Congress is supine
More terrifying (and terrorizing) every day.
Musk and his associates have not only burrowed into the Treasury’s payments system; they are now burrowing into the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration.
They are gaining access to the most sensitive personal information about Americans available anywhere, along with computer code capable of altering that information and those systems. The Muskrats have been able to turn off government funding without Congress’s consent, even in the face of federal court orders to turn the funding back on.
This is blatantly illegal, yet Congress remains silent.
Congress is supine because Republicans are in charge, and Musk has also become Trump’s hatchet man — threatening Republican members of Congress if they deviate from Trump.
Iowa’s Republican Senator Joni Ernst was firmly set against Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense until Musk hinted that he’d finance a primary challenger to Ernst, who’s up for reelection next year. Presto: Ernst supported Hegseth.
Indiana’s Republican Senator Todd Young expressed concern about the nomination of Tulsi Gabbard to be director of national intelligence until Musk tweeted against him. A besieged Young spoke with JD Vance, who arranged a call with Musk. Presto: Young announced he would back Gabbard.
Musk warned Republican lawmakers in December that he was compiling a “naughty list” of members who buck Trump’s agenda. He also pledged shortly after Election Day that his political action committee would “play a significant role in primaries” next year.
A Republican senator told The Hill that Musk’s wealth makes primary threats “a bigger deal.”
Musk’s financial and political power have been enough to intimidate even the mainstream media. An advertisement set to run in The Washington Post yesterday calling for Musk to be fired from his role in government was abruptly canceled, according to Common Cause, one of the groups that had ordered the ad. When asked why the Post had pulled the ad, the Post said it was not at liberty to give a reason.
When and if America ever wrests back control of our government, we must remember this: The combination of great wealth and great power — epitomized by Elon Musk — is destroying American democracy.
Oligarchy is the enemy of democracy.
And the enemy is well dug in.
One hopes that at some point, it will become a badge of honour to have opposed Trump. Unfortunately, that time is not now. What America needs are Republican members of Congress who realize Trump is destroying the country. They have to stop being okay with that. By supporting a man who famously refused to show his own tax return, you’ve surrendered the tax information of all Americans to his attack dog. It shouldn’t make a difference whether the billionaire digging through this information to which he should not have been given access is named Soros or Musk; trespass is trespass. Trump does not own the “property” to which he has given Musk free admission. Republicans have to learn to care for their country’s future more than their own political career. They have to stand up, and stop being cowards. I know, a tall order. But your options and opportunities are running out; the more obvious and likely ones have been all missed or wasted. We’re all clinging to hopes and dreams that become increasingly improbable with every day and every Trump transgression of tradition, norm and law. Once you’ve run out of horses, it’s perfectly natural to keep praying for unicorns. But there comes a time when you have to stop wishing and start walking. The road isn’t going to get any shorter.
These are not normal times. This is not a normal president. Republicans have made a choice, and it’s the wrong one. Trump has taken over their country. The longer they go along with him, the harder it will be for anyone to take it back. How long before it’s too late is anybody’s guess. The current batch of Republicans still thinks they’re on a pleasure cruise. They need to take a closer look the tour itinerary. Do they really want to go where it’s heading? Is this what they signed up for?* Is this what they swore to protect? They’ll think that everything is great so long as it’s their opponents who are being thrown to the sharks. They are not pampered guests and passengers, they are rubber-stamping dupes and hostages. In reality, if they get in the Captain’s way, they’re next up to be chum. They need to wake up and smell the fascism. Time to put down the cocktails and step away from the buffet. Before long you’re going to try to hide that photo of which you’re so proud, you sitting there, smiling at the Captain’s table.
It’s going to be hard, but they’re going to have to think again. They have to imagine that they’re storming the beach of a hostile, occupying power, because that’s what Trump is. Liberation won’t happen if the troops are all milling about on board the landing craft, too afraid to be the first to step and wade ashore because they might be primaried. It’s criminal that the service and sacrifice of millions of Americans who fought against tyranny is being defiled by odious cowards trying to save their pensions or book deals, all in the service of a vile monster like Trump.
*Yes, I know that for far too many of them, this is exactly what they signed up for. Trump’s malignancy was not news.
Anyone have any thoughts as what he’s *actually* up to? What is Musk’s evil plan?
‘cuz even if I was “President” J.D. Vance my first act in office would be to order every computer in D.C. destroyed.
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