Lawrence O’Donnell Calls Out Trump’s ‘Twisted’ Effort To ‘Insult and Humiliate’ Elon Musk

MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell accused President-elect Donald Trump of publicly belittling Elon Musk in a “twisted” bid to demonstrate power over him while using “the richest person in the world” as a symbolic prop to threaten any potential opponents.

The host’s take came after Trump addressed House Republicans with a pointed remark aimed at Musk, who has been staying at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate since before the election.

“Elon won’t go home. I can’t get rid of him,” Trump allegedly told the room, with Musk sitting in attendance.

Analyzing the jibe O’Donnell unleashed on Trump.

Donald Trump trotted Elon Musk into that room to show House Republicans two things. One, the richest person in the world is on my side. The richest person in the world can help you or hurt you, depending on how helpful you are to me.

But here’s the other thing. The richest person in the world is not the most powerful person in the world. That was Donald Trump’s message to those representatives today, spoken and unspoken.

And what he said out loud about Elon Musk, just to demonstrate his power over Elon Musk publicly, just to humiliate Elon Musk, as Donald Trump must do – as Donald Trump’s twisted psyche demands that he do. Donald Trump told all Republican house members that, quote, Elon won’t go home. I can’t get rid of him.

And then everyone laughed at that – they laughed that uncomfortable laugh. But they laughed when Donald Trump makes a joke about someone on his team, a joke that everyone knows is true. A joke that paints that person is pathetic. As Donald Trump’s personal sense of superiority demands that he do. Donald Trump’s jealousy over Musk’s wealth must eat away at him every second he has to look at the richest person in the world.

But in public, at least, Donald Trump gets to do what he likes to do best. Insult and humiliate. Insult and humiliate, in this case, Elon Musk.

While O’Donnell seemed hellbent on drawing his  own conclusions about Trump’s aside, others may simply have seen it as a light joke, evidenced by the laughter it elicited by those in attendance.

Watch above on MSNBC.