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By Sen. Marsha Blackburn

For years, Elon Musk has revolutionized entire industries with his companies — from PayPal and Tesla to SpaceX and Neuralink. After purchasing the social media company X, formerly known as Twitter, he has also led the fight for free speech on online platforms.

Across his businesses, there are many issues he could be working on. But when President Trump asked him to join the administration, he answered the call and committed himself to serving the American people.

In many ways, he is tackling one of the biggest threats our nation faces: our $36 trillion debt. Today, we are spending more money to service our debt than to fund our entire military. And as our debt grows, it will become more and more difficult to fund basic government functions.

That’s why Musk is leading the Department of Government Efficiency: to rein in reckless spending and put our country on a better fiscal path. So far, DOGE has had a lot of success. In just over two months, they have discovered $130 billion in potential savings by eliminating waste, fraud and abuse across the federal government. They hope that number will reach $2 trillion by Independence Day next year — our nation’s 250th birthday.

Every American should be applauding this effort. Our children and grandchildren’s future depends on it.

But because Musk is helping President Trump, he has become a target for the radical left, which has launched a domestic terrorism campaign against his company, Tesla.

In Las Vegas, suspects set Tesla vehicles on fire with Molotov cocktails. In Oregon, a man shot up a Tesla dealership. In Texas, authorities discovered incendiary devices planted at a Tesla showroom. Across the country, Tesla owners have had their cars vandalized and destroyed by arson, and on Saturday, Democrat-aligned groups organized a “Global Day of Action” to target hundreds of Tesla dealerships.

The reason for this campaign is simple: In November, the American people rejected the left’s radical agenda. They’ve lost the debate. But instead of making a better pitch to voters, they are trying to stop Republicans with violence and intimidation.

Make no mistake: Such political violence has no place in our country. That’s why, last week, I went down to the Senate floor to call for the passage of my resolution condemning the recent acts of violence, arson and domestic terrorism committed against Tesla properties.

Democrats, however, refused to join the resolution, with one of my colleagues even claiming that it “feels wrong” to specifically condemn violence against Tesla.

More than anything, this moral cowardice reveals that Democrats are more beholden than ever to the radical left. After spending the last four years denouncing domestic terrorism and supporting electric vehicles, some Democrats are even celebrating the violent attacks on our nation’s largest EV company.

Tim Walz — Democrats’ failed vice presidential candidate — claimed he gets a daily “boost” from checking on Tesla’s stock price, which has declined amid the terrorism campaign. Democrat ally and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel seemed to endorse the violence, sarcastically telling his audience, “Don’t ever vandalize Tesla vehicles.” Democrat Rep. Jasmine Crockett said that all she wants for her birthday is to “see Elon taken down.”

As the world’s greatest legislative body, the United States Senate should be able to speak with one voice and jointly condemn political violence. With today’s radical Democrat Party, however, that is impossible.

(Marsha Blackburn represents Tennessee in the U.S. Senate.)