‘American Oligarchs!’ MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle Clashes With John Fetterman On Trump Helping Rich Allies

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) pushed back as MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle pressed him to criticize President Donald Trump’s relationship to billionaires like Elon Musk.

In the extended version of their Tuesday MSNBC interview for The 11th Hour, Ruhle noted that Trump’s administration is the “wealthiest in modern history” and asked Fetterman if we are creating “American oligarchs.”

Fetterman suggested Musk and others aligning themselves like Trump are motivated by more than just simply making money. He also urged Democrats to begin using language that doesn’t involve words like “oligarch.”

“I would just ask democrats to start talking like a regular person. Most people don’t know what an oligarch is,” the senator said.

Check out the exchange below:

STEPHANIE RUHLE: “What about this idea that we’re sort of creating American oligarchs?”

JOHN FETTERMAN: “Yeah, and I would just ask Democrats to start talking like a regular person. Most people are not sure what an oligarch is. You know, it’s, like, okay, is an oligarch? Is it like a rich dude or woman? Okay, well, but there’s also another a little secret too. Democrats, ou know, we like billionaires if they’re giving to our our causes or to our party as well too.”

RUHLE: “But there’s a difference. Hold on, there’s a difference between a very wealthy donor —”

FETTERMAN: “But it’s unlimited money. That’s the poison of American democracy. Get rid of unlimited money and then that would render billionaires on either side to those kinds of a thing. And so remember, a lot of these billionaires that were in tech, they used to be more friendly to the Democratic interests in our party as well too. But unlimited money, get rid of that, and that would transform America more than any single other decision.”

RUHLE: “Absolutely. We are 15 years and two months since the Citizens United decision, and it has changed politics forever, it seems. But there’s a difference between very wealthy political donors and very wealthy people inside the government, making decisions that could potentially enrich themselves and their businesses. Look at Elon Musk, he hasn’t divested himself from his businesses, and he’s a guy with $38 billion worth of government contracts. That’s different from being a Democratic donor who has the president’s ear or, at the very least, his phone number.”

FETTERMAN: “What I would say is that sometimes, you know, I’m not sure if they necessarily are motivated based on money when, you know, most of those folks, whether it’s Bezos or Musk, they have far more than you can spend in 100 lifetimes. So for that, I think, you know, I think scarcity defines the luxury. So that’s why a lot of them want to be engaged on that because they have unlimited money. So I think they want to just be to be part of the other of the conversation.”

RUHLE: “So you think Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos, they’re there for altruistic reasons? They’re not there to help their businesses or themselves?”

FETTERMAN: “What I’m saying is that, is it a meaningful difference to be worth $100 billion, $150 billion or $200 billion? I mean, I don’t think it really means much to a lot of them because some day they could be up to $20 billion or they could be down 50 or whatever. They just keep bouncing. Same with Zuckerberg.”

Watch above via MSNBC.