So Is Elon Musk In Charge or What?

Seems like a simple question. The answer is anything but.

Photo by Tesla Fans Schweiz on Unsplash

The hard-working staff here at Drezner’s World has noted the rampant uncertainty plaguing the Trump administration. But in my previous newsletter I forgot one important question with no obvious answer: what is Elon Musk’s role in the Trump administration?

Prior to January 20th the answer seemed pretty simple: Musk would be co-running the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.¹ During the transition period, there were reports that DOGE was going to focus on technology upgrades. That reporting turns out to be pretty funny in retrospect, if you think eviscerating the federal government’s ability to function properly is “funny.”

Nonetheless, presumably Elon Musk was running DOGE and therefore could be held accountable. Except that the Trump White House explicitly denied this. A few weeks ago Politico’s Kyle Cheney reported that “in a three-page declaration, a top White House personnel official revealed that Musk’s title is ‘senior adviser to the president,’ a role in which he has ‘no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself.’” The White House subsequently claimed last month that someone else was running DOGE. That did not really pass the smell test, and Trump himself complicated matters during his joint address to Congress, stating explicitly that DOGE “is headed by Elon Musk,” enabling lawyers suing DOGE to push back against the White House’s prior claims.

It is also unclear how long Musk will be working at DOGE. As a “special government employee,” he can only work 130 days in a calendar year. But the White House told Politico’s Jake Traylor and Dasha Burns that there is no end date to Musk’s tenure. Their report also contained this tidbit:

One of the most consistent frustrations top White House staffers face with Musk is his sweeping and sporadic executive decision-making. Most recently, Wiles and her deputies were irritated and in the dark on Musk’s “five things” email that sent reverberating shock waves through government agencies. Musk issued the ultimatum to government employees without first notifying core White House staff — something he’s now done a handful of times, said the person closely involved in conversations at the White House. Musk said this week that he got the president’s approval beforehand.

If all of that is confusing to civilians, consider how it must feel to elected and appointed Republicans who are uncertain where they stand in the MAGA chain of command.

And that leads us to this week, in which there were two contradictory reports about Musk’s power over the federal government writ large. The Washington Post reported that in meeting with cranky but quiescent members of the GOP congressional caucus, Musk acted as though he was in charge:²

Musk told a group of Republican senators in a closed-door lunch that he wanted to set up a direct line for them when they have questions, allowing them to get a near-instant response to their concerns, senators said. Some senators were given Musk’s phone number during Wednesday’s meeting, and the entrepreneur said he would “create a system where members of Congress can call some central group” to get problematic cuts reversed quickly, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) said.

Hours later, Musk told members of the House Oversight DOGE Subcommittee that he would set up a similar line of communication for them to reach his team, according to Rep. Eric Burlison (Missouri)….

Last week, senators pelted White House chief of staff Susie Wiles with questions and concerns about DOGE at a closed-door meeting, asking her whom they were supposed to contact if they had a problem with something DOGE-related. Wiles said she is the person to contact going forward, but some senators are pushing for a more formalized process.

So it sounds like Musk is not only in charge but perfectly willing to grant royal dispensations if petitioned by a member of Congress. Sounds like a really powerful unelected bureaucrat to me!

Less than a day later, Politico’s Dasha Burns and Kyle Cheney reported on a more constrained Elon Musk:

President Donald Trump convened his Cabinet in person on Thursday to deliver a message: You’re in charge of your departments, not Elon Musk.

According to two administration officials, Trump told top members of his administration that Musk was empowered to make recommendations to the departments but not to issue unilateral decisions on staffing and policy. Musk was also in the room….

The president’s message represents the first significant move to narrow Musk’s mandate. According to Trump’s new guidance, DOGE and its staff should play an advisory role — but Cabinet secretaries should make final decisions on personnel, policy and the pacing of implementation….

The president’s admonition to agency heads could impact mounting legal scrutiny facing DOGE.

Judges have increasingly expressed frustration and bewilderment at the Trump administration’s inability to explain who is in charge of the bureaucracy-culling effort and whether Musk himself is playing any role in ordering up the steep cuts to programs and jobs.

Maybe the confusion can be explained by the Trump White House’s desire to obfuscate Musk’s role to federal judges. Or it might just be that Trump and Musk are making it up as they go along.

Either way, neither the country nor I have a question to the question. Is Elon Musk in charge of anything or what?

1. In retrospect, Vivek Ramaswamy’s decision to exit DOGE on Inauguration Day might be the smartest thing he’s done in a while.

2. Read Josh Marshall for more on the general weirdness and quiescence of the GOP congressional caucus.