GOP Senators say Musk has no power to fire anyone

The appointment of Elon Musk to run DOGE has been all the rage on both sides of the aisle.

This has now seemingly come to a head, with a GOP Senator making it clear that Musk does not have the power or authority to fire anyone.

He’s Your Partner

When Musk had the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) send out the production letter, it got the ball started, but that was really Musk’s fault.

Musk mischaracterized the letter, stating that anyone not responding to the letter would be considered having submitted their resignation. That was not stated in the letter, and this got everyone up in arms over Musk and what authority he had.

I had written several reports on the matter, stating that I thought Musk was overstepping his bounds and recommended that Trump get this under control before it ripped the cabinet apart.

Trump eventually did call a cabinet meeting on the matter, telling everyone that Musk was their “partner,” and that he did not have the final authority. He was there to make recommendations, and Trump as well as his secretaries and directors would make the final call.

Musk-Rubio Dustup

Last week, a report broke that Musk and Secretary of State Marco Rubio got into a dustup over Musk being upset that Rubio had not reduced the size of his staff.

According to the report, Rubio fired back, saying that more than 1,000 State Department employees had accepted a buyout. Musk then reportedly told Rubio that he was only good “on TV,” meaning that Rubio was failing at his job.

Sources stated that Trump jumped in at this point, complimenting the job that Rubio had done, trying to put the clash down. When the White House was asked about the clash, Trump called it “fake news” and said it never happened.

I may be in the minority hear but I don’t believe Trump for a second on that one. I say it is someone that has been in charge of hundreds of employees, and I can tell you I would respond the same way if someone dared to come into my department to try to dictate programs, policy, and employment. And if you notice, Rubio did not immediately come out to say the clash never happened. He may at some point, but the time to believe him on that matter has certainly passed.

GOP Senators Speak Up

I have always been worried about Musk simply because he is not someone used to taking orders. He has deferred to Trump, but he seems to have a problem deferring to Trump’s cabinet members, and this is reportedly not isolated to just Rubio.

Now Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) is giving Musk a public reminder of his lack of authority, stating, “Elon Musk does not have the power to fire people. The president of the United States is Donald Trump, and the agency heads are the ones who manage each of their departments, so they’ve got the — they’ve got the decision, that’s what Elon Musk has told me time and time again.”

Scott later added, “The president of the United States was elected, alright, by the American people to [basically] rein in government, rein in this waste … bring some accountability … some transparency, some common sense to government, and that’s exactly what Donald Trump is doing.”

Now, do I think that the Trump cabinet will implode? No. But I do think that Musk’s time will be limited unless he really takes a step back in this power struggle. Musk wants to be the guy, and that is what he is used to, but he has to back off here and allow Trump’s appointees to do their job. I don’t want to belittle what he is doing because I have been waiting for something like DOGE for decades, and I think Musk is the right man to evaluate all of these line items. Having said that, he needs to accept that he is “only” an adviser and defer all final decisions to the people running their respective departments.