It is no secret that the Trump administration is now taking more heat for Elon Musk’s fast-acting cuts to the federal government than they wanted, cuts for which no one prepared themselves, even fewer thought to ask, cuts that seem nearly impossible to justify even now after the explanations. Americans are likely fine hearing that there will be fewer IRS agents, maybe a smaller State Department, etc. No one envisioned having Air Traffic Controllers, park rangers, and weather forecasters dumped overboard. And damn sure no one thought that the Social Security Administration might be paralyzed to the point that payment plans already in place may not get out. So, trouble is brewing, and the long-known maxim about blame attaching to an underling before reaching the top will surely kick in. To that end, Elon Musk finds himself on an island, and the politicians – the ones thinking about a future with $300 billion less in the bank, see themselves as tasked with the duty to make sure that he stays there – for President Donald Trump’s protection, and through him, their own. As The Independent’s Charlie Sykes notes, this was all only a matter of time. The trouble is that billionaires can buy a lot of time, along with everything else.
Sykes granted an interview to Jonathan Martin of Politico in which he noted four things that he described as indicators of “trouble in MAGA paradise.” Nearly each element springs forth from what has been called an “explosive” cabinet meeting in which Marco Rubio purportedly went off on poor Elon Musk. As reported in Rawstory:
- “Trump World is rattled and in CYA-mode about Musk’s cuts.
- “Trump gave a green light to cabinet members to go after Musk, blame him for reckless cuts, and call him a liar.”
- “Trump may have clipped his fellow megalomaniac’s wings.”
- The whole story leaked out.
“Some of this was inevitable, because the laws of human gravity make it impossible for two sociopathic megalomaniacs to occupy the same space, so maybe the only surprise is that it has taken so long.”
Check your calendar because “taken so long” is all relative. It was always going to last through the campaign – the money alone guaranteed that. And then there was the fact that they actually did need Musk to do the job, braining the government in the parking lot – and the 45-60 days out, where we find ourselves, doesn’t seem all that long at all. It takes a billionaire.
But there is also the fact that only someone with $300 billion would still be hanging out in cabinet meetings at this point at all. Anyone else would’ve been long gone. The coverage is such that GOP politicians are afraid to go home to do townhalls, leaving an opening that may send Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders to red districts throughout the country. That won’t stand. But it’s not like you can scream-toss $300 billion out the door, either. No, those guys are kept around for a rainy day.
So this is tough stuff. From a Republican point of view, it’s best that none of the mud get slopped up to the very top. That alone gives credence to the theory that Trump allowed Rubio to unleash some anger on Musk – again, best to have one of the soldiers do it. It isn’t a coincidence that all reports indicate that Trump had Marco’s back. If anyone was going to chew on Musk’s ass it wasn’t going to be the guy on the receiving end of the checks. Rubio seems able to take care of himself anyway.
But yes, it is probably best to see this as a short-term mutually agreed upon relationship in which both parties just use the ever-living-sh*t out of the other. Musk gets to insert his companies in place for contracts with a slimmed down federal government, privatizing profits, socializing losses, ensuring dividends into the future. Trump gets his fall guy out there to do what he wanted done anyway. Marco gets his name in the paper – but he’ll probably be fine.
The one real concrete takeaway is that this cannot possibly last another two months. In that respect we have also likely answered another question – “What’s the rush?” If it was going to get done it had to get done so fast that no one had time to stop it. Billionaires may be able to buy a lot of time but they can’t create it. Musk seems to have known this all along.
God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected] and on twitter-X at @JasonMiciak, and follow now on Bluesky.Â
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Five’ll gitcha ten, Rubio will eventually go the way of others who have hitched their wagon to Trump, who uses cohorts until they’re used up. Then he tosses them aside. That’s how Trump operates, he cares nothing for anyone, even if they’re of use to him. He expects loyalty in others, but does not reciprocate. ETTD.
You are right. Two sociopathic megalomaniacs cannot share the same mic. Especially if one is named Trump.
I’d like to believe that only fools would blame what’s happening to our government solely on muskrat, but the willingness of my countrymen to swallow bullshit has puzzled me to no end in recent years. Was it abject hatred for knowledgeable/intellectual types that bred the crushing ignorance in so many of us, or just laziness?
While muskrat is gleeful in his hamfisted destruction and self-enrichment at the federal level, none of this could have happened without the Dons blessing. I know a certain segment of the country will have no problem pretending Tangerine Jesus was innocent in all the pain visited on Americans, preferring instead to accept that Doge used their favorite president like a 2 dollar prostitute to harm us all. But will that larger segment of voters living in and around the center of politics, and the deciders in virtually all elections, be willing to swallow this putrid concoction of lies too?