Chris Matthews on Elon Musk: 'This guy is an elephant in a china shop'

Former MSNBC anchor and political analyst Chris Matthews railed at Elon Musk on Friday for tanking the House continuing resolution (CR) that had been negotiated between Republicans and Democrats, and encouraging the GOP to take a hard line despite the rising risk of a government shutdown.

“You’ve heard of a bull in a china shop — this guy is an elephant in a china shop,” Matthews said during a Friday appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

“These negotiations between the House Democrats and the House Republicans are very fragile. There’s a one-vote majority for the Republicans,” he told co-host Jonathan Lemire.

Democratic leaders have criticized their Republican counterparts for backing out of a deal after it came under fire from Elon Musk on his social platform X, before President-elect Trump came out against it.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) brought a "plan B" spending bill to the floor, stripping out some provisions, such as health care reform, that appealed to Democrats, and adding a two-year suspension of the debt limit, which would help Trump avoid a messy fight with fiscal conservatives next year.

Musk cited Democratic wins and what he views as unnecessary spending as the main reasons for opposition to the initial bill. However, Matthews and others have noted Republicans will ultimately need some Democratic support, given their own divided caucus and tiny majority.

“You have to have Democrats aboard, because there’s 30 or 40 Republicans who will not vote with their party, that will always vote against any extension of the debt ceiling or anything like that that includes more government spending,” Matthews stated.

“So you need Democrats.”

Johnson has remained fairly quiet about Musk’s external push for Republican domination.

The Louisiana representative has undertaken closed-door negotiations with other Republicans in recent days and returned to the Capitol touting a "plan C" Friday morning after talks with Vice President-elect JD Vance.

Matthews said Musk didn't seem to understand what is required to make a deal in Congress.

“Along comes Musk with all his trillions of dollars, basically, doesn’t know anything about civics. The House is divided. You have to make a deal. He doesn’t understand that,” Matthews fumed.

“He’s thrown this whole thing up in the air and it’s going to have, probably, a government shutdown tonight because of him personally.”

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