Delusions of omniscience and grandeur always crash to the ground hard. It’s only a question of when that happens, not if. Mike Johnson saw himself as annointed by God to play a modern day Moses. HA! In biblical terms, Johnson is more accurately one of the money changers at the temple that Jesus so despised. And that’s now. Johnson may devolve in status to that of a pack mule, particularly when an enraged electorate runs the GOP out of town on a rail.
Elon Musk is very upset with the OBBBA, One Big Beautiful Bill Act. He vociferously opposes it. That might not be such a big deal but Elon promised yesterday that any and all Republicans who vote for it are “going to lose their jobs in November, 2026.” That got GOPers attention, bigly. Whatever power Musk may have lost in the Trump administration, he’s still got massive financial resources and if he goes zowie on incumbents in November, it could be a blood bath. And that is what is being threatened.
OMG, we've gone from a suspense political thriller to actual historical Democracy hit to a soap opera in 100 plus days.
— cindi (@BluePrinceton) June 4, 2025
Elon is not taking Mike’s calls! The hell you say! As I said here yesterday, I think that what is motivating Musk is a desire to get back into the spotlight. He loved being on stage with thousands, if not tens of thousands of people roaring approval. That’s a level of attention that mere mortals don’t get much of. The average person is lucky to maybe perform in a high school or college play and know what it is to get laughs on stage and applause. It’s a heady experience. Multiply that by auditorium after auditorium, day after day, and unless you’re a rock star, you can’t know what Musk was experiencing and what he is missing now. Attention like that is like a drug, so I have read. And we know Elon loves to get high.
Back to OBBBA, Johnson is between the proverbial rock and a hard place. It’s a definite that ten million people are going to lose health insurance via Medicaid and that is going to present a massive problem. That’s on the one hand. On the other hand, Musk says that not enough is being cut and he intends to target Republicans who vote for the bill as is, and not Elon’s version of it.
Johnson cannot serve two masters. He cannot make Musk happy without even further alienating the electorate. Johnson’s job is to talk Elon off the ledge and get him back inside the tent. Because Elon fits a description of Lyndon Baines Johnson’s, “He’s the kind of guy you’d rather have inside the tent pissing out, then outside the tent pissing in.”
Musk is outside the tent pissing in and with the kind of money he’s got, it’s golden showers from now until November, 2026 and perhaps beyond. Musk can’t run for president but he can damn well control some elections, perhaps enough to matter. And it is Mose’s Mikey’s task to defuse all this. Lots a luck, Mikey. Lots a luck. The rest of us know you don’t have a prayer but keep telling yourself you’re on a mission from God. That’s always entertaining.
If you’re a fan of musical theater:
What is it that we’re living for?
Applause, Applause.
Nothing I know
brings on the glow
like sweet applause.
You’re thinking you’re through,
that nobody cares,
then suddenly you
hear it starting.
And somehow you’re in charge again
and it’s a ball.
Trumpet’s all sing
life seems to swing,
and you’re the king of it all ’cause
you’ve had a taste of
the sound that says love:
Applause, applause, applause!
As both a performer (singing and acting) and as an athlete I know that feeling of hearing applause. I appreciated it, yet also felt a bit embarrassed by it. However I can see how it’s like a drug to some people. Looking back I think I had a grounded perspective – no matter how long it lasted or how loud it was applause I, along with teammates and fellow cast members got was just an in the moment appreciation. BUT, it wasn’t for anything others had done countless times before or would in the future. By the point I first found myself getting hundreds or even thousands of people applauding me I’d seen the movie Patton and that last line hit home and has stayed with me ever since: All glory is fleeting.
We shouldn’t endeavor to get applause so we can back in it, but rather do the things that prompt it for the right reasons. Whether it be something no more meaningful than mere entertainment or for truly substantial accomplishments. Applause itself shouldn’t be the goal, but rather a result sometimes received for having actually done something others appreciate. For some, like Trump and Musk ALL that matters is the applause. Whether it comes from having done something worthwhile or screwing people over doesn’t matter.