Rep. Donalds clashes with CNN anchor over Trump praising Musk for firing X workers (2024)

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., sparred with CNN anchor Kate Bolduan over comments former President Trump made praising Elon Musk for firing Twitter staff when he bought the company and turned it into X.

During the CNN News Central segment, Bolduan confronted the lawmaker and Trump supporter over Trump’s praise for Musk cleaning house, noting that Teamsters Union head Sean O‘Brien called the comments "economic terrorism."

"Do you guys have a problem on your hands now?" Bolduan asked, to which Donalds replied that Musk was right to clean house and insisted that Trump’s comments were fine.

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Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., clashed with CNN host Kate Bolduan over Trump's praise for Musk firing striking X employees back when it was named Twitter.

He went on to insist that Trump’s instincts on economic policy are far better than Harris’, a claim that Bolduan fought every step of the way by suggesting that Trump attacked workers and their right to strike.

The anchor kicked off the debate by playing Trump’s words to Musk, taken from an audio clip of their X interview Monday night. In the clip, Trump mentioned the disgruntled workers Musk fired from X, then-Twitter, when he assumed ownership of the company.

He said, "You’re the greatest cutter. I mean, look at what you do. You walk in, you say, ‘You want to quit?’"

He continued, "They go on strike, I won’t mention the name of the company, but they go on strike and you say, ‘That’s OK, you’re all gone. So, every one of you is gone."

She then brought up O’Brien’s quote, suggesting Trump stepped in it. However, Donalds defended what Musk did.

"Yeah, Elon went in there and he cleaned house. But yes, look, Twitter was a mess at the time when he took it over. They had a massive amount of people working at Twitter, but it wasn‘t actually generating income. At the end of the day people need to remember in our country, businesses whether they are large or small, they have to generate income."

"That’s how our economy works," Donalds declared. Bolduan protested, saying it was "the circ*mstances" with how the Twitter employees were let go that were problematic.

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Former President Trump, left, spoke with Elon Musk for around two hours on Monday night on X. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images/Marc Piasecki/Getty Images)

The Republican congressman continued, stating that O’Brien’s fears of "economic terrorism" is "not really an issue at all."

He continued, "The key issue in his campaign is who‘s going to get our economy back on track. We don‘t even know what Kamala Harris’ plans are. We know what Donald Trump‘s plans are to get our country roaring again. That’s what matters."

Bolduan kept pressing, asking, "Your reaction to Sean O’Brien there is he’s wrong?" The lawmaker tried to push on, saying that it was Musk’s prerogative to deal with the bloat in his specific company and that the discussion should be about Trump’s general approach to the economy.

"But we’re talking about specifically the circ*mstance of employees striking," the host interrupted again, forcing Donalds to reset his train of thought and say, "I’m talking about what they were talking about in that conversation." "Right, about employees striking," Bolduan added.

Appearing frustrated, Donalds tried to frame the conversation. "Do we want to talk about what Elon Musk did at X, or do we want to talk about economic policies facing America? Because at the end of the day, whether Elon Musk fired employees at X, that doesn’t matter to the future of our country going forward. What matters to our country going forward is, who has the better prescription for our economy, Donald Trump or Kamala Harris?"

Bolduan then began speaking over him, "No, but what it speaks to – no, but seriously, it speaks to the approach of a candidate." Straining to interject, she continued, "Congressman, it speaks to – it speaks to the approach that a president has towards labor practices, which is what they were talking about."

Adamant that Donalds see what she was saying, she paused their discussion and played the Trump comments once more.

After she played the clip, Donald stuck to his guns, saying, "I think the thing that matters most in this campaign is who has the economic policies for our country going forward."

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