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Fox News hosts and pundits are apoplectic that MSNBC hosts had the temerity to ridicule “first buddy” Elon Musk after one of his SpaceX rockets exploded over South Florida, resulting in “space launch debris” that prompted air traffic to shut down over the state.
“Don’t you dare root against SpaceX,” Fox News host and former Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany seethed on Monday.
Following the second explosion this year of a SpaceX Starship, Musk — who owns the company — tweeted that “rockets are hard” while sending out a statement that SpaceX “will review the data from today’s flight test to better understand root cause” of the mishap. “As always, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will offer additional lessons to improve Starship’s reliability,” he added.
Shortly after the rocket’s failure on Thursday night, MSNBC star Rachel Maddow snarked about SpaceX describing the explosion as a “rapid unscheduled disassembly,” using the term as a metaphor for Musk’s dismantling of federal government agencies through his DOGE team. “Rapid unscheduled disassembly is kind of Elon Musk’s specialty these days, especially in a way that really messes with other people through no fault of their own,” she said.
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The hosts of Saturday morning’s The Weekend went even further with their mockery of the world’s richest man, citing the rocket crash as a sign that Musk should pay more attention to running his various companies and spend less time firing government employees.
“For Elon, his response to all of this was: ‘Rockets are hard.’ And Mr. Musk, if they’re so hard, why don’t you go back to your day job and work that out and leave those of us who do government to do government, because you can’t do both,” co-host and former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele. “Clearly, you’re failing right now at both. Your rockets are blowing up and the government is blowing up.”
Fox News contributor Joe Concha was beside himself over Steele’s remarks on Monday morning, telling Fox Business Network anchor Stuart Varney that Musk is “helping to save the planet” while getting ridiculed by the liberal network because “he’s on Team Trump” now.
“There’s a reason why this network has more employees than viewers at this point,” Concha sneered. “There’s a reason why NBC is selling off MSNBC because it’s not only a money losing operation, it’s an embarrassment to call this news network a news network.”
The conservative pundit went on to rage about Steele before praising Musk for slashing government jobs, likening it to how the mega-billionaire “cut 80 percent” of the workforce when he purchased Twitter (now X). “He’s doing an excellent job,” Concha added on a day that X was beset by massive outages.
Over on Fox News’ midday panel show Outnumbered, the hosts took turns blasting MSNBC over their Musk criticism while ridiculing Steele for no longer being a leading figure in GOP politics. “I thought they got rid of him at the RNC because he doesn’t do government?” Harris Faulkner quipped.
“It is so unacceptable to root for any kind of damage like that,” co-host Emily Compagno groused, adding: “There is no place for that here!”
After mocking MSNBC for recently laying off 200 employees, Faulkner wondered “why would you wish for the death of the American economy” and “be against Americans” by “cheering on” the SpaceX explosion or vandalism of Tesla’s cars. “This is how they really feel! So think about that as they try to get them to vote for you or as Michael Steele tries to convince you he’s still in government,” she added. “Think about that, he’s a talk show host!”
While Compagno fumed over how “ignorant” it was for the “talking heads” to “mock” Musk for the rocket explosions, guest host Jeremy Hunt said this was all an effort to make the SpaceX founder “the bogeyman to drive turnout for Democrats.” Noting that SpaceX is scheduled to bring two astronauts home after nine months in space, McEnany suggested it was un-American to criticize the company.
“And rooting against SpaceX, like those who did in that soundbite? They’re trying to get two astronauts — who have been stranded since the Biden administration — out of space,” she exclaimed. “So, don’t you dare root against SpaceX! Root for those two astronauts!”
Incidentally, as Fox News personalities circled the wagons for Musk, it was reported that DOGE is “urgently” seeking public relations victories as it looks to clean up the political “mess” that has been caused by its slash-and-burn approach. Additionally, Musk is scheduled to appear for a one-on-one interview with Fox Business host and former Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Monday afternoon.
