence about Elon Musk.”
