While there’s ample evidence suggesting much of the public is unimpressed with Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, Donald Trump appears unfazed: The president singled out his top campaign donor and the DOGE endeavor for praise during his national address on Tuesday night.
A day later, the billionaire returned to Capitol Hill for meetings with congressional Republicans, who received direct assurances from Musk about better coordination between GOP officials and the DOGE initiative. But as The Washington Post reported, some lawmakers took the opportunity to “lobby” the Republican megadonor on “pet ideas.”
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he had encouraged Musk to reduce the number of generals and other high-ranking military officers and to use the savings to increase the pay of rank-and-file soldiers. “I don’t want to get in their way,” he said. “They know what they’re doing a hell of a lot more than I do.”
As it happens, there’s a lot to unpack in that short and simple quote.
Right off the bat, the Alabama senator’s idea is difficult to take seriously. If Congress wants to give U.S. troops another pay raise, lawmakers are free to do exactly that. They don’t need to shrink the number of military leaders as a cost-saving exercise.
What’s more, the idea that Tuberville is concerned about getting “in the way” of Musk and his DOGE surrogates is discouraging, since it’s pretty much the opposite of how oversight and checks and balances are supposed to work. Not to put too fine a point on this, but the coach-turned-politician is an elected member of Senate, while Musk is an unelected campaign donor who’s been given enormous White House influence.
Tuberville may not want to get “in the way” of Musk and his team, but getting “in the way” is, for all intents and purposes, part of the senator’s job.
As for the Republican senator’s claim that Musk and his surrogates “know what they’re doing a hell of a lot more” than he does, that was hardly reassuring. Tuberville is, among other things, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. If he’s going to pitch a quasi-governmental “department” and its billionaire overseer about reducing the number of U.S. military generals, it’s far from ideal that he assumes that the presidential adviser with little background in national security policy knows “a hell of a lot more” than he does.
As for the Alabaman’s assumptions of DOGE competence, let’s also not overlook the vast evidence to the contrary.
But stepping back, it’s also worth appreciating the fact that Tuberville and other members of Congress have reached the point at which they’re pushing Musk to take their ideas seriously.
For the last couple of centuries, campaign donors lobbied powerful members of Congress. In 2025, powerful members of Congress apparently feel compelled to lobby a campaign donor.
