You can watch the video or review the transcript of our discussion on Elon Musk criticizing the One Big Beautiful Bill. This aired live on Laura Coates Live on June 4, 2025. I was joined by CNN political commentator Jamal Simmons.
***
COATES: I want to bring in CNN political commentator Jamal Simmons and former White House spokesperson under President George W. Bush, Pete Seat. Glad to have you both here.
I'll begin with you, Pete. This is day two of this fight. Who's going to win out, and what will that say about who's really running things?
[23:45:03]
PETE SEAT, FORMER WHITE HOUSE SPOKESPERSON, GEORGE W. BUSH ADMINISTRATION: Donald Trump is going to win this fight because he's the leader of the Republican Party and most members on Capitol Hill are going to side with him on the big beautiful bill.
And I think they look at Elon Musk and they say, my favorite quote from the 2024 election was two things can be true at once. He is right on the policy. We need to reduce deficits and debt. But he's also throwing a temper tantrum. And as someone who was once two years old, I know a little something about temper tantrums. And that's what he's doing right now because he's not going to get his EV tax credit, and he's angry about it, and he's going to throw some elbows, hoping he gets what he wants.
COATES: I applaud your ability to remember your two-year-old temper tantrums. That's -- that's something very impressive. Jamal, let me ask you about this question because we haven't heard much from President Trump. He has been silent. Are you surprised?
JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, I'm not surprised because Elon Musk is worth a lot of money.
(LAUGHTER)
COATES: Hmm.
SIMMONS: And we deal with Donald Trump. You always got to think not just about what the policy is, but what's the profit here and where is it that Donald Trump has his angle. And we just don't know yet what the relationships are between Trump and Musk.
I bet you, though, he is still hoping that Musk is going to be helpful to the Republican Party in the next election. If not helpful, then certainly not hurt some of the members that he wants to take care of.
So, this is the one difference with Elon Musk that he has with a lot of the other people he get into a fight with. Musk has his own power base, and he can fight Trump back.
COATES: You wonder if it's that or that he's trying to signal irrelevance in some way by not punching. But who knows?
SIMMONS: I don't know.
COATES: It's a psychological test here. Pete, let me ask you this.
SIMMONS: Follow the money.
COATES: Well, yeah. Trump also announcing tonight a new travel ban targeting a dozen countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Haiti, all in the name of national security. Now, courts have blocked several iterations of Trump's travel ban, as you recall, in the first term. What's motivating this action and these bans now?
SEAT: Well, this is a day one priority for the Trump administration. He talked about it on the campaign trail and literally on day one said that he was going to move forward on this after a period of study and ensuring that they had their Ts crossed and Is dotted. So, hopefully, this one will stand up to court scrutiny.
But it's all based, as you said, Laura, on national security. The -- the countries on that list are largely failed states, and we need to protect our citizens and our nation and ensure that bad actors are not coming here and abusing our visa process.
COATES: I want to ask you about another issue that's happening right now as we try -- as we try to unpack this. I want you to address this point, too, in response to what he said. The administration has said that the ban was because of the antisemitic attack in Boulder. The attacker, as we know, was from Egypt. They're not on that list. Is the national security issue more nuanced than we're understanding?
SIMMONS: Again, it's no telling -- there's no telling what Donald Trump is up to because here's the thing. You know what failed state there was? The apartheid state of South Africa. And now, here we are bringing white South African -- Africaners to the United States on a specious argument that they have been unfairly discriminated against or attacked in South Africa when the numbers just don't bear out that's the case. I just -- I just don't know what Donald Trump is actually up to when it comes to these cases.
Let me tell you this, though. My Jewish friends will say to me -- they have some offense about what Trump was doing in terms of antisemitism --
COATES: Uh-hmm. SIMMONS: -- because here you have a case where the -- the Republican -- I'm sorry, the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, who is Jewish, was attacked physically at his home.
COATES: Uh-hmm.
SIMMONS: Right? His home was attacked. And Donald Trump hasn't really done anything about that. So, he's actually concerned about antisemitism. There are real acts of antisemitism for him to take a stance on, not just ones that he thinks are going to benefit him politically.
COATES: I can't let you go before asking you about Karine Jean- Pierre's new book, announcing a new book called "Independent." She's saying that she's quitting the Democratic Party. Why?
SIMMONS: You know, she's saying that she's taking a look at -- you know, she wants to take steps forward. Right? She wants to be independent because she wants to find a way -- to find the ground where people can come together and find a new way out that will help protect the country and help the democracy.
COATES: How will that impact Democrats who see her, obviously, as the press secretary for a Democratic president?
SIMMONS: She's going to have a tough time. I've talked to people, some of my colleagues, former colleagues from the White House. People are not happy about this book. People are not happy about maybe the way Karine may have set it up, that the White House was broken.
I think a great book for Karine to write would be one that talked about her own individual place inside the White House and how maybe she may have had struggles, and then those struggles, she overcame those struggles. Those are the books that people, I think, find compelling. The George Stephanopoulos book is the one that comes to mind. Right?
So, I think we've got some time. It's not until October when this book comes out. I think there are a few more edits left to do. I would love to see Karine writes something that talked about her own struggle as well as some of the failings in the White House that they had to overcome.
COATES: I don't think she's taking suggestions. But we'll see. Jamal Simmons, thank you so much. Pete Seat as well.
Share this post