What Can Be Done About Musk? Does Trump Have What It Takes To Rein Him In? The Fear Has Taken Over

Congressional Dems Have An Opening To Reverse Their Previous Spinelessness

Clicking it won't send Musk back to Africa but...

At a point when Kamala was massively out-raising the Trump campaign, Trump made a deal with Musk: a gamble that if he gave Trump and the GOP unlimited campaign cash, in return he would have unlimited power. And now that he’s exercising that power, there’s some consternation brewing among Republican power brokers. Yesterday Mike Allen and Jim VanderHei referred to him as “arguably the most powerful person in business, the most powerful man in media and, at least at this moment, the most powerful man in politics. This much power, across this many pillars of society, is without precedent… It’s a breathtaking preview of the new power centers that will rewire Washington beginning with Trump's inauguration 32 days from now… The number of lawmakers genuflecting to Musk on Twitter was astonishing. ‘My phone was ringing off the hook,’ said Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY). ‘The people who elected us are listening to Elon Musk.’ the government shuts down, Musk can take credit or blame.”

Allen and VanderHei also reported that “Musk flexed his intimacy with Trump last night by reportedly joining the table with his rival, Jeff Bezos and his fiancée, Lauren Sanchez, as they dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Not too shabby for a guy who barely dabbled in politics until the past year or so. Now, Musk is a full-time policy advocate, government cost-cutter, and omnipresent Trump adviser— while running four companies.”

Do you think Trump enjoys coverage like this?

Musk’s warning/threat on Wednesday didn’t sit well with many  congressional Republicans: “Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in two years!” However, “didn’t sit well” doesn’t amount to much in a dysfunctional Republican conference that is about to get even more dysfunctional when the 119th Congress is sworn in and there are 215 Democrats and just 217 Republicans. Yesterday, William Kristol compared pretty much all of them to Kent Brockman, a Simpsons character from 2 decades ago.

Kristol asked his readers to forget the stars of the GOP dysfunction, Trump and Musk, for a moment and think about the “extras” for a moment, noting that the House Republicans’ capitulation was necessary to the success of Trump’s and Musk’s willful bullying. One might note that these representatives actually hold current government office, unlike Trump and Musk. They have actual responsibilities, unlike Trump and Musk. Indeed they have sworn an oath to the Constitution that they will ‘well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office’ they hold. Yet, needless to say, their priority isn’t to well and faithfully discharge their duties. Their priority is to listen closely so that when Trump and Musk say, ‘Jump,’ they promptly ask, ‘How high?’”

Brockman presumably feared for his life. Or feared the terrible torture of enraged ants. What do these Republican representatives fear?

Loss of office through primary challenges. That was Musk and Trump’s threat on social media: “Any Republican that would be so stupid as to do this [support the continuing resolution to keep the government open] should, and will, be Primaried [sic].”

Is the prospect of a primary challenge as awful as being devoured by ants? Apparently so, judging from the behavior of our Republican representatives.

One could try to reason with those elected representatives, pointing out that any primaries are over a year away; that it’s unclear Trump would even follow through on this threat, let alone win scores of primaries against incumbent Republican members; that their voters may actually be more upset if they willingly shut down the government over the holidays at the behest of the world’s richest man. But making such arguments would be in vain. When fear has taken over, reason goes out the window.

The House Republicans fear their incoming insect overlords. So they capitulate to them before they’ve even taken office.

In recent years it’s become a Republican talking point, when attacking some reform that might strengthen our democracy, to say, But we’re a republic, not a democracy. It’s true that the Founders made the case for a representative republic as opposed to direct democracy. Part of that case, as explained in Federalist No. 10, is that “the delegation of the government to a small number of citizens elected by the rest” should have the effect

to refine and enlarge the public views, by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country, and whose patriotism and love of justice will be least likely to sacrifice it to temporary or partial considerations. Under such a regulation, it may well happen that the public voice, pronounced by the representatives of the people, will be more consonant to the public good than if pronounced by the people themselves.

Republicans once claimed to admire Madison and Hamilton. But the Founding Father for today’s Republicans is Kent Brockman.

Is Trump just the frontman for the plutocracy? Oligarchy?

Yesterday, Sarah Christopherson of Patriotic Millionaires reacted to “President Elon Musk and Vice President Donald Trump” setting the government funding deal negotiated by House Republicans ablaze with two words: “Good riddance.” Actually there were a few more words after that: “If Democrats are going to provide the majority of votes for a short-term government funding bill, it shouldn’t be one that would help unwind one of the signature accomplishments of the Biden era: cracking down on rich tax cheats. Now, with Republicans in disarray, it’s time for Democrats to walk away. Let the Republican Party figure out how to deal with their own dysfunction. [The Democrats have] been focused on being the ‘adult in the room’ but any parent can tell you that you shouldn’t negotiate with a toddler having a temper tantrum. Musk and Trump made this mess, pretending to care about fiscal responsibility, even as they support eliminating funding specifically designed to recover the $1 trillion that wealthy tax cheats steal from the IRS every year. If the government shuts down, it’s in no small part because Republicans want to help their rich friends keep stealing from us. Democrats should not help them…[T]he deal that congressional Democrats agreed to, which would have frozen tens of billions for IRS enforcement funding, is worse for the country in the long run. And we are absolutely certain that whatever bill is acceptable to Elon Musk and Donald Trump at this moment would be even worse, especially if it involves raising the debt ceiling to pay for their planned massive tax cuts for the wealthy. If Democratic votes are needed to pass the bill, Democrats should give them no concessions… [C]ongressional Democrats’ repeated willingness to negotiate with, or fully capitulate to, Republicans who are acting in bad faith has never worked in their favor.”

Mark Pocan posted this yesterday, saying he had just returned with it from the future

A former congressional staffer who served as a senior aide to Democratic House members for over a decade, Christopherson wrote that she “was furious— if not entirely surprised— to see earlier this week that once again, Democrats were giving Republicans exactly what they wanted, and with barely a fight. The short-term measure planned for a vote this week would have kept the government running through March 14, but it would put on ice an additional $20.2 billion in IRS funding. Enacted in 2022 as part of Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the bill’s increased IRS funding— $46 billion specifically earmarked for enforcing our tax laws against ultra-wealthy tax cheats— was supposed to last the agency for a decade. Instead, with the full support of a Democratic White House and Democratic legislators, 92% of the funding that the IRS received for enforcement would have been repealed or frozen in just two years if the continuing resolution had gone through.”

She noted that “The IRS was supposed to use this funding to staff up with expert auditors over the next ten years, hiring highly trained lawyers and accountants able to pore over the complex tax returns of billionaires and the sprawling corporations they own. But if the next funding bill includes these cuts, instead of going after billionaire tax cheats with renewed vigor, the IRS will run out of enforcement funding before the current fiscal year is even over… Now, with the deal crafted to keep the government funded at previous levels dead, congressional Democrats have an opening to reverse their previous spinelessness. Let Republicans own this shutdown. Draw a line in the sand and demand IRS funding be restored, and if Republicans don’t like it, let them fail. Then maybe, when Democrats have real leverage, they can use it to preserve IRS funding and keep holding wealthy tax cheats accountable.”