Trump roasted for declaring 'days of rule by unelected bureaucrats' are over: 'Did he just fire Elon?'

WASHINGTON, DC: Social media had a field day on Tuesday, March 4, after President Donald Trump made a bold declaration during his first major address in his second term. "The days of rule by unelected bureaucrats are over," he remarked.

Elon Musk—Trump’s billionaire pick for shaking up the government—was sitting in the room as the president dropped that line to a joint session of Congress.

The SpaceX and Tesla boss has been given sweeping access into the federal government through Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and has been making major changes left and right. But apparently, the irony of Musk’s unchecked power was lost on Trump. 

Democrats roast Donald Trump over 'unelected bureaucrats' remark

Donald Trump took a moment to acknowledge Elon Musk in his speech before telling Congress, "It's very simple. The days of rule by unelected bureaucrats are over."

Some Democrat lawmakers couldn’t contain themselves, pointing at Musk as they laughed. South Carolina Rep Jim Clyburn was even caught smirking, head in hand, as if he just couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

But on the other side of the room, Republicans clapped and cheered the president for his remarks.

Democrats, however, lashed out on social media. 

Democrat Rep Chuy Garcia posted a photo of Musk on X (formerly Twitter) with a two-word takedown: "Unelected bureaucrats."

Rep Robin Kelly (D-IL) added, "This is almost laughable. Trump is the one who let an unelected billionaire bring the swamp of corruption right to the White House. Elon Musk is the unelected bureaucrat who must go."

Rep Pramila Jayapal jumped into the fray, asking her followers, "What about unelected billionaire shadow president, Elon Musk?"

Sen Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) chimed in, "I agree with Donald Trump that an unelected bureaucrat should be fired. Let’s start with Elon Musk."

Some journalists and analysts also expressed their views on Trump's remark.

White House correspondent for Playboy, Brian J Karem, asked, "Did he just fire Elon? He just said the days of unelected bureaucrats running the government are over. What's Elon?"

Meanwhile, Public health scientist Eric Feigl-Ding called the tech billionaire “Unelected President Musk.”

Former Labor secretary Robert Reich took aim at Republicans and remarked, "All of the Republicans who for years railed about 'unelected bureaucrats' destroying the government are awfully quiet as an unelected bureaucrat destroys the government."

GOP pollster Sarah Longwell kept it blunt as she declared, "Elon Musk is an unelected bureaucrat."

Does Elon Musk run DOGE?

Donald Trump framed his speech as a call to "restore true democracy in America again," vowing to purge any government official who didn’t fall in line.

He specifically introduced Musk as the man who "headed" DOGE—an agency that has already fired thousands of federal workers, gutted government agencies, and rewritten the rulebook on civil service protections.

But amid multiple lawsuits accusing DOGE of violating federal laws by slashing government jobs and shutting down agencies without Congress’ approval, the White House scrambled to do some damage control.

In a recent court filing, officials claimed Musk isn’t actually in charge of DOGE at all. "Like other senior White House advisors, Mr Musk has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself," the filing stated. 

They also clarified that Musk "is not the US DOGE Service Administrator" and is not an employee of the US DOGE Service or the US DOGE Service Temporary Organization.

Instead, the White House insisted that Amy Gleason is the acting administrator of DOGE, Newsweek reported.

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