After accruing immense governmental power over the past month, tech billionaire Elon Musk got his biggest boost yet this week when President Donald Trump signed an executive order giving him broad authorities over the hiring and firing of federal workers.
Musk heads into the weekend not only as the wealthiest man on the planet but also, as described by one critic, the “most powerful bureaucrat in the history of America.”
Over three weeks, Musk’s role leading the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” has ballooned far beyond what many foresaw, raising fundamental questions of a possible constitutional crisis and spurring dozens of lawsuits. Hardly a few hours go by without fresh headlines about DOGE staffers imposing new rules government agencies, sidelining and firing career officials, and cutting budgets for programs they don’t like.
The new executive order Trump signed Tuesday paves the way for mass layoffs across the federal workforce by installing a “DOGE Team Lead” at each agency and directing cabinet secretaries and all agency directors to coordinate staffing decisions with Musk’s operation.
It also gives DOGE authority to block agencies from filling vacancies with new hires, unless the top official at that agency personally overrules that recommendation. And, it imposes a strict new rule that only one new federal employee can be hired for every four that leave as part of the DOGE cuts, with some exceptions for law enforcement and immigration.
At the Oval Office signing ceremony, Musk responded to critiques that he’s become the very thing he claims to be fighting — an unelected bureaucrat with enormous power — by pointing to the 2024 results: “You couldn’t ask for a stronger mandate from the public.”
He inaccurately claimed “a majority of the public voted for President Trump” in November. (Trump fell just short of a majority, but won a plurality with 49.8% of the national vote.)
“The people voted for major government reform, there should be no doubt about that,” Musk said. “That was on the campaign. The president spoke about that at every rally. The people voted for major government reform, and that’s what people are going to get.”
But even some liberals who feared the worst from Trump’s return are stunned by the rapid accrual of largely unchecked power by Musk, as he rampages through federal agencies.
Several congressional Democrats have started to call him “President Elon Musk.” Last week, Time Magazine featured on its cover a provocative and photoshopped image of Musk sitting alone behind the president’s Resolute Desk. This was a notable shift from the “Citizen Musk” framing on a post-election cover about his influence as a private citizen.
“He’s the most powerful bureaucrat in the history of America, exerting far more power than any cabinet official, without any Senate confirmation,” said Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, a progressive advocacy group. “He’s operating with a degree of autonomy that has no precedent. It’s not plausible that anyone would have imagined this happening.”
“We call him the co-president,” Weissman added.
Donald Sherman, chief counsel of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a liberal-leaning watchdog group, observed that “Musk has been given more power than any other person that was on the campaign trail, including Trump’s own running mate.”
“If you have rule of the bureaucrat — if the bureaucracy is in charge, then what meaning does democracy actually have?” Musk said during his 30-minute appearance with Trump, where he rebuffed critics who said he’s the one undermining democratic institutions.
Battle lines being drawn
The swiftness and scope of Musk’s work has sent a jolt throughout Washington.
First, it was the Treasury Department, where a veteran career official abruptly retired after refusing to let DOGE access an ultra-sensitive payment processing system. Musk’s allies later got control, and tried to use it to block foreign aid, before a judge intervened.
Trump and the DOGE team zeroed in on agencies that have long faced GOP criticism, like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which regulates credit cards, mortgages, student loans and more. A Trump loyalist was installed as acting head and essentially froze its operations – and Musk gleefully tweeted “CFPB RIP” with a tombstone emoji last week.
But Musk also targeted federal spending based on thinly sourced or fully debunked claims that bubble up from right-wing conspiracy theorists on his X platform, formerly Twitter.
This was clear with DOGE’s dismantling of the US Agency for International Development, or USAID, which was based in part on the outlandish false claim that it gave $50 million for condoms to Hamas in Gaza. Musk conceded Tuesday that the number was inaccurate.
Will Congress do anything?
CNN reported that some Republicans are quietly growing concerned about Musk usurping Congress’ power of the purse, including at USAID. Some GOP lawmakers met with the largest federal employee union and are plotting ways to use the upcoming fight over government funding to reassert Congress’ role in deciding what to cut and what to keep.
Some Republicans told CNN they’ve heard from federal workers in their districts who are alarmed about the strong-arm tactics by DOGE to reduce the ranks through mass firings.
“Members of Congress are being besieged by calls to do something about Elon Musk, and that level of public outrage eventually makes a difference,” said Weissman of Public Citizen, who described the situation as a “five-alarm fire” that is “unprecedented and perilous.”
But the private concerns of some Republicans weren’t on display Wednesday at the first House DOGE subcommittee hearing, where chair Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene hailed Musk’s mission to combat “behemoth” spending that puts Americans “in debt slavery.”
The panel’s top Democrat, New Mexico Rep. Melanie Stansbury, put it another way, saying Trump and Musk “are recklessly and illegally dismantling the federal government.” While Stansbury said she sees “ample ground for bipartisan work” on reforming the government, at the same time, “we can’t just sit here today and pretend like everything is normal.”
Liberal groups, including Public Citizen, rushed to challenge Musk in the courts, perhaps the most effective remaining bulwark against any abuses. They’ve scored some early wins, blocking DOGE from the Treasury payment system and restoring medical research funding.
“It seems hard to believe that judges want to stop us from looking for corruption,” Trump said on Tuesday during his appearance with Musk, criticizing the recent court rulings.
Massive power, massive conflicts
Good-government groups are raising red flags about Musk’s conflicts of interest.
A business titan with ties to Tesla, Starlink and SpaceX, the X social media platform and other companies, Musk has massive government contracts and his companies are being investigated by some of the agencies that his DOGE operation is cutting or dismantling.
“The administration has been really intentional about using every tool possible to shield DOGE and Mr. Musk from public transparency and the public accountability rules that are in place for government employees,” said Sherman, of the government watchdog CREW.
A lawsuit filed Tuesday will test the administration’s decision to designate DOGE’s internal communications as “presidential records,” keeping them secret until at least 2034. The lawsuit, filed by American Oversight, a government watchdog group, argues that DOGE should instead be subject to the Freedom of Information Act, leading to faster disclosures.
The White House recently announced that Musk was serving as a special government employee and therefore, his financial disclosure forms wouldn’t need to be made public.
It will also be Musk – and not an independent arbiter – who decides whether he needs to recuse himself from any decisions or discussions because of potential business conflicts, the White House announced last week. While sitting next to Musk in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said he would make sure Musk avoids any conflicts while leading DOGE.
“If we thought that, we would not let him do that segment or look in that area,” Trump said. “if we thought there was a lack of transparency or a conflict of interest, we watch that.”
“The Democrats continue to veer further from reality in their hysteria over DOGE,” White House spokesman Harrison Fields said in a statement about the transparency concerns.
