CNN’s Jake Tapper Torches Trump and Musk Efforts To Shrink Government With ‘Broad Strokes’ And ‘Hand Grenades’

CNN anchor Jake Tapper torched President Donald Trump’s second-term approach to shrinking the federal government in a monologue accusing the administration of brandishing an axe and lobbying “hand grenades” to set about change.

Opening The Lead With Jake Tapper on Monday evening, Tapper acknowledged that while some may have expected “disruption” from the start with Trump, his efforts to “shrink the federal government” just two weeks into the term was being done “with very broad strokes and blunt instruments.”

Tapper began by lacing into the letters sent to federal employees urging them to resign in exchange for severance or risk being eliminated later. The anchor, however, offered a sobering reality check for those cheering the move as a way to cut “bureaucratic dweebs.”

Telling the story of a friend at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Tapper reported that she’d received the resignation letter four times in the last two weeks.

“She’s a psychologist for the Department of Veterans Affairs… her job is making sure that veterans with post-traumatic stress don’t kill themselves,” he said. “And she is worried. What if 5 percent of people like her leave? How many veterans’ psychologists can we afford to lose? Afford, as in veterans’ lives—not whatever balance sheet the folks at DOGE have.”

As Trump’s sweeping government overhaul is rolled out, in the shape of a White House memo ordering a freeze on trillions in federal grants that was quickly rescinded, Tapper turned his attention to Elon Musk—who was tapped to lead the cost-cutting program through the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency.

Tapper rolled back an interview in which Trump was asked why Musk was granted such unprecedented control, Trump shrugged.

“He’s got access only to letting people go that he thinks are no good. If we agree with him. And it’s only if we agree with him,” he said, calling Musk “a very talented guy from the standpoint of management and costs.”

Tapper, however, wasn’t buying it as he continued his monologue.

“Certain groups in certain numbers. Which ones? VA psychologists? NIH cancer researchers?” he pressed. “Surely parts of the federal government could be whittled down. But what we’ve seen so far is an axe being brandished and swung recklessly.”

The CNN anchor likened the chaotic nature of Trump’s cost-cutting crusade to his approach on pardons. In his second Inaugural Address, Trump’s team promised that clemency for January 6th rioters would be reviewed “on a case-by-case basis” before Trump ultimately decided to blanket-pardon all 1,500 of them.

Among them, Tapper noted, were convicted criminals with shocking rap sheets.

Tapper singled out Peter Schwartz, who received 14 years for four separate assaults on police officers, and Theodore Middendorp, who pleaded guilty last May to sexually assaulting a seven-year-old. He also profiled David Daniel, charged with producing child pornography featuring victims as young as 12.

“Hope he’s enjoying his pardon from President Trump,” Tapper quipped.

He added: “And I doubt President Trump wanted to show clemency to people accused of being pedophiles. But he did. He called the whole group ‘hostages and patriots.’”

For Tapper, the lesson was clear: “There’s a reason why governing effectively—as with a pardon process—takes time. There’s a reason why there is a process and there are standards, even for effective disruption.”

“Effective shrinking of government? Effective pardoning.? It takes work. Not just hand grenades,” he signed off.

Watch above via CNN.