Former White House staffer Alyssa Farah Griffin said President Trump is “giving himself distance” by placing Elon Musk in charge of controversial cuts to federal spending at various agencies.
“What Trump is doing by putting Elon in charge of so much of overseeing the federal government and these massive cuts is he’s giving himself distance from when they inevitably become unpopular — these cuts that are made. He is delegating right now,” Griffin stated during a Wednesday appearance on “CNN News Central.”
“He’s not going to own it if he — he hopes he will not own [it] if people are really mad down the road when they say, ‘Oh, great, we don’t have this resource that we once had because of Elon,'” she said.
Democrats have focused much of their ire on Musk as his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) seeks to gut agencies including the United States Agency for International Development and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. They have also raised alarm over DOGE staff gaining entry into sensitive government systems.
Musk appeared alongside Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday, answering reporters’ questions about his cost-cutting efforts, which critics say threaten to undermine Congress’s constitutional power of the purse.
Griffin noted that Trump’s approval rating is relatively strong, while Americans are skeptical of Musk’s role in government reform.
“Donald Trump’s at his high water mark. He’s the most popular he’s ever been. But only 23 percent of Americans want to see Elon Musk have massive control over the government. He’s extraordinarily unpopular,” Griffin said.
“So I actually see it more as there has been scrutiny around DOGE and some of these cuts. There has been some wrong information that’s been put out. He brought Elon in and said you need to answer for it, and you’re just going to stand here and take questions until you can.”
