Kinzinger says Democrats ‘suprised and flat footed’ after Musk actions on federal government

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said Democrats have appeared “surprised and flat footed” after actions taken by tech billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on the federal government. 

Earlier this week, Kinzinger said in a post on the social platform X that he was “old enough to remember when we had 3 branches of government.”

“Forget checks and balances. I guess we are a Muskocracy now,” he continued. 

Two days later, Kinzinger responded to his earlier X post saying that he is “going to keep hitting this: the Democrats are THE ONLY political opposition.”

“They had three months to prepare for these acts,” the former House member added. “And they seem surprised and flat footed.”

In recent weeks, Musk, DOGE’s leader, has dispatched staff to multiple agencies and has been able to access databases at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Department of the Treasury.

Late last week, senior U.S Agency for International Development (USAID) officials were put on administrative leave after they refused to hand over classified material to DOGE.

David Lebryk, a top Treasury Department nonpolitical career official, retired at the end of last week in the wake of him butting heads with Musk allies on government payment systems, a source previously told The Hill.

Lebryk’s retirement followed a clash over a request from DOGE for access to a payment system used by Treasury officials to disburse funds.

On Monday, Kinzinger told House Democrats to “get out there and do something” about tech billionaire Elon Musk.

“All these agencies where employees are being locked out of, how about you send members of Congress with those employees to walk them into work, or just send members [of] Congress to go into the building and investigate what these people are doing, dare them to stop you because they can’t,” Kinzinger said in a video posted to X.

“Okay, that’s a free idea,” he added. “Why is it that the former Republicans are the ones that are coming up with all the ideas? Get out there and do something, you’re in the minority. Your message is your weapon. Use your message. Quit staying at home.”

The Hill has reached out to the White House, the Democratic National Committee and DOGE for comment.