At least one Democrat has discovered a new way to deal with wealthy Americans who support President Donald Trump: Don’t just criticize them. Take their companies.
Former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich is calling for Democrats to consider nationalizing Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Starlink businesses, raising questions about whether private property rights still apply when the owner happens to be a political enemy.
From Free Enterprise to Government Property
During a recent appearance on his podcast, The Coffee Klatch, Reich urged Democrats to begin preparing for a government takeover of Musk’s companies.
“Nationalize it. It should be a public corporation,” Reich declared, talking about SpaceX and Starlink, arguing that no single private individual should wield that much economic and political power.
Reich called to “defund Musk” by cutting government business with his companies, accusing the billionaire of using his wealth to influence elections. Yes, building successful businesses can sometimes be acceptable to the Democrats – but only up until the point where they are supporting the wrong political party.
NEW: Robert Reich calls for the “defunding” of Elon Musk, calls for Democrats to go after Musk’s companies.
“Democrats ought to [start] laying the groundwork for nationalizing Starlink & SpaceX… It should be a public corporation.”
Does he want Musk to drop another $50M on the midterms?
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 25, 2026 [1]
Your Business, Their Rules
Reich’s proposal sounds less like traditional American capitalism and more like something borrowed from the Soviet economic playbook.
Naturally, Reich argues that nationalization would protect democracy from billionaire influence. But critics might reasonably wonder how transferring privately owned businesses into government hands makes political power any less concentrated.
Musk wasn’t particularly impressed with the whole idea.
“Stealing companies is a serious crime. Prison for Reich,” he responded on X.
To be clear, Reich’s proposal isn’t an adopted Democratic Party policy (yet), and nationalization would face significant legal obstacles. But the Dems have done more egregious things before.
The mere suggestion, however, raises a troubling question: If government can target a billionaire’s businesses because officials dislike his political influence, where does that leave everyone else’s property rights?
Because we ALL KNOW that Dems can look into their election files anytime they want and see who we are all voting for. And under their vision of economics, what’s yours is only yours until Washington decides it should be theirs.