He held court in the Oval Office in a T-shirt and blazer with a child clinging to his shoulders. He takes private meetings on Capitol Hill, offering his phone number for senators to voice their complaints, as if they are his constituents. And last month, he brandished a chain saw as he promised to cut spending, to rapturous cheers from conservative activists.
Seven weeks into President Trump’s second administration, Elon Musk has not just upended the government. His omnipresence in Washington has also swiftly become an unpredictable factor that could reshape politics across the country.
Already, the billionaire’s signature slash-and-burn style and showy spending cuts have reverberated far beyond the Capitol, making even lawmakers from deep-red states begin to sweat. He has shown a willingness to shape elections directly, both by spending locally and by threatening to wield his fortune to stifle dissent within the Republican Party.
And he has given a glimmer of hope to Democrats in search of a message they can use against Mr. Trump, playing a starring role in new advertising for their candidates and by several of the party’s major campaign arms. Democratic operatives gleefully swap private polling suggesting Mr. Musk could prove a serious liability for the president.
While many presidents have relied on family members or close friends as advisers, never before has the country seen an unelected billionaire and newcomer to electoral politics gain such a powerful and prominent perch in the White House.
