Former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) knocked Elon Musk for “bad messaging” about cuts ordered by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“I think the key here is bad messaging, right? ... I think people appreciate waste, fraud and abuse. Let‘s go after it,” Sununu said late Thursday on CNN’s “NewsNight with Abby Phillip.”
“But how he‘s messaging it, pulling up the chainsaw, being — showing not an empathetic ear, I mean, we have to cut a lot of jobs, but you don‘t do it without empathy and understanding that these are people‘s lives and all that,” he added, referencing the tech billionaire’s appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February.
A March CNN/SSRS survey found 62 percent of respondents said they believed Musk lacks the experience needed for the role, and 61 percent doubted his judgment.
The unelected public figure’s favorability has been on the decline since charting a course for DOGE’s slashing of waste, fraud and abuse, and stock of his company Tesla has dropped at the same time.
New Hampshire’s former governor said the rhetoric surrounding cuts is sparking outrage.
“I think that is where people are really where that rubber meets the road and people are saying, 'Wait, there has got to be a better way to do this, there has got to be a better approach to do it,' and allow those congressmen and women, at least on the right, to be able to defend what’s happening and explain it a little better to the American people," Sununu told Phillip.
Despite multiple requests from the GOP urging Musk to tame his comments, the president’s adviser said last month that he would continue to press ahead with full force.
“My companies make great products that people love and I’ve never physically hurt anyone. So why the hate and violence against me?,” Musk wrote on his social platform X.
“Because I am a deadly threat to the woke mind parasite and the humans it controls,” he concluded.
