After several overtures of support for President Trump, Democratic senator John Fetterman is sending a reminder that he won't be a reliable backer of the White House.

The Pennsylvania senator is distancing himself from the Trump administration's cost-cutting reforms as Elon Musk raids the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), with Fetterman labeling Republicans the party of "chaos."

Fetterman turns

In a post on X, Fetterman accused Musk of invading Americans' privacy by sending DOGE to access Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data. The White House confirmed to Politico that Musk's team is scrutinizing an IRS database that contains financial data including Americans' tax returns.

“I want to save billions of your money and make our government more efficient. Rummaging through your personal s‑‑‑ is *not* that. A party of chaos loses—always,” Fetterman wrote in response.

Musk has become a top target for Democrats as they attempt to refocus following the shellacking Trump gave them in November.

In particular, Democrats have attacked Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as an undemocratic intrusion or "coup" that threatens privacy and the stable functioning of the federal government.

DOGE is seeking to fire thousands of IRS employees, which would likely hamper the agency's ability to perform audits on taxpayers.

White House responds

The White House responded to Fetterman's criticism with gentle pushback - as the administration credited Musk with taking necessary steps to identify problems at the IRS.

“Unlike many of his Democratic colleagues, Sen. Fetterman seems to be supportive of DOGE’s mission but appears to have fallen for distorted media narratives,” Harrison Fields, a White House principal deputy press secretary, said in an email to The Hill. 

“The senator would agree that in order to fix a problem, you must have access to identify where it originates," he added. "DOGE strives to bring transparency to its work, and the senator is welcome to hear directly from the source, not clickbait online.”

A mixed bag

Elected as a progressive in 2022, Fetterman has sometimes criticized the radical excesses of his party, earning him praise from the right and backlash from the left.

Since the election, Fetterman has often chided Democrats for overreacting to Trump's moves, and Fetterman was the first Democratic senator to meet with Trump at Mar-A-Lago, with Trump praising the senator for his "common sense."

But Fetterman showed the limits of his Trump support this month when he voted against two of Trump's most contentious Cabinet nominees, Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr., after suggesting he might be open to supporting them.

It's an important reminder that Fetterman is still on the left politically, and can't be seen as an ally in everything Trump does.