‘People’s lives are on the line’: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pleads with fellow Reps to put American lives before Elon Musk

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the representative for New York’s 14th congressional district and the woman who has been a relentless champion of minority rights, Medicare, tuition-free public colleges, and a range of other progressive initiatives for the past decade, has once again taken Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to the woodshed and explained why the billionaire-turned-politician is a danger to the country’s democracy.

The idea behind DOGE is not something that would immediately set off alarm bells. Musk markets it as a way to cut down on bureaucracy and regulate federal agencies, which might be long overdue considering the last time a president attempted it goes back to the years of the Cold War. It’s the way that the CEO of X goes about doing it that’s essentially crippling the workflow of different departments, and even causing serious harm in certain instances.

Musk’s team, apparently consisting of young ideologues who haven’t even been properly vetted, has fired thousands of employees, but Trump’s administration often finds itself in the embarrassing position of having to recall them again. Musk recently directed DOGE to send a threatening email to many federal bureaus, only to be immediately shut down by their respective directors. What’s worse, DOGE is already facing resignation issues from its potential workers, who consider the administration’s push to be unconstitutional and against the very freedom the MAGA camp preaches.

Now, in the wake of the FDA rehiring some of the 180 laid-off employees in charge of “approving and monitoring the safety of a range of products, from X-ray machines to surgical implants,” which, according to experts, could seriously derail patient care throughout the country, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has lambasted Musk and called him a “con man with a lot of money.”

“DOGE did not exist two years ago,” she said during a recent House session. “19-year-olds were not raiding the treasury two years ago. People who have no idea with medical background have not been hauling in with kangaroo courts for scientists to dismiss them two years ago. That started happening now.

“Elon Musk is not a scientist. He is not an engineer. He’s a billionaire con man with a lot of money. He does not have this, kind of, good background. And in fact, while there’s some disruption over that, I sincerely ask you all, to examine what expertise he has in approving medical devices, in biomedical engineering devices. These are people’s lives on the line. And we cannot laugh them away. I am asking you to please support this amendment for the people who have medical devices stuck in their body.”

Considering the power Elon wields right now (and abuses to a large degree to go after anyone who doesn’t agree with him) AOC’s words speak to her unparalleled courage, if not her unshakable resolve.

And as far as Musk’s expertise is concerned, people are finally beginning to see through the image he’s built for himself. Sure, the man knows how to build rockets, but when it comes to other areas, Musk’s only strategy is to throw his wealth and influence around and bully everyone into doing what he wants.

I guess the only question that remains is this: How long will this political freak show continue until the lawmakers in this country decide to rein Musk in?