A nascent backlash against Musk sharpens risk for Trump and GOP

The resistance may be stirring.

Elon Musk’s chainsaw is not only slashing away at the bureaucracy but is generating the first warning signs that it could eventually cut deep into the political standing of President Donald Trump and his MAGA allies.

Political risks are rising for Republicans as court defeats pile up for the administration and as confusion is fomented by conflicting instructions from the SpaceX chief-turned-government cost cutter and the rest of the administration.

Trump often prospers in the chaos that he foments, and the erratic swathe that Musk is slicing through the civil service is a direct response to the fury many voters expressed in last year’s election. And for some in Trump’s base who embrace the president’s anti-elite rhetoric, the act of subjecting federal workers to fear and pain may be a political end in itself. Among conservatives more generally, meanwhile, cutting government is perennially popular.

So, Musk’s onslaught may still be a winner – at least for now.