Former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich is calling on Democrats to “defund” Elon Musk and lay the groundwork for the federal government to take over SpaceX and Starlink, according to a video and transcript of his remarks published by RealClearPolitics and reported by Benzinga. Musk answered with five words on X: “Prison for Reich.”
Reich made the comments on The Coffee Klatch podcast with co-host Heather Lofthouse, according to RealClearPolitics, which posted the clip on October 25. “If we have a Democratic administration—and the Democrats ought to be starting this, not just with oversight hearings, but also laying the groundwork for nationalizing Starlink and SpaceX. Nationalize it,” Reich said, according to the RealClearPolitics transcript.
NEW: Robert Reich calls for the "defunding" of Elon Musk, calls for Democrats to go after Musk's companies.
"Democrats ought to [start] laying the groundwork for nationalizing Starlink & SpaceX… It should be a public corporation."
Does he want Musk to drop another $50M on the… pic.twitter.com/0jiljf0CtG
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 25, 2026
“It should be a public corporation. We should not ever have that kind of power in one person’s hands, one private person’s hands,” Reich continued, according to the same transcript. He also accused Musk of “trying to buy the senator from Texas,” RealClearPolitics reported.
Musk replied on X on Sunday under a post by commentator Collin Rugg that shared the clip. “Stealing companies is a serious crime. Prison for Reich,” Musk wrote in that post, which had drawn more than 53,000 likes by Monday morning, according to X’s public counts.
“Defund Musk. I mean this.”
Reich framed the push as a matter of taxpayer money. “When I say defund Musk, you know, 75% of his wealth is dependent on taxpayers who are buying Starlink systems for the Department of Defense,” he said, according to RealClearPolitics. “Defund Musk. I mean this.”
He went further, calling Musk “the equivalent of the robber barons of the first Gilded Age, but he’s even worse,” and describing him as “Exhibit A in terms of the billionaire takeover of America,” according to the transcript. Reich also predicted that if Democrats win the House and possibly the Senate, Musk is “really going to be targeted, and he knows it,” RealClearPolitics reported.
What Reich didn’t say
In the remarks published by RealClearPolitics, Reich did not lay out what legal authority a future administration would use to take over a privately owned company, or how its owners and shareholders would be compensated. He also did not address how the Pentagon would replace the Starlink service he says it depends on.
That gap is the heart of the backlash. Critics on X argued that a former Cabinet secretary openly urging his party to seize a private American company, while describing it as accountability, shows how far some on the left are willing to go against a political opponent. Supporters of Reich’s view argued that a single private owner should not control systems the military relies on.
The fight lands eight days before the November 3 midterm elections. Reich’s remarks came in the context of Musk’s political spending, which Reich tied to the Texas Senate race in his comments, according to RealClearPolitics.
Reich had not publicly responded to Musk’s post as of Monday morning, based on his public X account. Daily Beltway will update this story if he does.
Sources
- RealClearPolitics video and transcript of Reich’s remarks
- WDC News 6 transcript of Reich’s remarks
- Benzinga report on the Reich-Musk exchange
- Elon Musk on X
- Collin Rugg on X (Reich clip)
Sources cited
Sources
- Original post: Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) on X, Oct 25, 2026
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