Dems eye a villain-to-ally arc for Musk

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ELON MUSK has been the Democratic Party's boogeyman since shortly after President DONALD TRUMP deputized him as a top adviser.
But the billionaire's recent breaks with the GOP — Musk ripped Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' as a 'disgusting abomination' on X this week and threatened to 'fire all politicians' who backed it — are complicating the party's portrayal of him as a chainsaw-wielding, bureaucracy-breaking villain.
A few Democrats are eager to welcome Musk, who said he voted for former President JOE BIDEN in 2020 and gave a tour of SpaceX to then-President BARACK OBAMA, back into the fold.
Rep. RO KHANNA (D-Calif.), who represents Silicon Valley and has known Musk for over a decade, said Democrats should 'be in a dialogue' with Musk, given their shared opposition to the GOP's megabill.
'We should ultimately be trying to convince him that the Democratic Party has more of the values that he agrees with,' Khanna said. 'A commitment to science funding, a commitment to clean technology, a commitment to seeing international students like him.'
Other Democrats are warming back up to Musk as he leaves the White House and starts to break with his former boss in ways that could benefit the opposition.
'I'm a believer in redemption, and he is telling the truth about the legislation,' said Rep. RITCHIE TORRES (D-N.Y.). But, he added, Musk has 'done an enormous amount of damage' and 'there are Democrats who see his decimation of the federal workforce and the federal government as an unforgivable sin.'
LIAM KERR, co-founder of the group behind the centrist Democrats' WelcomeFest meeting today in Washington, said 'of course' Democrats should, ahem, welcome Musk back into the party.
'You don't want anyone wildly distorting your politics, which he has a unique capability to do. But it's a zero-sum game,' Kerr said. 'Anything that he does that moves more toward Democrats hurts Republicans.'
Rep. BRAD SCHNEIDER (D-Ill.), the chair of the New Democrat Coalition who earlier this year supported the party's targeting of Musk as the Department of Government Efficiency slashed through federal agencies, said that with his departure from Washington, Democrats shouldn't make Musk their focus. 'We should be talking about what we're doing for the American people,' he said.
It's hard to imagine an outright reunion taking place between Musk and Democrats in the near future. And Trump and Musk are said to still be friendly. (Watch Truth Social for updates!)
Still, Musk recently threatened to cut off the money spigot for Republicans. And Democrats would have a lot to gain by merely keeping the world's richest man on the sidelines in the midterm elections and beyond. If Musk makes a mess of GOP primaries, that would work in their favor, too.
But Musk's recent heel-turn also risks reopening a divide between progressives and moderates over how to approach him and other billionaires.
'Our caucus has done the right thing and gone toe-to-toe against Musk,' said Rep. GREG CASAR (D-Texas), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and one of the party's most vocal advocates for making Musk an antagonist on the campaign trail.
Others are taking a wait-and-see approach. 'I don't think we should take one ketamine-fueled tweet as evidence of a change of heart,' said MATT BENNETT, co-founder of the center-left group Third Way. 'It's more complicated.'
THE DOGE AFTERMATH: Empty beer bottles and leftover marijuana were strewn about. Cockroaches and rodents scurried around.
The U.S. Institute of Peace looked like a frat house after an all-weekend rager when its employees were granted access to its Washington headquarters last month, according to USIP's head of security, COLIN O'BRIEN.
USIP is an independent, congressionally funded organization that DOGE took over in March. When employees returned following a court order that blocked the Trump administration from dismantling the institute, they found the multimillion-dollar building on the National Mall in disarray.
O'Brien said that based on accounts from people who were in the building during the two month-long DOGE takeover, 'they were smoking weed in the building' and leftover marijuana was scattered about. Numerous USIP flags throughout the building were missing when the institute's employees returned, he added.
When USIP employees were removed from their positions following a dramatic standoff with DOGE staffers, they had to turn in their laptops, cell phones and chargers. But when they came back last week, the hundreds of laptops were haphazardly stacked on top of each other, with no documentation of their ownership.
Hundreds of chargers were thrown in recycle and waste baskets, which employees had to dig out, O'Brien said.
'It was neglect,' he said. 'These folks don't know how to run a large, multi- building commercial office complex.'
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
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POTUS PUZZLER
Which president was considered 'The Dude'?
(Answer at bottom.)
Musk Radar
ANGERED SOME FOLKS: The top two congressional leaders rebutted Musk's criticism of Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' today, as the Tesla CEO continued to attack the legislation and threatened to 'fire' the lawmakers who supported it next November, our MEREDITH LEE HILL and JORDAIN CARNEY report. Speaker MIKE JOHNSON spent time in a closed-door House GOP conference this morning pushing back on Musk's comments and reassuring Republicans. 'I think he's flat wrong, and I've told him as much,' Johnson said at a news conference.
Senate Majority Leader JOHN THUNE downplayed the impact of Musk's criticism. 'Obviously he has some influence, got a big following on social media,' he told reporters. 'But at the end of the day, this is a 51-vote exercise here in the Senate, and I think [the] question for our members is going to be: Would you prefer the alternative? And the alternative isn't a good one.'
BEEN A LONG TIME COMING: Musk's issues with the White House existed long before his criticism of Trump's megabill, ABC News' RACHEL SCOTT and WILL STEAKIN report. Multiple people described a widening rift between the two men on a number of issues.
Musk has particularly taken issue with the spending bill's electric vehicle tax credit cut. He has also become increasingly frustrated with the administration striking AI deals with his competitor, SAM ALTMAN.
He was also frustrated by the administration's decision last week to pull the nomination of JARED ISAACMAN, a longtime ally of Musk, to lead NASA.
Agenda Setting
NOT HOW THAT WORKS: Trump administration officials delayed and redacted a government forecast report because it predicted an increase in the country's trade deficit in farm goods later this year, our MARCIA BROWN reports. The numbers run contrary to the president's messaging that his economic policies, including steep tariffs, will reduce U.S. trade imbalances.
The data prompted officials to block the publication of the written analysis normally attached to the report because they disliked what it said about the deficit. The report, released Monday, includes numbers unchanged from how they would've read in the unredacted report.
ASTERISK NEXT TO THIS ONE: Economists are questioning the accuracy of recent U.S. inflation data following significant government cuts, WSJ's MATT GROSSMAN reports.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the office that publishes the inflation rate, told outside economists this week that a hiring freeze at the agency forced the survey to cut back on the number of businesses that participate in price checks. Government statisticians had to use a less precise method for guessing price changes in last month's report than in previous ones.
WHO'S IN, WHO'S OUT
HERE TO STAY: At least three of Musk's early DOGE operatives and key lieutenants are staying in the government as full-time employees, WIRED's MAKENA KELLY reports. EDWARD CORISTINE, LUKE FARRITOR and ETHAN SHAOTRAN's employment designations at the GSA have officially been converted to full-time from the restricted classification that limited their time in government to 130 days. Coristine, otherwise known as 'Big Balls,' previously worked for a telecommunications firm known for hiring former blackhat hackers.
KYLE SCHUTT, another early DOGE operative, has also appeared to change employment classification at least twice but is still listed as a special government employee.
HUH? During his testimony in front of a House appropriations committee on the president's budget request this afternoon, OMB Director RUSS VOUGHT said former Boring CEO STEVE DAVIS is currently leading DOGE but that they're in the middle of 'establishing leadership on an ongoing basis.' But with Davis reportedly also out the door, Rep. MARK POCAN (D-Wis.) had a question: 'Who's in charge of DOGE?'
'The Cabinet agencies that are in charge of the DOGE consultants that work for them are fundamentally in charge of DOGE,' Vought said.
Knives Out
MORE ON THE DRUGS … Rep. STEPHEN LYNCH (D-Mass.), ranking member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, today asked Trump for information about Musk's alleged drug use during the 2024 campaign and whether he was consuming illicit substances during his time as an adviser at the White House, CBS News' MELISSA QUINN reports.
Lynch wrote in a letter to the president that he is beginning an investigation into the extent of Musk's alleged drug use and asked Trump to turn over information about what he or other officials knew about it.
'The drastic and erratic nature of Mr. Musk's decisions and actions as a government employee, coupled with the reports of his drug use, begs the question of whether Mr. Musk was under the influence of illicit substances while working in your White House,' Lynch wrote.
What We're Reading
A Gross and Brazen 'DOGE Check' Scam (The Bulwark's Andrew Egger, Cathy Young and Jim Swift)
How DOGE's push to amass data could hurt the reliability of future U.S. statistics (NPR's Hansi Lo Wang)
A Student at Brown Channeled Elon Musk. Then He Got in Trouble (NYT's Jeremy W. Peters)
Karine Jean-Pierre is leaving the Democratic Party. Her former White House colleagues have some thoughts. (POLITICO's Eli Stokols)
POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER
No, not JEFF BRIDGES. It was CHESTER A. ARTHUR, of course.
In the late 1800s, a 'dude' was considered 'a term of mockery for young men who were overly concerned with keeping up with the latest fashions.' And Arthur lived up to the nickname, as he had a love for fashion.
After he became president following JAMES GARFIELD's assassination, Arthur spent $30,000 (almost $1 million today) on renovating the White House to better handle his extravagant parties.