Musk and DOGE have also fired, before in some cases rehiring, thousands of employees, including veterans, and have accidentally disclosed classified information.

But some Democrats have become anxious that there could be a political cost to concentrating on Musk at the expense of Trump and congressional Republicans before the 2026 midterm elections, their next opportunity for power.

“Elon Musk is a good straw man but the target of voter anger needs to be Trump and congressional Republicans,” Democratic strategist Christopher Hahn told the Washington Examiner. “If Dems are not connecting Musk’s actions and conflicts of interests to congressional failures, it’s bad politics and won’t help them regain power.”

Republican strategist Susan Del Percio, a Trump critic, agreed. For Del Percio, Democrats are “playing into” Trump’s “hands” by portraying Musk as the “bad guy.”

“Democrats are making him the bad guy, instead of saying Trump’s the one slashing the jobs,” she told the Washington Examiner.

Trump’s joint address to Congress on Tuesday underscored Democrats’ struggle to counter Trump, particularly after last year’s popular vote win, with disagreement over how to register their protest over his remarks.

Democratic leadership had appealed for decorum, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who famously ripped up Trump’s 2019 State of the Union address. But minutes into Trump’s speech, Rep. Al Green (D-TX), 77, was forcibly removed from the House chamber for his persistent demonstration. Ten Democrats voted with Republicans to censure Green on Thursday.

Aside from Green, some Democrats wore pink in a stand against Trump’s policies regarding women. Others wore “Resist” T-shirts. Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) held up a “This is not normal” sign. Rep. Rashida Tlaib‘s read, “Start by paying your taxes.”

But it was the Democratic lawmakers who had auction-like paddles with the phrases “False,” “Save Medicaid,” and “Elon Steals” who received the most attention, or derision, being mocked on social media.

“Democrats can’t get their s*** together ,” Democratic strategist Stefan Hankin told the Washington Examiner. “I know that the Democrats aren’t happy, but I couldn’t tell you what they’re universally unhappy about because they’re all over the place.”

Hankin added, “If I was in charge, I would have had them all stand up after the president said, ‘Thank you,’ put a Ukraine flag over their seat, and everyone walk out in unison and let him talk to a Republican room or something like that. Go big, go bold.”

Democratic criticism of Musk has had some political consequence. The Tesla, SpaceX, and X CEO’s favorability rating has fallen from 44% favorability-48% unfavorability after inauguration to 43%-51% earlier this week. Lawmakers have also heard complaints from constituents, though Republicans claim they are actually Democratic plants.

Simultaneously, Trump has not remained politically unscathed. Those aforementioned Economist-YouGov tracking polls found Trump’s favorability rating has decreased from 50%-48% to 47%-50%. The president’s average approval rating has similarly declined from net positive 8.5 percentage points in January to net positive 1.1 percentage points as of Thursday, 49%-48%, according to RealClearPolitics.

Democrats cite those numbers as evidence that their strategy is working, though Trump’s polling could, for example, reflect weakening consumer confidence with respect to the economy.

Regardless, Democratic strategist Karen Finney argued Trump’s “unequivocal” support of Musk, the $260 million Musk spent during the election to elect the president, and Musk’s threat to primary any Republican who “dares” to disagree with them mean the “two men are essentially joined at the hip.”  

“Trump and his administration are 100% accountable for Musk, DOGE, and the harm it is doing to Americans across the country,” Finney told the Washington Examiner.

For fellow Democratic strategist Mike Nellis, Musk is “effectively running the government” and is “a complete drag on Trump and his agenda.”

“It doesn’t matter what Trump says, does, or who he appoints — if an unelected billionaire like Musk can just randomly and viciously cut critical government programs like cancer research for kids, he’s effectively the president,” Nellis told the Washington Examiner. “The American people didn’t sign up to let a tech weirdo run our government, and Democrats are absolutely correct to target Musk.”

In an indirect acknowledgment of the political problem Musk has created, Trump called his Cabinet to the White House on Thursday, only a week after its first meeting last Wednesday, to reinforce to his secretaries and Cabinet-level officials that they should be leading their respective DOGE reforms, not Musk.

“I want the Cabinet members to go first, keep all the people you want, everybody that you need,” Trump told reporters Thursday in the Oval Office during an executive order signing ceremony. “If they can cut, it’s better. And if they don’t cut, then Elon will do the cutting.”

The president continued, “Next year we could balance the budget. I think there’s a good chance we could balance the budget next year.”

Trump’s announcement that he will be convening his Cabinet every two weeks to discuss DOGE comes after Musk’s meetings this week with congressional Republicans and National Republican Campaign Committee Chairman Richard Hudson (R-NC) advising his conference against holding in-person constituent town halls.

In addition to passing on his cell phone number, Musk seemed to welcome the White House drafting “rescission” legislation for Congress to codify his reforms so they can withstand legal challenges, as well as give lawmakers a chance to offer feedback. Trump himself undermined those legal proceedings this week by calling Musk the head of DOGE during his Tuesday address.

“What we got to do as Republicans is capture their work product, put it in a bill and vote on it,” Senate Budget Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told reporters on Wednesday. “We’re losing altitude here. … And the way you can regain altitude is to take the work product, get away from the personalities and the drama, take the work product, and vote on it.”

A congressional Republican aide defended Trump, Musk, and DOGE to the Washington Examiner. The staffer described their reforms as “easily, the most important oversight moment of the government since Watergate, certainly from the executive branch’s standpoint, without even a close second.”

The complicated dynamic between Trump and Musk was emphasized during a DOGE-related executive order signing in the Oval Office last month, in which Musk and one of his two sons with singer-songwriter Grimes were of more interest to reporters than the president, who sat, at times awkwardly, behind the Resolute Desk.

A similar dynamic was then displayed during last week’s Cabinet meeting, where Musk again was peppered with questions before Trump re-commanded the room days after DOGE emailed federal employees demanding that they respond with five tasks they completed in the last week or risk being terminated.

“What we are trying to get to the bottom of is, we think there are a number of people on the payroll who are dead, which is probably why they can’t respond — and some people who are not real people,” Musk said. “If you have a pulse and two neurons, you can reply to an email.”

Trump went on, “Those million people that haven’t responded though, Elon. They are on the bubble. … Those people are on the bubble, as they say. Maybe they’re gonna be gone.”