Elissa Slotkin slams Trump over tariffs, Musk in Democratic response

By Hadriana Lowenkron

 

Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin assailed President Donald Trump’s economic agenda after his address to Congress, accusing him and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk of targeting Social Security and other benefits.

 

“Trump is trying to deliver an unprecedented giveaway to his billionaire friends. He’s on the hunt to find trillions of dollars to pass along to the wealthiest in America, and to do that, he’s going to make you pay in every part of your life,” the Michigan lawmaker said Tuesday as she delivered the Democratic response after Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress.

 

 

Slotkin, who won her Senate seat despite Michigan voting for Trump in the presidential election, largely focused her message on the economic headwinds facing the nation. She argued that high grocery and home prices would be exacerbated by the president’s sweeping tariffs, just hours after the president hit the largest US trading partners, Canada and Mexico, with 25 per cent levies and doubled existing duties on China to 20 per cent, moves she said would “hurt manufacturing and farmers” and raise costs for an array of goods and services.

 

“The national debt is going up, not down, and if he’s not careful, he could walk us right into a recession. And one more thing, in order to pay for his plan, he could very well come after your retirement — the Social Security, Medicare and VA benefits you worked your whole life to earn,” Slotkin said. 

 

The rebuttal address is typically given to rising stars in an opposition party, and offered a preview of the messaging Democrats — who have struggled to regain their political footing since the 2024 election — are likely to elevate in the coming months.

 

That included Slotkin knocking Musk, who she noted “just called Social Security the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.”

 

Musk made the comments in a recent interview with podcast host Joe Rogan, and Democrats have pounced on the remarks to accuse the Trump administration and congressional Republicans of seeking to cut programs such as Social Security as they move to reduce government spending while also passing a tax cut package.

 

Slotkin criticised Musk’s effort to slash government spending, calling his team a “gang of 20 year olds using their own computer servers to poke through your tax returns, your health information and your bank accounts” with “no guard rails.”

 

“You want to cut waste, I’ll help you do it. But change doesn’t need to be chaotic or make us less safe,” she said. 

 

Slotkin’s speech also criticized Trump over his foreign policy, in particular the public clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last week, which she called a “bad episode of reality TV.” Trump and Zelenskiy argued in the Oval Office after the Ukrainian leader cast doubt on the US president’s bid to force a peace deal with Russia.

 

“It summed up Trump’s whole approach to the world. He will be cozying up to dictators like Vladimir Putin and kicking our friends like the Canadians in the teeth,” Slotkin said. “As a Cold War kid, I’m thankful it was Reagan and not Trump in office in the 1980s. Trump would have lost us the Cold War.”