Democrat Who Pushed To Subpoena Elon Musk Accuses Trump of Creating ‘McCarthy Era 2.0’ for Gov’t Employees: ‘Very Chilling’

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) accused President Donald Trump and Elon Musk of creating “McCarthy era 2.0” among government employees in their efforts to reduce government spending.

Connolly was part of a congressional hearing on “Government Efficiency & Waste” on Wednesday that descended into chaos as Connolly pushed for Musk to be subpoenaed and questioned over the role of his DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) in the federal government workforce.

“Federal employees, I think, have gone from shock and dismay to now anger and determination. ‘Hey, we’re citizens too and we’re doing a job and we’re not going to be punished for doing our jobs,'” Connolly told MSNBC’s Ana Cabrera on Thursday.

Connolly red-flagged federal employees being fired and agencies being gutted as part of Trump and Musk’s plan to massively cut government spending. The Virginia congressman said he’s heard “stories” in his own district, which has many government employees, of vendor payments being “interrupted,” “intrusion of personal information,” and even “loyalty oaths” for employees.

The Democrat argued that Trump and Musk are giving a comeback to the McCarthy era. Joseph McCarthy was a senator who led hearings in the ’50s looking into supposed communist propaganda. The infamous hearings led to numerous people losing their jobs and blacklists being created in Hollywood.

“This is very chilling,” Connolly said of Trump and Musk. “It really is like the McCarthy era 2.0 for a lot of federal employees and for all of us as well. But they’re standing up and they’re being heard and I think that’s a hopeful sign that Elon Musk and Donald Trump aren’t with impunity going to simply have their way with the federal workforce.”

Watch above via MSNBC.