On Wednesday, Republican senators held a private, closed-door meeting with the Trump White House to discuss the lack of transparency behind Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which has been authorized by President Donald Trump to go after multiple federal agencies.
NBC News reports that the senators peppered White House chief of staff Susie Wiles with questions about DOGE as public opinion begins to turn against the conservative project. DOGE has been on a tear since Trump’s inauguration, choking off funding for agencies and sending teams—with openly racist members—that have been granted access to the sensitive private data of millions of Americans.
Longtime Trump ally Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) admitted to NBC News, “We would like a bigger scoreboard of how it’s going.”
Republicans have been facing blowback for DOGE cuts, which have hit red state farmers after funds were choked off for the United States Agency for International Development. House Republicans have reportedly decided to avoid town hall meetings after members were berated for allowing Musk to operate without oversight.
Criticism has increased after recent reporting exposed that “billions” in funds that Musk and DOGE claimed had been saved by taxpayers after contracts were canceled turned out to be a completely made-up claim.
Recent opinion polls show Americans souring on DOGE and Musk’s elevated role in the Trump administration—an outcome of the millions the multibillionaire spent to elect Trump in 2024.
In YouGov’s poll taken from Feb. 23-25, Musk had the lowest net favorability of anyone in Trump’s inner circle. Only 43% rated him as favorable while 50% said they found the billionaire unfavorable. The only figure with similarly high unfavorability ratings is Trump himself.
Additionally, 42% said the cuts triggered by Musk at agencies like the FAA and IRS had gone too far.
The Trump administration has been trying to massage media coverage of DOGE’s actions for weeks. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was recently left talking in circles, unable to directly lay out to reporters who is running DOGE and what Musk’s official role is—even as taxpayers are being forced to pay out millions to fund the group.
In spite of it all there is little sign that Trump’s personal support of Musk has wavered. Just Wednesday, Musk was spotlighted at the first public meeting of Trump’s Cabinet.
“Anybody unhappy with Elon? If you are, we’ll throw them out of here,” Trump said. He added, “We have a lot of respect for Elon that he’s doing this.”
Trump’s position isn’t shared by millions of Americans, and his fellow Republicans are getting an earful over it all.
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