{"id":2413086,"date":"2025-03-13T17:40:02","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T21:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tina-smith-refuses-to-back-down-from-expletive-filled-attack-on-musk-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-03-13T17:40:02","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T21:40:02","slug":"tina-smith-refuses-to-back-down-from-expletive-filled-attack-on-musk-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tina-smith-refuses-to-back-down-from-expletive-filled-attack-on-musk-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Tina Smith refuses to back down from expletive-filled attack on Musk &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftina-smith-refuses-to-back-down-from-expletive-filled-attack-on-musk-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2413086&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Tina Smith refuses to back down from expletive-filled attack on Musk as Left weighs messaging tactics<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2024109\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Sen.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/tina-smith\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"> Tina Smith<\/a> (D-MN) stood by her profanity-laden assault on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/elon-musk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Elon Musk<\/a> despite concerns from Democratic leaders that abrasive messaging is getting the party into trouble.<\/p>\n<p>Smith made headlines last month for calling Musk, who heads President Donald Trump&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/department-of-government-efficiency\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Department of Government Efficiency<\/a>, &ldquo;a d***&rdquo; and &ldquo;billionaire a**&#8209;hole boss&rdquo; after he pushed for a new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3327295\/federal-workers-who-dont-email-weekly-achievements-will-lose-their-job-musk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">accountability standard<\/a> requiring federal workers to send their managers a weekly list of five accomplishments.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/politics\/3345441\/vance-highlights-sock-diplomacy-at-st-patricks-day-breakfast-with-irish-pm\/\">Vance highlights &#8216;sock diplomacy&#8217; at St. Patrick&#8217;s Day breakfast with Irish PM<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/politics\/3344283\/elon-musk-tesla-stock-trump-doge\/\">Musk fights to keep Tesla afloat during preoccupation with DOGE<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/politics\/3343487\/karen-bass-public-confidence-los-angeles-fires\/\">&lsquo;Wounded&rsquo; Bass has long path to rebuilding public confidence in leadership after LA fires: Poll<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>During a CNN interview on Wednesday, Smith did not back down from her comments after being pressed on whether cursing was the &ldquo;best way to communicate&rdquo; with voters.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;People want to see fight,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;And I think with that tweet that I did, it touched a nerve with millions of people because everybody has had the experience of having some boss who treats them with disrespect, who denigrates their work and is just basically using big power-play moves to &hellip; terrorize them.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Smith has long expressed concerns about Musk, with over one-third of posts highlighted on her X account since the beginning of March targeting the DOGE leader. Her rhetoric is in line with that of other Democrats, such as Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), who recently told Musk to &ldquo;f*** off&rdquo; and&nbsp;reacted to Trump&rsquo;s joint address to Congress earlier this month by saying, &ldquo;Somebody slap me and wake me the f*** up because I&rsquo;m ready to get on with it.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Smith&rsquo;s intense, public antagonism toward the Trump administration is characteristic of many Democratic-caucusing colleagues, such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who accused Trump and Musk of crafting a dangerous &ldquo;oligarchy&rdquo; to create &ldquo;the scariest times in my lifetime.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>However, other Democrats are worried such messaging strategies are counterproductive.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I would just ask Democrats, like, start talking like a regular person. Most people are not sure what an oligarch is, you know?&rdquo; Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said during an MSNBC interview on Tuesday. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s also another little secret, too. Democrats, we like billionaires if they&rsquo;re giving to our causes or to our party as well.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fetterman also called on the Left to adjust its messaging tactics following the president&rsquo;s joint address to Congress. At the time, many of his Democratic colleagues carried out rowdy anti-Trump and anti-DOGE antics during the speech, despite House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries&rsquo;s (D-NY) call on his conference to conduct themselves with decorum.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Senator John Fetterman is interviewed by Stephanie Ruhle and it doesn&#8217;t go as planned.<\/p>\n<p>Ruhle: &#8220;What about this idea that we&#8217;re sort of creating American oligarchs?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Fetterman: &#8220;Yeah, and I would just ask democrats to start talking like a regular person. Most people don&#8217;t know&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/h8DDd173G7\">pic.twitter.com\/h8DDd173G7<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; DeVory Darkins (@devorydarkins) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/devorydarkins\/status\/1899870046505349404?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 12, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Fetterman characterized the protests during the president&rsquo;s address as &ldquo;a sad cavalcade of self owns and unhinged petulance.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It only makes Trump look more presidential and restrained,&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SenFettermanPA\/status\/1897344327157960906\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">he wrote<\/a>, worrying that Democrats are &ldquo;becoming the metaphorical car alarms that nobody pays attention to&mdash;and it may not be the winning message.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speak to reporters as they sit in a red Model S Tesla vehicle on the South Lawn of the White House Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in Washington. (Pool via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;We never learn,&rdquo; one Democratic strategist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3339513\/democratic-party-attempt-engage-voters-attack-trump-fall-flat\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">lamented<\/a> after the address to the <em>Hill<\/em>. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t just be the party that barks at Trump, and I&rsquo;m sorry, but that&rsquo;s what we are. And until we learn that lesson, we&rsquo;re going to lose.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Despite the warnings, resistance to the Trump administration continues to be broadly characterized by raucous protests, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house\/3345923\/house-doge-subcommittee-investigation-attacks-tesla-elon-musk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">anti-DOGE demonstrations<\/a> at Tesla dealerships and charging stations across the country. Musk&rsquo;s electric car company has been the object of, in many cases, violent acts that have destroyed or damaged property.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/politics\/3344283\/elon-musk-tesla-stock-trump-doge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">MUSK FIGHTS TO KEEP TESLA AFLOAT DURING PREOCCUPATION WITH DOGE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The competing visions for what opposition to Trump should look like is &ldquo;normal,&rdquo; Chris Devine, an associate professor of political science at the University of Dayton, <a href=\"https:\/\/cbsaustin.com\/news\/connect-to-congress\/democrats-continue-search-for-message-on-how-to-resist-president-donald-trump-joint-address-to-congress-al-green-censure-elissa-slotkin-rebuttal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">told<\/a> CBS Austin.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It is normal for a party to be divided on exactly how to respond, especially right after an election loss. People are still breaking down the results and trying to figure out what lessons should be learned from it and how they should be applied moving forward,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The contrast that you really saw is whether Democrats should take an in-your-face approach and be as obstructionist and loud and visible as possible &hellip; or be calm and focused.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2024109\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2024109\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tina Smith refuses to back down from expletive-filled attack on Musk as Left weighs messaging tactics Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) stood by her profanity-laden assault on Elon Musk despite concerns from Democratic leaders that abrasive messaging is getting the party into trouble. Smith made headlines last month for calling Musk, who heads President Donald Trump\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3142,"featured_media":2413087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Tina-Smith-Congress.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2413086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Tina-Smith-Congress.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2413086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2413087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2413086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2413086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2413086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}