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What happens if Democrats go to war with Elon Musk?
The party is already preparing to investigate MAGA’s biggest benefactor
Buoyed by polls showing historic winds at their backs ahead of next week’s midterms, Democrats are wasting little time preparing for the day they capture one, or both, chambers of Congress. For all the speculation about how the party might use a congressional majority to rein in the Trump administration, Democrats have also set their sights beyond the beltway on tech billionaire Elon Musk.
The party is threatening investigations during the new legislative term into the GOP megafunder’s businesses and previous government work. Musk, unsurprisingly, has threatened Democrats back, setting up a potential clash that could reverberate through Washington.
What did the commentators say?
Having “long eyed investigating the world’s richest man,” senior Democrats are “mulling how a range of panels could target Musk and a huge swath of his businesses,” said Politico. Even Democrats on committees with “less obvious ties to the tech mogul” are “eyeing targets.”
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Musk’s recent interference in Ukrainian military operations is one of a “glut” of alleged conflicts of interest that the Democrats see as “ripe for oversight,” said Politico. But “above all else,” Democrats appear eager to “delve into the disaster” of his DOGE project, said Talking Points Memo.
Democrats should be wary of targeting a man whose three private companies are “almost single-handedly driving American power and influence and our military edge in the next century,” said Fox News host Jesse Watters on “The Five.” “You are gonna destroy that edge.”
In response to increased Democratic interest, Musk threatened to “find out who is really pulling the strings and come for them, not just their puppets,” he said on X. “Live by the sword, die by the sword.”
Musk’s “wartime posture” shows he’s “bracing for a fight,” said The Washington Post. And with days to go before polls close, he “continues to signal he’s readying a counteroffensive.”
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What next?
Some Democrats are “not waiting for election results to get started” investigating Musk, said Politico. Members of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security in September demanded Musk testify on reports that his DOGE project “overstated its savings,” while the Ways and Means Committee in January called for probes into “alleged DOGE-related data theft” from programs like Social Security.
Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.
