'Hurting more than he’s helping': Voters turn on Elon Musk at GOP town halls

The New York Times reports that even some voters sympathetic to Republican efforts to cut government spending are expressing real concerns about X owner Elon Musk.

In a lengthy piece about the backlash Republicans are receiving at town halls, the Times quotes an East Texas veteran named Louis Smith, who recently told Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) that he was worried that Musk was hindering real efforts to root out federal waste.

"The guy in South Africa is not doing you any good — he’s hurting you more than he’s helping," Smith said of Musk at a recent town hall with Sessions, which the Times notes drew "nods and applause from many in the room."

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A man who identified himself as a GOP voter and a retired Army officer also told Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK) recently that he was worried about Musk and his minions at the Department of Government Efficiency taking an ax to government programs such as veterans' benefits.

“How can you tell me that DOGE with some college whiz kids from a computer terminal in Washington, D.C., without even getting into the field, after about a week or maybe two, have determined that it’s OK to cut veterans benefits?” the man asked.

Taken as a whole, the Times suggests that "the pushback in recent days has come not only in highly competitive districts but also in deeply Republican ones, suggesting a broader problem for the party" in the early days of Trump's second term.