Democrats should be taking stock of the situation and recognizing that Musk isn’t the villain they’re making him out to be. Pictured: Elon Musk and President Donald Trump. Photo Credit: Elon Musk/X.
Watching the unfolding drama in Washington between the DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) audits and the panicked left wing of the Democratic Party rates up there with what used to be called “Must See TV.” In the minds of the dominant press, bureaucrats in Washington, and Democratic representatives serving in the federal government, Elon Musk resembles the Bogey Man or Lucifer incarnate. The mere mention of his name sends shivers down the backs of federal union workers and brings on nausea for members of the opposition party. Why has Musk become so toxic to the Left, and are they justified in their outrage? Time Magazine had a photo of Musk behind the Resolute Desk to anger President Donald Trump and get him to ditch his top advisor. The protests in the streets are anti-Musk, and the Democratic protests are directed at Musk. They storm the agencies where DOGE investigates and work overtime to come up with ways to demonize, obstruct, or delegitimize him. Will this strategy undermine Musk enough to make him a liability to Trump?
The first hurdle to clear hinges on expectations. If Trump had not spoken about Musk’s role before his administration took over, that would be one thing. However, all autumn, the former president indicated he wanted someone with Musk’s skill set to take over DOGE, the former U.S. Digital Service office, to audit expenditures in these executive agencies that had become bloated and filled with special interest funding. When a chief executive campaigns on a specific promise or item and the opposition finds it surprising that he fulfills that pledge, maybe the problem lies more with the president’s critics than with the president.
The second hurdle seems axiomatic, but Democrats are struggling to understand how the Executive works now that the elderly gentleman who used to reside there has fled the scene. As Jim Geraghty reports for National Review (Feb. 12, 2025), “Democratic members of Congress Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico have introduced the ‘Nobody Elected Elon Musk Act,’ which declares any special government employee in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency ‘shall be liable for any claim against the federal government relating to activities of the department.’” As Geraghty further comments, Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, making him ineligible to be president. The elected president can appoint whom he likes to various offices and may instruct them to carry out duties about the executive branch of government over which he (the president) presides. The president and vice-president are the only members of the Executive Branch elected. The remainder of the team gets appointed. Some are subject to Senate approval, but many are not. Trump remains well within his right to ask Musk to audit these departments and use a team to look at the numbers (read-only access) and make recommendations about the budgeting.
Trump on the Shawn Ryan Show on Aug. 23, 2024: “He (Musk) is a brilliant guy. And what he really would like to do is get involved in cutting some of the fat, and he does know how to do it. And he loves the country. You know, it’s just an amazing thing . . . he wants to be involved. Now, look, he’s running big businesses and all that, so he can’t really — I don’t think he’d be in the cabinet. I’d put him in the cabinet, absolutely, but I don’t know how he could do that with all the things he’s got going. But he can sort of, as the expression goes, consult with the country and give you some very good ideas.” Later in the fall, at the New Economic Club, he reiterated his proposal: “At the suggestion of Elon Musk . . . I will create a government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for drastic reforms. We need to do it. Can’t go on the way we are now. And Elon, because he’s not very busy, has agreed to head that task force. It’d be interesting. If he has the time, he’ll be a good one to do it, but he’s agreed to do it.” Trump made his wishes known, as the evidence presents. No one can deny that. Musk was not elected, but the person commanding Musk’s mandate was elected and has the power to appoint.
The final hurdle this author will attempt to address finds momentum in the effort to create dissension between Trump and Musk. They are both rich men with large egos. It would not be hard to imagine a scenario where the two end up at odds. Trump does not mind having a person of Musk’s capacity around to shoulder some of the blame, but sharing the spotlight and the favourability of some of these cuts may not be so welcome.
The dominant media has warned about a constitutional crisis for the past couple of weeks. No crisis exists until or unless Trump decides to ignore the Supreme Court. He has already indicated he will accept the court’s rulings. This makes Musk’s efforts well within the boundaries of presidential authority as it applies to executive agencies. There are three branches of government. The legislative has every right under the constitution to oversee funding, but they have ceded it to the executive branch out of expediency. When former president Barack Obama has control of the financial levers, Democrats are happy with the executive holding these powers. But the government does not work that way. A political party or partisans from one side know better than to think that only when their champion rules do the spoils of victory apply. As for the judicial branch, when the Supreme Court rules, the executive has to pay heed. Having lower courts delay the implementation may slow down the outcome, but some question arises about the power of lower courts to interfere with the federal executive anyway. The theory of a fourth branch residing in unelected bureaucrats determining federal expense priorities only energizes Musk’s work and justifies Trump’s efforts to get spending under control.
Democrats should be taking stock of the situation. Would they rather have Musk, an immigrant, providing input on border policy or an immigration hawk like Stephen Miller? Musk is more supportive of legal immigration, H1B Visas, or welcoming people from different shores. Would they rather have Musk inputting trade policy or Robert Lighthizer, who designed Trump’s present Tariff proposals? Musk’s eyes on these numbers should not bother anyone, but the Left is apoplectic. This seems to be their default position with Trump. How this helps them overcome the Trump effect remains a question. How they manage the Musk factor is an entirely different matter. The best advice comes from a long-wisened observer of world events and shifting tides who watched Americans fight each other in the Civil War and then kill their president. Josiah Gilbert Holland, a novelist, essayist, poet, and spiritual advisor, said, “Calmness is the cradle of power.” If that American generation could overcome its travails, little doubt remains that by following Holland’s counsel, the present one can also find its way.
Dave Redekop is a retired elementary resource teacher who worked part-time at the St. Catharines Courthouse as a Registrar until being appointed Executive Director at Redeemer Bible Church in October 2023. He has worked on political campaigns since high school and attended university in South Carolina for five years, earning a Master’s in American History with a specialization in Civil Rights. Dave loves reading biographies.
