Elon is really unpopular right now and “regular” republicans feel like he and DOGE are attacking them.

Only those who have been personally harmed. The rest of them, and that's the vast majority, actually believe Elon is cleaning up the government and finding/eliminating corruption. I work with one, he's convinced everything DOGE has found and cut is corruption/fraud, the kids who are rooting through the Treasury are geniuses capable of finding things that no other administration has been able to (or been willing to?) find, and ultimately the Government is going to run more efficiently and taxes can be lower for regular people when it's all said and done. They're too deep in the rabbit hole to see the light.