More Americans See Musk As A Villain Every Day— Will That Prove Fatal To Republican Midterm Hopes?

Here Are 29 House Targets Musk Could Throw To The Democrats

This morning Bill Kristol wrote that “It’s right to be disgusted when you see Donald Trump demonizing law-abiding immigrants and Elon Musk praising the Alternative für Deutschland. It’s right to be repulsed by the stupidity and the cruelty of their policies. It’s right to be appalled by their admiration for dictators. It’s right to be repelled by the racists who flock to them, like the new acting under secretary of state for public diplomacy, Darren Beattie (who once said that ‘competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work’), and key DOGE staffer (until yesterday) Marko Elez (who boasted, ‘Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool’). It’s right to say ‘no’ to all that. It’s reasonable to make saying no to all that the first principle of our politics. It would be nice to be able to see a dream walking. But that’s for tomorrow. For today, it’s urgent to say no to our looming nightmare.”

And most Americans, at least according to polling are. A narrow majority of voters fell for Trump’s promise to use his “business acumen” to lower costs. Not many, though, voted for him to empower a team of billionaires— and especially not Elon Musk— to strip the U.S. government and sell it off for parts. Even Republicans have gotten queasy about Musk. The Economist’s YouGov poll showed that while last November, 47% of Republicans wanted Elon Musk very involved with the government. Today, only 26% of Republicans support Musk’s involvement. That same poll shows the Republican-controlled Congress’ job approval is 23%, while 45% disapprove (28% strongly). Asked how much influence they feel Musk should have in the Trump administration, 13% said a lot, 25% said a little and 46% said “none at all.”

Last week, Quinnipiac found that 53% of Americans disapprove of Musk playing a prominent role in the Trump administration while just 39% approve. This even as Musk increasingly becomes the face of the regime.

In its latest focus groups in North Carolina, Maine and Michigan, Navigator Research found that participants assume Trump’s tax cuts are solely looking out for the rich, are skeptical about “trickle down” and that Musk and the tech-bros emerge as a major red flag while there is general concern about the influence of the billionaire class on Trump.

An Associated Press poll— even before Musk started exploding government departments— shows that only about 3 in 10 U.S. adults strongly or somewhat approve of Trump’s creation of DOGE. The AP reported that “About one-third of Americans have a favorable view of Musk, which is down slightly from December… [A]dults broadly think it’s a bad thing if the president relies on billionaires for advice about government policy, according to the poll. About 6 in 10 U.S. adults say this would be a ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ bad thing, while only about 1 in 10 call it a very or somewhat good thing, and about 3 in 10 are neutral.

This morning, Brian Barrett wrote that “The United States is not a startup. If you run it like one, it will break. The onslaught of news about Elon Musk’s takeover of the federal government’s core institutions is altogether too much— in volume, in magnitude, in the sheer chaotic absurdity of a 19-year-old who goes by ‘Big Balls,’ helping the world’s richest man consolidate power. There’s an easy way to process it, though. Donald Trump may be the president of the United States, but Musk has made himself its CEO… The thing about most software startups, though, is that they fail. They take big risks and they don’t pay off and they leave the carcass of that failure behind and start cranking out a new pitch deck. This is the process that DOGE is imposing on the United States… Musk will reinvent the US government in the way that the hyperloop reinvented trains, that the Boring company reinvented subways, that Juicero reinvented squeezing. Which is to say he will reinvent nothing at all, fix no problems, offer no solutions beyond those that further consolidate his own power and wealth. He will strip democracy down to the studs and rebuild it in the fractious image of his own companies. He will move fast. He will break things.

Will congressional Republicans pay for this in the midterms? Well, the ones in safely gerrymandered red sets won’t. There is nothing GOP incumbents like Marjorie Traitor Greene (R-GA), MAGA Mike (R-LA), Jim Comer (R-KY), Josh Brecheen (R-OK), Eric Burlison (R-MO), Scott DesJarlais (R-TN), a dentist who was drugging and raping his patients, Ronny Jackson (R-TX), another sex pervert drummed out of the military, Carol Miller (R-WV), Robert Aderholt (R-AL), Hal Rogers (R-KY), Jason Smith (R-MO)  could do to allow a Democrat to win their districts— nothing! The only threat to any of their careers would be a primary.

However, there are 29 Republicans in districts that, at least in theory, a Democrat could win— particularly if the DCCC got out of the way and stopped interfering and making it easier for Republican victories. At this point in the cycle, theoretical targets would be:

AZ-01- David Schweikert

AZ-06- Juan Ciscomani

CA-03- Kevin Kiley

CA-22- David Valadao

CA-40- Young Kim

CA-41- Ken Calvert

CO-08- Gabe Evans

FL-15- Laurel Lee

FL-27- Maria Salazar

IA-01- Mariannette Miller-Meeks

IA-03- Zach Nunn

MI-04- Bill Huizenga

MI-07- Tom Barrett

MI-10- John James

NE-02- Don Bacon

NJ-02- Jeff Van Drew

NJ-07- Tom Kean Jr

NY-01- Nick LaLota

NY-02- Andrew Garbarino

NY-17- Mike Lawler

OH-10- Mike Turner

PA-01- Mike Fitzpatrick

PA-07- Ryan MacKenzie

PA-08- Rob Bresnahan

PA-10- Scott Perry

TX-15- Monica De La Cruz

VA-02- Jen Kiggans

WI-01- Bryan Steil

WI-03- Derrick Van Orden

One team blue independent expenditure ccommittee, Unrig Our Economy, has already begun targeting vulnerable Republicans. Today they unveiled over 10 million dollars in ads on tax policy aimed at 2 Republicans, Don Bacon (above) and Mike Lawler (below), each of whom survived in districts that Kamala primarily won because of weak conservative opponents. 2026 is shaping up to be a good cycle for progressive populists in districts like these. Let’s hope the Democrats don’t saddle themselves with loser candidates like Juan Vargas who lost by nearly 2 points while Kamala won by 4.6 points, and Mondaire Jones, who lost by over 7 points, while Kamala beat Trump by over a point. The message in both ads is that the Republican incumbent is supporting tax breaks for billionaires while raising costs for the middle class.