Elon Musk’s unexpected new allies in Washington

Hello and thanks for gearing up for 2025 with White House Watch! This is our sole edition of the newsletter this week, but Steff will resume regularly scheduled programming next Tuesday. Happy new year to you and yours. Today we’ll cover:

• Musk’s new friends on Capitol Hill

• Donald Trump’s latest endorsement

• Marco Rubio’s foreign policy agenda

Elon Musk has landed some unexpected new allies in Washington as a growing number of prominent Democratic lawmakers voice support for parts of his government efficiency crusade.

Musk, who has been tasked with co-leading Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, has floated controversial plans to close entire agencies and fire hundreds of thousands of civil servants. But some Democrats see an opportunity to reduce defence spending, healthcare costs and cut red tape within the X owner’s agenda.

“Defence contractors have been fleecing the American people for far too long,” said Ro Khanna, a Democratic congressman from California. Khanna said he was “willing to work with [Musk] to rein in wasteful spending at the Pentagon”.

Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman went a step further, saying the Tesla boss had “made our economy and our nation better”. 

Musk’s role in the heart of Trump’s inner circle and his support for global rightwing causes have largely made him a pariah on the left. But Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, the progressive firebrand, sees some areas for co-operation with Musk, saying he was “right” to target defence spending.

Other Dems have joined a Doge caucus in the House. “[A]nyone who thinks there aren’t opportunities to make government more efficient and effective is not living in the real world,” said California’s Val Hoyle, who attended the inaugural caucus meeting.

There are areas, however, where Democrats have drawn red lines.

Khanna told the FT he would “fiercely oppose any cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency; Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; or programmes such as Medicare, social security and benefits for veterans”.

And unless Musk cuts from those areas, his aim to slash $2tn from the federal budget “doesn’t really add up”, said Don Moynihan, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan.

Team 47: who’s made the cut

Trump appointed former Andreessen Horowitz partner Sriram Krishnan as senior policy adviser for artificial intelligence, sparking a rift over immigration policy.

The president-elect named economist Stephen Miran, who served in Trump’s first Treasury department, to lead the Council of Economic Advisers. (Axios)

Transitional times: the latest headlines

What we’re hearing

Back in 2016 Donald Trump derided his Republican primary rival Marco Rubio as “Little Marco” and “a choke artist”. The Florida senator hit back, calling Trump a wheeler-dealer who would be “selling watches” if it wasn’t for his real estate inheritance.

But it all seems to be water under the bridge since Trump tapped Rubio as secretary of state soon after he secured his second stint in the White House.

Rubio’s appointment brought relief to some foreign allies, compared with Trump’s more contentious nominees. As one senior official from a Nato country told the FT’s Felicia Schwartz:

In all honesty, some Trump nominations have made our jaws drop — but not Rubio. Rubio has strong foreign policy experience and understands the added value of strong alliances.

The Maga corner, however, has denounced Rubio for his “establishment” credentials. Earlier in the campaign, Donald Trump Jr publicly argued against his father choosing Rubio as a running mate.

The son of Cuban immigrants, Rubio has cemented himself as a China and Iran hawk who is also increasingly sceptical of America’s entanglements overseas.

One European diplomat told Felicia that while Rubio was clearly “rightwing” his views were “not outside the parameters of normal policymaking options”, and described him as “pro-alliances and Nato”.

Senator Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate’s foreign relations committee, echoed this view, saying Rubio values the transatlantic military alliance that Trump has questioned:

His view on Nato is much the same as mine . . . this is the strongest military alliance in the history of the world.

Rubio sees a role for the US in Europe but, like his would-be boss, wants Europe to pony up for its own defence.

Viewpoints

• The conflicts of interest among Trump’s nominees for his top team create systemic financial risk, writes deputy editor Patrick Jenkins. [Free to read]

• On Christmas Eve in 2023, Patti Waldmeir visited Luis and Maria, two migrants sleeping at Chicago’s O’Hare airport after being shipped to the city by Texas Republicans. In 2025 they face becoming political pawns again.

• In this Big Read, chief foreign affairs commentator Gideon Rachman details five scenarios that could result from Trump’s America First policies.

• Trump’s tariff obsession means dusting down a weapon from a bygone era, writes Alan Beattie.