Dem Rep. Adam Smith: 'Trump and Musk Are Fascists'

On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Arena,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) said President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are “fascists.”

Host Kasie Hunt said, This is actually just in, some breaking news. So I’ll read it to you. The Wall Street Journal is reporting this. We here at CNN are still working on it, but they report this. Elon Musk ordered the slowdown of a military-grade version of Starlink that’s relied on by Ukraine. That, of course, is satellite internet. A decision that sparked panic in Kyiv and confusion inside the Trump administration, U.S. officials and people familiar with the matter said. One of the people also claimed that Musk and Trump discussed the matter prior to the decision to throttle Starlink. But of course, this only comes from one source, according to the Journal. Some U.S. officials say Musk acted unilaterally and that Trump didn’t specifically order any retribution against Ukraine. What’s your reaction to this?”

Smith said, “It certainly seems like, you know, Musk and Trump decided to weaken Ukraine and put them in a weaker position. Now why? I mean, I guess they would argue, well, we want to force them to the bargaining table. But again, I think it’s just, you know, Trump siding with Putin and Musk being part of it. And look, do I want to use the F word here? I don’t know. Autocrat certainly. Probably fascist, okay? Trump and Musk are fascists, okay? They think strong men — and certainly in Musk’s case, preferably strong white men should rule the world.”

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