Congressional Dems Don’t Seem To Grasp The Enormity Of Musk’s Power Grab— Do The Rest of Us?

Tech Big Bro Is A Tyrant: Musk’s Deadly Role in the Trump Regime

Did you once really think Musk’s DOGE was just an advisory panel that would be making suggestions to Trump and to an obscure Marjorie Traitor Greene subcommittee? Forget that. DOGE is the fully operation arm of American fascism within the Trump regime. “Musk,” wrote Digby over the weekend, “is doing something so outrageous that we seem to be unable to wrap our minds around the enormity of it” and “I guess we can hope that Musk and Trump have a falling out and Musk is forced to pull all of his flunkies out of the agencies once it becomes clear that it’s causing massive upheaval but I don’t honestly think Trump cares about any of it anymore. He’s just bent on revenge and making money and the more people hurt the better he feels. The law is so slow and cumbersome, Musk will have the country wrecked before they even get to the hearings. And the Congress is well… fuggedaboudit. They can’t even protect their own prerogatives much less the health and livelihoods of Americans. Hopefully, the Democrats will start blocking unanimous consent. It’s literally the least they can do. But I hope they have something else up their sleeves because otherwise the already demoralized Democratic base which can barely pay attention are going to drop out altogether. Leadership is required.” 

But not the kind of leadership where Musk’s cultivation of young, impressionable engineers to serve his increasingly erratic and authoritarian whims bears a striking resemblance to Lord of the Flies, William Golding’s allegory of power, control, and the collapse of order. In both cases, a figure of dominance manipulates the inexperienced to further his own ends, fostering an environment where loyalty supersedes wisdom and where structure is dismantled in favor of chaos masked as innovation. Just as Jack in Lord of the Flies seduces the boys with the promise of freedom and purpose while steering them into brutality, Musk surrounds himself with engineers who lack the institutional knowledge to push back against his overreach, ensuring that his vision remains unchecked, no matter how reckless or destructive it becomes. Additionally, both scenarios highlight the dangers of a leadership vacuum filled by those who mistake ruthlessness for competence. The boys in Golding’s novel, left without adult guidance, become susceptible to the worst instincts of their most dominant members, just as Musk’s handpicked coterie of young engineers, eager for prestige and power— at least once just out of high school— help him dismantle regulatory guardrails and ethical constraints. In Lord of the Flies, the collapse into savagery ultimately consumes the boys, much as Musk’s increasingly aggressive and reckless pursuit of control may ultimately destabilize not only his own empire but the broader industries and institutions entangled in his influence. The lesson in both is clear: without principled resistance, power becomes a force of destruction rather than progress.

And Democrats beginning to understand what they’re— we’re— in the middle of? I don’t think so. As Digby said, “we seem to be unable to wrap our minds around the enormity of it.” But yesterday, Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan, reported that Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said that “[I]t is extremely difficult to reach an agreement on toplines— much less full-year spending bills— when the president is illegally blocking vast chunks of approved funding, when he is trying to unilaterally shutter critical agencies, and when an unelected billionaire is empowered to force his way into our government’s central, highly-sensitive payments system [at the Treasury Department]. Democrats and Republicans alike must be able to trust that when a deal gets signed into law, it will be followed.”

Despite that, Rosa DeLauro, the ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee, is, incongruously, “still hopeful that the two sides can reach a deal over FY2025 government funding. DeLauro and Murray are insisting that any agreement boost spending by 1% over the enacted FY2024 bills. GOP leaders will face heavy pressure from their right if they go along with that, though. ‘I am very strongly in favor of us moving forward,’ DeLauro said. ‘We have to move forward on a topline, do the allocations for the subcommittees and do the bills that we can get done by March 14. Congress cannot give up and walk away from what our responsibilities are.’ Democrats, though, would also like to see language in any agreement saying the Trump administration ‘must’ spend the funds as mandated by Congress, according to Democratic aides. This is an attempt to stop the White House— particularly OMB director nominee Russell Vought— from ‘impounding’ funds approved by Congress and signed into law, a direct challenge to Congress’ power of the purse.”

And what are they going to when Trump just flat-out refuses? Or when he, Vought and Musk just tear up any so-called agreement reached, perhaps even before the ink is dry? Or when Musk just laughs it off, knowing that there is no one to hold him accountable? What is it going to take for congressional Democrats to understand the nature of the beast they’re up against— because right now, with just a few exceptions, they clearly do not. They talk about “guardrails” and “checks and balances” as if those things haven’t already been bulldozed. They cling to institutional norms while the other side sharpens its knives and whispers about throwing a few of them in prison to make their point.

Compromise with fascism? Give me a fucking break. Just ask Neville Chamberlain how that worked out for him— how it worked out for the Czech people, for the rest of Europe, for the world. History doesn’t look kindly on those who believed they could reason with authoritarians, who thought they could contain a force that only grows stronger the more it is indulged. If Democrats think they can negotiate their way out of this, they’re deluding themselves. There is no deal to be made with men who see democracy as an obstacle, not a principle. The only question left is whether they’ll realize it before it’s too late. Watch this video.