WASHINGTON — With Republicans leading the White House and Congress, Democrats are focusing their fire on a man who has not been elected and does not draw a government paycheck — Elon Musk. The world’s richest man is leading the president’s efforts to slash the federal payroll and dismantle federal agencies. But will the Democrats’ strategy resonate with Americans?
When President Donald Trump said during his address to Congress, “the days of rule by unelected bureaucrats are over,” Democrats in attendance laughed. Some pointed to Musk on the balcony.
Musk is leading The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), President Trump’s massive cost-cutting initiative. Democrats, especially in the party’s progressive wing, are eager to make the mega-billionaire the focus of their counterattack. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, heads the House Progressive Caucus.
“Elon Musk is stealing from you. He is stealing from your health care. He is stealing veterans’ salaries. He is stealing your taxpayer money in order to pocket it himself,” Casar said.
Musk’s ability to fire federal workers and access sensitive government data has drawn sharp criticism and triggered legal questions.
At rallies, protests and press conferences, Democrats note the Tesla and SpaceX CEO holds real power and big government contracts, and stands to benefit from a shrinking government.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, said he has been in touch with the electrical workers’ union affected by Trump and Musk’s cost-cutting efforts.
“He’s let Elon Musk, an unelected billionaire, rampage through our government, the electrical workers, some of them work for the government and have been displaced,” Doggett said.
“I’ll tell you who it does, whose life it does improve, those billionaires who will be able to buy another yacht because of these tax cuts, another jet because of these tax cuts,” Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, said when criticizing the Republican-written budget blueprint.
Democrats routinely use terms like “co-president” to describe Musk, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul calls it the “Trump-Musk administration.”
Analysts say it makes sense for Democrats to target the world’s wealthiest man.
“Musk is easier for voters to dislike, the kind of eccentric billionaire who’s taking a chainsaw to the federal government. It plays well with some people in the MAGA base, but others are going to have misgivings about that,” said Matthew Wilson, political science professor at Southern Methodist University.
Wilson said the success of the strategy will hinge on how the job cuts affect the economy and federal services.
“I would expect that if he is still around as a presence in Washington, as a figure in the administration, come the midterms next year, that he may well have worn out his welcome,” Wilson said. “Voters are willing, to a certain degree, to give him the benefit of the doubt for now, but we’re only a little over a month into the administration, if his presence lingers and lingers into the next year, then I think Musk could become a liability for Trump in the midterms.”
Republicans say Musk’s government shake up is exactly what voters asked for. The Trump administration has said Musk complies with federal rules, is transparent, and will recuse himself should a conflict of interest come up.
“It may be unheard of to have someone like Elon Musk here, but who was running the government when Joe Biden was here? We didn’t even know who these people were. You have a face that was helping, who was helping run this federal government in a way that hasn’t been the norm here, but it’s working in ways that the American people probably could have never imagined,” Harrison Fields, White House principal deputy press secretary, told Spectrum News.
White House officials said Musk is not the face of the White House and is in coordination with the entire Trump administration to execute the president’s agenda.
“I know it’s a hot and sexy topic to just talk about Elon Musk. There’s so much more going on in this administration that Elon Musk is promoting,” Fields said.
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