Republicans Tout Musk’s Young Tech Team as Government Saviors Amid Privacy Concerns

Concerns have been raised about billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk’s access to sensitive government data, with critics viewing his group of young tech experts as an unregulated risk to privacy. However, conservatives see the situation differently.

Influential voices in right-wing politics characterize these engineers, most of whom are in their early 20s, as some of the world’s brightest minds, stepping in to rescue the U.S. government from excessive bureaucracy.

This development comes at a time when young progressives feel sidelined by the Democratic Party, with the party’s grip on younger voters—particularly young men—weakening. Republicans have seized on this contrast as a promotional opportunity.

Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point, a group that has organized Republican voter turnout efforts, praised the engineers as “young prodigies” and “all-stars” with IQs so high they would “melt the charts.”

“This is a Gen Z, millennial takeover of the federal government,” Kirk said on his February 4 podcast. “And we always thought it was coming from the left. But this is the geriatric, the kind of nursing home regime that has been pushing the country into oblivion. Now the young guns are taking over the country for the better.”

Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has rapidly integrated itself into federal agencies, restructuring operations with little oversight while gaining access to sensitive taxpayer data.

Musk, the world’s richest man, has referred to the DOGE team as “some of the world’s best software engineers.” Trump, in a recent interview with Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity, also praised them as “very brilliant young people.”

“He attracts a young, very smart type of person,” Trump said of Musk. “I call them high-IQ individuals.”

Many of the engineers linked to DOGE have ties to Musk’s companies, while some are connected to Silicon Valley billionaire and longtime Musk associate Peter Thiel, according to WIRED magazine. One staffer, who resigned amid controversy over past racist social media posts, was quickly rehired. The Wall Street Journal initially linked the 25-year-old employee, Marko Elez, to an account that had posted statements such as “I was racist before it was cool” and “Normalize Indian hate.”

Kirk and other conservative commentators have celebrated the engineers’ involvement in the Trump administration. During the February 4 episode of the “Happy Women” podcast, host Jen Horn said, “these kids … are literally just living and breathing these numbers.” Her co-host, Katie Gorka, added, “I’ve often thought we’re going to be saved ultimately by these kids.”

A heated exchange over DOGE erupted between Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Musk’s social media platform, X. The debate revolved around the Trump administration’s decision to enlist DOGE in efforts to upgrade aviation safety.

“They have no relevant experience,” Clinton commented in response to Duffy’s announcement of DOGE’s involvement. “Most of them aren’t old enough to rent a car.”

Duffy fired back, saying, “We’re moving on without you because the American people want us to make America’s transportation system great again. And yes, we’re bringing the 22-year-olds with us.”

The Republican embrace of Musk’s engineers reflects their strategy in gaining support from younger voters in last year’s election.

Trump’s Democratic opponent in 2024, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, barely secured a victory among voters under 30, with nearly half opting for Trump, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters. This marked a significant shift from 2020 when Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate, won around 60% of voters under 30 against Trump. Although other age groups also leaned more toward Trump last year, the shift was most pronounced among young voters.

For Alex Dwyer, chairman of the Kansas Federation of Young Republicans, the recognition of young DOGE engineers has been exhilarating. As a 28-year-old financial analyst in Wichita, he has long felt that young professionals were overlooked in both government and the workplace.

“DOGE is showing that our talents and abilities are finally being recognized as having value,” Dwyer said. “… The party has finally woken up that if you want to appeal to the youth, you have to involve them in the party.”

Trump’s campaign effectively engaged young men like Dwyer, many of whom were concerned about the economy and felt alienated by progressive social policies and the so-called “culture wars,” according to Melissa Deckman, CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute and author of The Politics of Gen Z.

Trump’s outreach strategy targeted young men through alternative media, including right-wing podcasts and social media platforms that amplify far-right views. Deckman noted that the glorification of DOGE in these spaces reinforces the message that young men are being prioritized.

“Historically, you think of the GOP being the party of old fuddy-duddy white guys not passing the baton, and then suddenly there’s this cultural shift to highlighting the contributions of younger people,” she said. “… Meanwhile, when given the chance to pass the torch, Democrats lately have not been very successful in doing that, and young people are fed up.”

However, not all young voters are buying into this narrative.

Sunjay Muralitharan, national president of College Democrats of America, dismissed DOGE as an “unconstitutional threat to American democracy” and doubted that it would significantly boost Republican youth support.

“Most young people can see through this surface-level pandering,” he said. “The image of the richest man in the world gutting vital agencies speaks more here.”

Muralitharan pointed out that young leaders have also been making an impact within the Democratic Party. Recent examples include gun control advocate David Hogg, who was elected vice chair of the party this month, and Florida Democratic Representative Maxwell Frost, currently the youngest member of the U.S. House.

John Della Volpe, director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, argued that Democrats simply fail to highlight their young leaders as effectively as Republicans do.

“Democrats have plenty of young people in consequential jobs,” he said. “They’re just not as good at letting us know about it.”

Della Volpe added that seeing DOGE engineers influence real-world policy could serve as a powerful signal to young voters, further complicating Democratic efforts to mobilize a younger generation already questioning what the party has done for them.

“Republicans are seeing a weakness in Democrats through young people, and they’re taking advantage of it,” he said.

Basil Smikle, a Democratic political strategist and professor at Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies, noted that many young men disillusioned with the current political landscape might view DOGE as proof that they, too, can wield power. He urged Democratic leaders to step aside and give young people a greater role in shaping the party’s message.

“If you don’t, Republicans are going to go back to the same playbook and beat us every time,” he warned.