Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota took another swipe at White House senior advisor Elon Musk. He admitted he has an “unhealthy” reaction to the Tesla CEO.
Earlier in the week, Walz joked about Tesla stock dropping and said it gave him “a little boost.” He caught heat for the comment. Speaking again Saturday in Rochester, he blamed Republicans for lacking humor.
“This guy bugs me in a way that is probably unhealthy,” Walz said, prompting laughter and cheers. “But I have to be careful about being a smartass. I was making a joke. These people have no sense of humor.”
“They are the most literal people, most literal people,” he continued. “But my point was they’re all mad, and I said something I didn’t — you know, probably shouldn’t have about a company.”
President Trump created the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) by executive order on Jan. 20. Musk was named chairman back in November. The agency claims to have found $115 billion in savings — that’s about $714 per taxpayer.
“He is an idiot,” someone in the crowd said about Musk. Walz didn’t hold back after that.
“Agreed. Agreed,” Walz replied. “They’re all butt-hurt about the Tesla thing, but they don’t care [about] the disrespect they have shown to employees at the Minneapolis VA who care for our veterans and they fire them.”
“They don’t care,” he added. “We’ll have the conversation about efficiency, but none of us believe they’re serious. Oh, we fired everybody dealing with Ebola. Then he went into the Oval Office wearing a hat.”
“I don’t ever want to hear anybody talk about decorum and respect,” he said. “Wearing a hat, coming in there, richest man in the world.”
Minnesota’s pension fund owns over 1.6 million shares of Tesla. It helps pay retirement benefits to teachers and first responders.
“If I’m the richest man in the world, I’m, like, out on the street handing out the money and be fun as hell just to help people out,” Walz said. “Not, this guy. Not this guy.”
Musk clapped back on social media. He took a shot at Walz with a post of his own.
“Sometimes when I need a little boost, I look at the @JDVance portrait in the @WhiteHouse and thank the Lord,” Musk wrote on X.