Bernie Sanders Warns Elon Musk Is 'Clearly Running the Show' and Working Toward Privatizing 'Every Important Government Agency'

Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) warned that Americans are currently living through a "very dangerous moment" in U.S. history.

During a recent interview with CNN's Kaitlan Collins, Sanders claimed Tesla billionaire Elon Musk is in charge of the U.S. government instead of President Donald Trump and alleged he is working to dismantle and privatize almost every government agency.

When asked about recent government cuts and the White House's insistence that Musk is not the administrator of the DOGE operation, Sanders clarified, "The issue is not who's technically the administrator, who has the title. Elon Musk is clearly running the show."

Sanders said he did not feel like he has any oversight over Musk and spoke frankly about how he felt about the current state of the U.S. federal government and the country at large.

"This country is moving very rapidly under Trump into an authoritarian form of society," Sanders observed. "The Founding Fathers way back in the 1770s — these were nobody's fools. They had fought the king of England, an autocrat, [who] had all the power, and they said, 'You know what? We don't want that in the new country. We're going to set up three separate, equal branches of government."

"Every kid in the sixth grade knows who they are, but Trump does not," the senator told Collins. "What Trump is doing now is trying every day to usurp the powers of Congress … It is a very dangerous moment."

Sanders added that it'll be up to the American people to stop Trump and Musk.

"The struggle against Trump, the struggle against oligarchy, which is led by Elon Musk, the struggle against authoritarianism, the fight to make sure that the working class of this country gets a fair shake, that's not going to be won here on Capitol Hill," he explained.

"It's going to be won by millions of people all over this country standing up and saying, 'You know what? We fought and died for democracy. We're not going to move toward authoritarianism. We fought to create a country that works for all. Not just the billionaire class,'" Sanders continued.

While Sanders acknowledged the government is far from "perfect," the 83-year-old senator said he doesn't believe Trump and Musk actually care about government spending. He claims all they want is to secure more money for the wealthy elite and to work toward "the privatization of every important government agency."

"Let us be clear what these guys really want to do. Do you think that Elon Musk is staying up at night just worrying about excessive spending in the CDC? I don't think so," he commented. "At the end of the day, what these guys want and what Trump wants is to cut programs that working-class people need."