The GOP’s fears about DOGE appear to be growing, based on conversations I had with a dozen House Republicans this week. Several of them suggested to me that the Trump administration’s campaign to slash the federal workforce could threaten not only their constituents but also their party’s chance to retain its narrow majority.

Elon Musk’s partnership with Donald Trump has turned the technology mogul into a folk hero inside the Republican Party, with a political platform and relationship with grassroots voters all his own—second in popularity and stature only to the president.