‘I’m on the side of the workers’: the Minnesota senator calling out Trump and Musk

The American people “can see in Elon Musk and in Donald Trump” the “kind of jerk boss who just doesn’t respect the work that anybody does,” said the Democratic senator Tina Smith of Minnesota.

Smith has been bluntly calling out Musk and Trump since she made a strikingly rare decision in February for someone elected to one of the country’s top positions: she will leave her job, by choice, without some kind of scandal, at the end of her term.

“I love serving in the Senate,” the 67-year-old Democrat told the Guardian. “It’s a huge honor and a huge responsibility, but I also never have had the feeling that I needed to do this until I was, you know, ancient.”

Without an upcoming election to contend with, Smith has been speaking out in a way many elected Democrats probably think they can’t. After Musk orchestrated an email to federal workers demanding they list five accomplishments from the previous week, Smith wrote on Twitter/X: “This is the ultimate dick boss move from Musk – except he isn’t even the boss, he’s just a dick.

“I’m on the side of the workers, not the billionaire asshole bosses,” she added.

Musk responded to her, saying: “What did you get done last week?” to which Smith responded: “I hate to break it to you but you aren’t my boss. I answer to the people of Minnesota.”

It was a Saturday night, and Smith had seen the email that went out to all federal employees, and she felt “so mad” for them. It tapped into the experience that most people who work for a living have had at some point: that their boss was a jerk, who didn’t know or care what they did and wanted to use their power to force you to justify your existence.

“It touched a nerve for me, which caused me to write that message. And the response that I got from all over the place shows that it touched a nerve for millions of people.”

She said she probably would have called him a dick even if she had to face re-election again. She’s frank, which she attributes to her mother, and thinks Democrats need to be real about the situation the US is in. “I think voters like to see some fire in the belly and some spirit and some energy as we’re fighting this big threat,” she said.

Smith has worked for Planned Parenthood and has helped run Democratic campaigns. After she worked on the former Minnesota governor Mark Dayton’s campaign, he named her his chief of staff, and then later his running mate. He tapped Smith for US Senate when former senator Al Franken said he would step down amid harassment allegations. Smith won a special election in 2018, then a regular election in 2020.

She doesn’t shy away from strong language – when the US supreme court decision that overturned Roe v Wade was leaked, she said simply, “this is bullshit” – but it wouldn’t be for all of her Democratic colleagues, she said. Still, she said, politicians should “worry less about being perfect in every moment, and should be thinking more about how to be real in every moment”.

Striving for realness is one of several prescriptions she has for her party in this moment: to not be afraid to take heat to Trump and his allies, and to be very clear what they think about this administration. She also thinks the party needs to defend people rather than institutions and better articulate the alternative vision they have for the country.

“Are you on the side of fighting for these billionaires and Elon Musk, or are you on the side of fighting for people? And I believe that if all politicians were more clear on that, then it would free them to be more direct and more real about what they think needs to get done,” she said.

Smith still has about two years left to serve in the Senate, where she plans to keep fighting Trump’s agenda and finding ways to advance the causes she’s championed, like mental health and affordable housing.

Already, the open Senate seat has inspired a dogpile, with many of the state’s most prominent Democrats saying they are running or considering a run (though, notably, the Minnesota governor and former vice-presidential candidate, Tim Walz, is not). But that was part of Smith’s reason for ending her political career: she knew there was a deep bench of Democrats waiting in the wings, capable of keeping the seat and getting their time to lead.

The rarity of voluntarily stepping aside has made some think Smith could be back one day. She’s young by congressional standards. But Smith said it would be incredibly unlikely. “I really doubt it,” she said, adding that if she wanted to stay in office, she would be running again now.

“Part of my identity is being a United States senator, something I’m so proud of, but it doesn’t make me who I am. That’s probably a pretty good sense of perspective.”