DOGE Chaos Getting Some Republicans Wary

Alaska’s Senator Lisa Murkowski is heading the top of a list of Republicans who are objecting to the slash and burn chaos being created by Elon Musk and DOGE.

After the mega-billionaire declared that federal employees must justify their jobs or get fired, Murkowski tweeted out her frustration, calling Musk’s weekend demands absurd.

“Our public workforce deserves to be treated with dignity and respect for the unheralded jobs they perform,” Murkowski wrote on X. “The absurd weekend email to justify their existence wasn’t it.”

GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), John Curtis (Utah), Katie Britt (Ala.) and Bill Cassidy (La.) have also raised concerns publicly about what’s happening.

Lawmakers are operating in an information vacuum, and only learning what Muskrat and the Muskateers are up to on social media or in media reports.

• Progressive groups have organized DOGE and Medicaid protests in several swing districts, where Congress members including Reps. David Valadao (R-Calif.), Tom Barrett (R-Mich.), Don Bacon (R-Neb.), Tom Kean Jr. (R-N.J.), Ryan MacKenzie (R-Pa.), Jen Kiggans (R-Va.), Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) and others faced complaints at town hall meetings, outside their district offices and other events.

• Protests have also gone down in several safe red districts, including those of Republican Reps. Pete Sessions (Texas), Rich McCormick (Ga.), Glenn Grothman (Wis.), Scott Fitzgerald (Wis.) and Morgan Griffith (R-Va.).

MAGA Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Ohio) actually described Trump’s executive orders as “getting out of control” at a local Ohio business luncheon.

“Congress has to decide whether or not the Department of Education goes away,” said Balderson, who represents an R +18 district. “Not the president, not Elon Musk. Congress decides.”

Later, Balderson walked back his comments.

Punchbowl News