On a recent episode of his “Coffee Clatch” podcast, Robert Reich openly called for a future Democrat administration in the White House to forcibly take Starlink and Space X from Musk.
“Defund Musk. I mean this,” Reich stated, in case there was any confusion over his words. “Nationalize it.”
One stated reason for doing so, Reich stated, which isn’t true, is that 75% of his wealth is “dependent on taxpayers” because the Department of Defense uses Starlink satellites, he claimed.
That claim isn’t true because Musk’s incredible wealth – he became the world’s first trillionaire this summer – comes from his stakes in several multi-billion-dollar corporations. Those include Space X, the home of Starlink, as well as Tesla, xAI, The Boring Company, and Neuralink, according to Forbes.
When Space X went public this year, its government S-1 filings showed only 20% of annual revenue in 2025, $18.7 billion, came from U.S. government contracts, news website Washington Technology reported. Of that 20% figure, only a portion of that comes from Starlink itself, the article states.
On the Musk-owned social media site X, formerly Twitter, the popular channel Maze noticed Reich’s anti-Musk comments. It then played those comments beside Reich’s reaction, from 2025, when President Trump publicly complained about the CEO of Intel, Lip-Bu Tan. Trump said Tan should resign “immediately” over his ties to China’s military.
“There's no free market,” Reich, referring to Trump’s comments, warned last year. “It's not even socialism. It's not communism. It is fascist capitalism.”
Musk predictably replied on X to Reich's call to seize his companies. "Stealing companies is a serious crime. Prison for Reich," he wrote.
The likely reason Musk is suddenly a target of Reich was hinted at in the podcast itself: the billionaire is donating tens of millions to GOP campaigns to help Republicans maintain control of Congress.
“I mean, Musk is trying to buy the senator from Texas,” Reich said, referring to Musk helping Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton defeat Democrat James Talarico.
“Why should we allow this? Seriously?” Reich asked.
During the current election cycle, the Democratic Party is being helped by prominent billionaires George Soros, Mike Bloomberg, Reid Hoffman, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, and others.
In the Texas race for Senate, where Talarico is outraising Paxton, Hoffmann is Talarico’s biggest contributor. He has donated $11 million to a super PAC, Lone Star Rising, that supports Talarico.
