After he made a snide post on social media about Elon Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) got slammed by social media users who were incensed that he would call Musk corrupt while amid his own corruption scandal.
As background, the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) exposed the corruption scandal in a February 25, 2025, expose they revealed, “Senator Whitehouse advocated and voted for legislation that led to $6.9 million of taxpayer funds being paid to an organization that his wife works for and receives an income from. It is this type of circular relationship between a Senator and an organization that lobbies and pays his wife a salary that the public is rightfully fed up with.”
Building on this point, FACT further noted how Whitehouse may have broken the law. They wrote, “Sen. Whitehouse appears to have violated the Senate Ethics Rules on conflicts of interest by advocating and voting for legislation that resulted in nearly $7 million being paid in the fall of 2024 to an organization his wife works for.”
Despite this damning evidence, Sen. Whitehouse took to social media to make a baseless attack on Elon Musk. The Senator was reacting to a post from WIRED, which revealed DOGE’s next moves. The tech magazine posted, “SCOOP: The Social Security Administration (SSA) will be shifting its public communication exclusively to X, sources tell WIRED. This comes as agency plans to cut its regional office workforce by roughly 90 percent.”
Using the opportunity to score cheap political points, the controversial Rhode Island Democrat took to X, formerly Twitter, on April 12, 2025, to say the decision results in “A. Massive corruption benefiting Musk.
B. Control of info to deploy more derogatory propaganda about Social Security. C. More tech bro infiltration.”
In the comments, users took the allegedly corrupt Democrat to task by posting a link to a tweet from conservative influencer Libs of TikTok. She posted, “BOMBSHELL: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) backed legislation that funneled millions to his wife’s environmental nonprofit, Ocean Conservancy. She’s been paid nearly $2.7M while the group raked in $14.2M+ in federal grants—funded by bills Whitehouse voted for! Now, an ethics watchdog is calling for an investigation into this blatant corruption.”
In the comments under her post, users took the controversial Democrat to task for his corruption. One such comment read, “There’s something very Hypocritical and Evil hiring 87,000 IRS agents to audit us down to $600 but now freak out when Elon and a tiny crew audits them exposing 100’s of $BILLIONS of government waste and corruption. Could it be any more obvious that the Democrats are criminals?”
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Building on this argument, another user said, “We need the DOGE team investigating all members of Congress and their families, including relatives and friends. It should also be applied to other politicians, federal workers, state and local workers. This type of money funneling is highly unethical and likely illegal. Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and the DOGE team can bring these abuses into the public light.”
Watch Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse here:
Featured image from embedded video