GOP Is Quietly Freaking Out About Elon; Time For Them To Take A Stand

Politics

from the does-congress-still-exist? dept

It turns out that when you let the world’s richest man take over significant portions of the federal government, some people might get nervous. Who knew?

Last week we wrote about how some staunch conservatives were finally admitting that Elon’s takeover of the government represented a constitutional crisis. Then earlier this week, we showed how the public was reaching the same alarming conclusion. And now? Now we’re watching the next terrifying act of this constitutional crisis unfold, where Republican officials are trying to figure out how to criticize Musk without, you know, actually doing anything about it.

The question, of course, is what happens next. In theory — and here I should note that “in theory” does a lot of heavy lifting in constitutional law — we have these things called “checks and balances.” You might remember them from civics class: three coequal branches of government, each supposedly ready to step in when another starts stepping out of line. The federal Judiciary or Congress are supposed to stop the executive branch from, oh, I don’t know, casually dismantling the entire American experiment.

The problem, though, is that our system of checks and balances wasn’t really designed with “what if one branch just… ignores the other branches?” in mind. The Judiciary has very limited enforcement ability should the Musk/Trump administration decide to ignore court orders (which, by the way, they’re already cheerfully signaling they plan to do). And Congress? Well, Congress has made it abundantly clear that it’s perfectly happy to roll over like a puppy dog with its exposed belly, wagging its tail while Trump does whatever he wants. Because nothing says “coequal branch of government” quite like complete and total capitulation.

Take Senator Tom Tillis, who recently performed the remarkable intellectual gymnastics of admitting that Elon Musk’s actions “run afoul of the Constitution in the strictest sense” while insisting that “nobody should bellyache about that.” (A quick reminder: This is the same Constitution that Tillis swore an oath to “preserve, protect and defend.” Apparently that oath comes with some convenient asterisks, or maybe it’s just a North Carolina thing to treat constitutional obligations like optional suggestions?)

And then there’s Senator Lindsey Graham, whose position manages to be even more absurd. The South Carolina Senator casually admitted that “technically” Trump is violating the law, but he’s “not overly worried about that.” Because apparently “technically illegal” is now a meaningless distinction for the party that spent years treating email server protocols like high treason. (One wonders if Graham applies this same relaxed standard to other technically illegal activities or if he’s okay with a little light treason).

The thing is, their constituents are worried. And these Republican officials, masters of reading political winds, are starting to realize that their base isn’t as comfortable with an authoritarian takeover as they might have assumed.

The extent of this private hand-wringing became clear when The Bulwark uncovered a trove of letters from GOP officials to their constituents. These weren’t the usual chest-thumping public statements about supporting Musk’s “innovative approach to government.” Instead, they revealed lawmakers scrambling to reassure worried voters that they see the concerns about a government run by the world’s richest shitposter:

A review of letters sent by Republican members of Congress to their constituents shows many lawmakers expressing caution, even concern, about the role Musk is playing. Some members have pledged to voters that they will serve as a guardrail for DOGE. Others have expressed apprehension over the conflicts of interest that naturally result from the richest man on the planet—and a major government contractor—having such immense sway over federal spending. Even more have acknowledged fears that Musk may gain access to voters’ sensitive personal information.

Sure, many of these letters lean heavily on careful bureaucratic language and boilerplate reassurances. The most common dodge? Parroting Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s claim that DOGE only has “read only” access to Treasury systems. Let’s set aside for a moment how terrifying it is that they think “read only” access to the entire federal payment system is somehow reassuring. More importantly, we now know it was a blatant lie.

These letters reveal an unmistakable pattern: GOP elected officials are finally recognizing that their constituents aren’t buying the “everything is fine” narrative about Elon and the DOGE crew’s systematic dismantling of constitutional guardrails.

In letters sent from his office, Rep. Mike Flood (R-Nebr.) went so far as to describe DOGE’s work as “stressful” to voters. He offered them his assurances: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Flood wrote, had “told me, to my face, that Mr. Musk absolutely does not have full access to the federal payment system.” He pledged to take his “responsibility, under the Constitution, very seriously” to respect Congress’ “power of the purse,” and restated his intention “to protect Nebraskans.”

Other Republicans are even willing to speak up publicly:

Some Republicans in Congress have gone public with these concerns, including Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), who recently told CNN, “there have to be guardrails, obviously, on what information [Musk] accesses, but, more importantly, what he does with it,” noting that Musk is a major defense contractor.

The moment of truth is rapidly approaching. Congress faces a stark choice: assert its position as a coequal branch of government, or accept its new role as a vestigial, purely ceremonial body, rubber-stamping whatever Musk and his DOGE disciples decree while they systematically dismantle almost two and a half centuries of constitutional governance.

These private letters and cautious public statements suggest that there are at least some Republicans in Congress who understand exactly what’s at stake. They’re testing the waters, trying to gauge whether their base will support them if they finally stand up to Musk’s power grab. But at some point — and that point is racing toward us — these careful political calculations won’t matter anymore. They’ll have to choose between their constitutional duty and their apparent commitment to letting the world’s richest man set fire to the American experiment.

The path forward is actually surprisingly simple, which makes it all the more maddening that we’re here in the first place: Congress just needs to remember that it makes the laws and it appropriates the funds. That’s it. That’s the whole thing. It’s right there in Article I of the Constitution, which still exists even if Musk hasn’t tweeted about it lately. Some Republican is going to have the chance to be the hero who helps restore sanity to our government. The only question is whether anyone in the GOP still has the spine to seize that moment when it arrives, or if they’re all too busy crafting carefully worded letters about how concerned they are while doing absolutely nothing about it.

Filed Under: checks and balances, congress, constitutional crisis, coup, doge, elon musk, kevin cramer, lindsey graham, mike flood, scott bessent, separation of powers, tom tillis