Mr. Musk Goes to Washington

And Despite His Good Intentions & Phenomenal Work Ethic, Gets Whiplashed

I keep thinking of Frank Capra’s classic 1939 movie, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, in which a popular local leader of young boys is appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate. The plot: His idealistic plans promptly collide with corruption and subterfuge in Washington. Despite the attacks on his character, he still tries to do the right thing.

Watching Elon Musk make his departure at DOGE this week, I felt a similar sense of loss. From the moment he landed in the swamp that is Washington, D.C., he tried to do good. And the Deep State that claims DC as its own didn’t like it. Not one bit.

First the far-left radical Dems came for him, led by a frothing at the mouth Maxine Waters, more interested in signaling political virtue than in eliminating a bloated government’s waste and fraud. One of Elon’s tech nerds, thin and stalwart, stood at the door of HUD, the agency she was trying to crash, impassive to her screeching.

Then the lapdog legacy media came for him, with smears and hit jobs meant to portray him as a scheming capitalist who was destroying the federal workforce for Donald aka Hitler Trump. The Rolling Stone headline summed it up: “Inside Elon Musk’s Gleeful Destruction of the Government: The world’s richest man has blazed a staggering trail of destruction as Trump’s DOGE chief, firing tens of thousands of workers while cashing in.”

In the wake of their vile rhetoric came death threats and assaults from the Crazed Left on Tesla cars, in an effort to hurt the Musk EV business they had once championed.

And finally, the suits who call themselves Republicans deserted him, refusing to codify into law, make permanent, the Department of Efficiency in Government (DOGE) cuts that had lashed some $200 billion in wasteful or fraudulent spending every week he was there. This week, DOGE announced it had removed 123 million individuals from the Social Security rolls, fraudsters claiming to be age 120 or older.

The only group that enthusiastically stayed with him were the MAGA warriors. At his departure — from a job he took voluntarily, after compiling a record of exposing unbelievable waste, like $1.5 million to “advance diversity equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities” — they registered their fury on X.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, speculated that some of his GOP colleagues were waiting until after the 2026 midterms, when hopefully they will have a more robust majority.

To which conservative Catturd wrote, “Republicans have ZERO chance of holding the House in 2026 if they don't codify Elon's DOGE cuts and Trump's executive orders. Republican voters are furious with the Republican Congress right now.”

Some of the anger was tinged with deep emotion.

And some with grief. Channeling the Federalist Papers, a man calling himself “Publius” posted a list of the 23 Senate Republicans who voted against an amendment to the foreign aid bill codifying the DOGE cuts, with instructions to primary them.

For his part, Elon was gracious. He thanked President Trump for the opportunity. His departure came one day after he had criticized Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, saying, “I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decrease it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing.”

The DOGE will say in place, even after Elon departs.

But this failure to codify is yet more evidence of why the Blob is so arrogant, cocky in its conviction that presidents come and go, but the Deep State will remain a fixture, embedded in our government and in our bloat, long after Elon or Trump leave the scene. I think sometimes that is why President Trump trolls about a third term, to keep bureaucrats — and reluctant senators — nervous.

I hope Russ Vought is correct, that the administration has ways of ensuring the DOGE cuts remain in place, and don’t slip back into a morass of bloat. But if the Trump White House fails to protect the remarkable record of DOGE achievements — displayed so brilliantly in that Brett Baier interview — then I know who will.

Yes. It’s We the People.