Mr. Musk is fundamentally a creature of Silicon Valley, a scene that initiated an entire revolution in power dressing. The young masters of that universe dressed down to show that they were members of a new elite — one that refused to dress like the grown-ups they were about to topple. It was the defeat of the suit by the T-shirt.

The head of President Donald Trump’s government efficiency effort, Elon Musk, is emerging as a messaging punching bag for Democrats as they pick up the pieces of their stinging defeat in last year’s elections and search for a winning message for 2026.

Fresh from spending nearly $300 million to influence the 2024 elections, the richest person in the world has set his sights squarely on Wisconsin. Elon Musk is apparently not content with taking a chainsaw to the lives of thousands of hard-working federal employees engaged in providing health care to rural American children and veterans,