President Donald Trump tries to restore Elon Musk’s authority and project an unity image after the billionaire has been questioned by high positions of the Republican Administration. The White House has announced that Musk will attend the president’s cabinet meeting tomorrow. The owner of X will be present in a meeting where decisions on national matters are discussed with the heads of each department and critical information is shared.
The decision comes in the middle of the resignation of about twenty workers of the Doge and after high positions of the Trump administration contradict the ultimatum that Musk sent this weekend to federal employees. In a massive email aimed at every official, Doge asked workers to report their activities last week before midnight on Monday if they did not want to be fired. However, key figures loyal to the president, such as the director of the FBI, Kash Patel, asked their employees not to respond, warning of the risk of revealing sensitive information.
The rejection by the senior government positions threatened to call into question the unity of the Executive and the Musk authority as the right hand of the president. Both Musk and Trump tried to minimize tensions. “That was done in a friendly way. Only in cases like, perhaps, Marco [Rubio] In the State Department, where they handle very confidential information, or the FBI, which works in delicate matters. And they don’t say it in a combative way with Elon at all, ”Trump told journalists on Monday. However, he reiterated his support for Musk and warned that employees who did not respond to the mail would be “semi fired” or “fired.”
The contradictory messages between the president and his department leaders increased further chaos within the administration, until, late Monday, Musk announced that a second opportunity would be given “at the discretion of the president”: a second mail would be sent and those who did not respond would be fired. Musk presented the decision as an act of clemency, although in practice it was a setback in the face of the disavow of numerous departments.
White House spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, insisted on Tuesday that “those responsible for agencies will determine best practices for their employees” regarding the obligation to respond to the second email of the Doge. In the same announcement, he confirmed that Musk will attend the first cabinet meeting of the president on Wednesday.
Normally, these meetings attend the vice president, the department leaders designated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, as well as other officials with a cabinet range, such as the head of Cabinet of the White House, Susie Wiles. In the case of Wiles, it is a position directly elected by the president who does not require confirmation of the Senate. Musk has not passed any process of legislative scrutiny or formally directs any department of the Administration, nor does it occupy an official position with a cabinet range. At least, not technically.
The Doge, despite its name, government efficiency department, is not a real department, but a working group with a completion date provided in 2026. In addition, an official document of the White House notes that Musk is not the administrator of the administrator of the Doge, but a special employee of the Trump government. However, Leavitt insisted that “Musk supervises the doge”, although the term leaves the interpretation of the legal implications of that supervision.
Some Republican congressmen have begun to express, although discreetly, their discontent with the aggressive cuts driven by Doge. Although they have avoided direct criticism, some legislators have publicly questioned the methods used by Musk to dismantle government agencies. As reported The Washington PostRepublican congressman Richard McCormick plans to tell Trump that the Executive and the Legislative can coordinate more effectively and show more “compassion” towards workers. For her part, Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski described as “absurd” the ultimatum that Musk sent by email to federal employees.
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