The National Republican Senatorial Committee sent a memo to GOP senators telling them to "lock arms" with co-President Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency, according to Fox News. That suggests Republicans know that Musk’s destructive cuts to the federal government are damaging their party’s chances in the 2026 midterm elections.
According to Fox News, the NRSC—which seeks to elect Republicans to the Senate—told GOP members to "drive the message that President [Donald] Trump and Senate Republicans are undoing the Biden-Harris spending that drove inflation and higher costs of living." The memo also told Senate Republicans to cite "numerous examples of egregious waste, fraud, and abuse throughout the federal government” to build support for DOGE’s efforts.
But all of that is a lie.
DOGE has struggled mightily to find fraud or abuse—just programs that Republicans are ideologically opposed to.
Elon Musk
What’s more, DOGE has overstated by billions of dollars the amount of savings it’s supposedly found, making numerous errors on its public website that purports to lay out the cuts it has made. After those errors were found, DOGE made it near impossible for the public to check their math.
And the cuts it is making or plans to make—to things like Social Security, veterans’ health care, education, cancer research, food aid, and public health—are not popular.
Even worse is that DOGE doesn’t appear to be saving the government money yet. Rather, it is only breaking popular government programs and making life worse for millions of Americans who rely on those programs.
The NRSC memo comes as support is cratering for Musk, DOGE, and their chaotic and destructive cuts to the federal government and workforce.
A recent Fox News poll found that 56% of registered voters disapprove of the way Trump and Musk are making cuts to the government, with an even higher 65% saying that “not enough thought and planning has gone into the cuts.”
A Quinnipiac University poll published on March 13 found similar results, with 54% of voters saying that “Elon Musk and DOGE are hurting the country.”
That sentiment is bubbling up across the country as angry Americans show up at Republican town halls to demand that GOP lawmakers stand up to Trump and Musk's cuts. The anger has led Republicans to go into hiding and refuse to hold town halls at all.
Americans are also protesting at Tesla dealerships—a way of showing their discontent with Musk as he owns the flailing car company.
People protesting Elon Musk's actions in the Trump administration hold signs outside a Tesla showroom in Seattle on Feb. 13, 2025.
The Trump administration is making authoritarian threats against those demonstrating at Tesla dealerships, labeling protesters as domestic terrorists, and even telling Democratic lawmakers to “tread very carefully” as they encourage the protests.
Meanwhile, as national Republicans ask their members to embrace Musk and DOGE, Democrats are pushing the accurate message that DOGE is making cuts that will hurt Americans.
“Let’s be clear: there’s nothing ‘efficient’ about freezing lifesaving cancer and Alzheimer’s research,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, said in a post on X. “What Musk and Trump are doing at [the National Institutes of Health] and other vital agencies is putting American lives at risk.”
And Sen. Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, said Monday in a post on X said that Trump and Musk’s cuts are hurting vulnerable communities.
“Unmitigated chaos and a heavy dash of cruelty: Trump’s administration is firing thousands, introducing chaotic tariffs, and jeopardizing the whole economy,” Warner said. “And now they’re cutting support for food banks that support 1 in 6 American families.”
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