GOP Pollster: ‘Enormously Chilling’ That Musk and Trump’s ‘Clown Show’ Is Running The World’s Greatest Superpower

The publisher of the anti-Trump publication The Bulwark, Sarah Longwell, dropped a scathing review of the GOP’s chaotic maneuvering to avoid a government shutdown in recent days.

Longwell, a lifelong Republican and GOP pollster, joined MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace to discuss Elon Musk leading President-elect Donald Trump to kill Speaker Mike Johnson’s bipartisan funding proposal on Wednesday. Johnson unveiled a new deal on Thursday to try and avoid a shutdown on Friday night, which included Trump’s last-minute demands, which was voted down in the House.

“All we’re getting right now is a preview into the next four years, especially the next two years, right? While Republicans are entirely in charge of the government,” Longwell began, adding:

And I think it’s important to realize that, A, this is what the American public asked for. And, B, governing is actually for grown-ups. And Republicans are children who have empowered is the richest man in the world to basically just tell them what to do via tweet and text messages. I mean, the idea that the CR was getting negotiated last night between Vivek Ramaswamy, Mike Johnson, and Elon Musk via text, like I maybe it was the last night, and these are just preposterous things.

And I think that really is what the American public is about to see. And I think they think it might be fun for a while. Things stop being fun when checks stop arriving when prices go up because of tariffs, when the government shuts down and you can’t go to any of the places like the zoo or any of the places that the federal government runs. You know, you don’t get there’s a million things that happen.

And Musk saying, just shut it down and, you know, we’ll all be fine for 33 days. I mean, this is a person with no understanding of the government. And look, I’m all for having a smaller, more efficient government. But the idea that Elon Musk, with his absolutely nonexistent government experience is that one, to deliver it.

On one hand, depending on the mood you’re in, you could find it enormously chilling that this sort of clown show is what is running the greatest superpower in the world. On the other hand, there is something true to form about it, right? This is Donald Trump made no bones about who he was. And I listened to voters in focus groups. A lot of them say I voted because of Elon Musk. That’s why I voted for Trump. I voted for Trump because of Vivek Ramaswamy. And so if people wanted these folks to be empowered, they are now. And we’ll see if people like it.

Watch the clip above via MSNBC.