Democratic strategist James Carville said during a Thursday podcast that he does not want X CEO Elon Musk to rejoin the Democratic Party.
After previously backing Democratic candidates, Musk announced his endorsement of President Donald Trump in the 2024 election, along with contributing significant sums of money to support his ultimately successful campaign for the White House. Carville, on “The Daily Beast Podcast,” suggested that Musk would offer nothing of value if the Democratic Party were to successfully regain his support.
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“Should they bring Elon Musk back? His platform X is pretty useful. He said he’s not going to put any more money into politics for the time being,” host Joanna Coles said. “But should the Democrats woo him back or is he too damaged at this point?”
After clarifying Coles meant bringing Musk back into the Democratic Party, the Democratic strategist answered, “No.”
“No? You think he’s done now?” the host followed up.
“Well, I can’t imagine that after all of this that he’d want — I mean, what does he bring? … Look at the damage he’s done to the federal government,” Carville said. “Why do we want him?”
Coles asserted that Musk’s X platform is valuable, but said Carville had a “fair point” about Musk’s government role. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) claims on its website that as of May 11 it had saved taxpayers an estimated $170 billion through terminating and renegotiating contracts, eliminating fraud, cancelling grants and cutting the federal workforce.
For instance, DOGE has substantially cut the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which reportedly squandered taxpayer funds by supporting initiatives that pushed a far-left agenda abroad, along with indirectly backing extremist groups.
“It’s just that he used to be a Democrat,” Coles added. “Then he got embraced and suckered in by the Republicans.”
“Maybe he used to be smart and then he went crazy,” Carville responded.
Musk has faced substantial Democratic backlash since his 2022 acquisition of Twitter, endorsement of Trump and his role in the president’s administration.
CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten reported on “CNN News Central” in March that Democrats’ views of Musk have shifted dramatically since 2017.
“I have rarely ever seen any change of perception as dramatic as this one. I mean, Elon Musk’s net favorable rating. It’s dropped from plus 24 to minus 19 overall from 2017 to 2025,” Enten said. “And look at among Democrats. He used to be beloved by Democrats at plus 35. Look where it is now. Minus 91 points on the net favorable rating. That is a movement of over 120 points in the negative direction, falling through the floor.”
CNN’s Van Jones criticized Democrats at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit on Dec. 4 for alienating prominent left-leaning figures like Musk, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Joe Rogan.
“I hope the party takes a chance to look at the fact that we pushed all our rebels out of this party,” he said at the time.
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