Musk and Trump Aren't the Problem: Republicans Are
Musk and Trump are bad, but they are symptoms, not the cause!
Elon Musk isn’t the problem. Trump isn’t the problem. The problem is republicanism and our broken political system.
Nationwide and here in Iowa there have been protests targeting Elon Musk and the company he owns, Tesla. They, rightfully in my view, point out that he echoes fascist tendencies from the 20th century with his glorification of Nazi imagery, sympathetic speeches to neo-Nazi groups both domestically and abroad, and his gleeful charge into dismantling the United States government. Articles are being written and interviews being done breathlessly exclaiming how much a problem Elon is for the United States. A common refrain now can be summarized as:
“Elon wasn’t elected, yet he wields tremendous power to dismantle the federal government, and we do not like an unelected billionaire doing all of this damage!”
Which, yeah, that is true. He wasn’t elected, and one person shouldn’t have that much power to destroy the state. By all accounts he seems to be a terrible human being that craves attention and respect while treating others poorly and abusively. Turning away from that type of person I think is a morally good thing to do.
So, we see the protests and the damage to Tesla factories and the mean comments about cybertruck drives and the petitions to “fire Elon!”.
Musk absolutely is taking a chainsaw to our government with his operations in DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency). He has demonstrated that his goal with DOGE isn’t to make things more efficient, but to empower unqualified and ethically dubious young white men to destroy the government. There have been mass firings, dishonest and incomplete accounting, and outright lying to the American public on what they are doing. If you care about a responsive, responsible, and stable government, you’re going to be angry at Musk. But do you really think he’s going to get “fired” or suddenly start doing good work? And really, if we want to fix this or stop this, do you think Elon Musk is really the problem here?
I think everyone is aiming their ire at the wrong thing. Musk is bad but he serves at the pleasure of the president. Trump appointed him and keeps him there. Trump intentionally provided no guard rails and overrode security protocols to give Musk this kind of authority by expanding the reach and scope of the executive branch of the US government. So the idea of him suddenly being fired by the guy who hired him and accepted massive amounts of money from him because of a few protests is more or less beyond the pale.
But, you know, all of this could literally stop tomorrow. We could wake up next week and a headline reading approximately “DOGE operations halted after congressional intervention defunds department through emergency action”.
Because congress could stand up and stop them with their power as a co-equal branch of government. Republican senators could throw up their hands and say “hold on a minute, lets see what’s actually going on here” and hold hearings and launch inquiries. They could make public statements that reflect what ought to be a very real concern about the erosion of the balance of powers in the United States government. Republican representatives could vote to impeach certain folks and bring them before the house for questioning and reach out to their constituents that are impacted by the cancellation of federal programs. Literally as you read this, Republicans could stop Musk’s rampage through the federal government in a few minutes.
Maybe it isn’t Musk himself that is the problem. Maybe it’s a corrupt right-wing party that is fine with this kind of executive expansion. This really shouldn’t surprise us though. If we read our history we would see that they are called “the right” because they sat to the “right” of the new president after the French revolution, as they were the monarchists. The origin of modern conservatism and right-wing politics are placed squarely in the idea of an all-powerful executive with god given powers to do whatever the hell they want. They can dress it up all they like with motions about the Constitution and tradition, but ultimately, the republican ideology fits in very nicely with anti-democratic ideas and the existence of a king. We saw it then, we saw it in Germany in the 1930s, we see it today as a golden thread – the right wing loves themselves a king.
Can you think of anything more unAmerican than that?
Yet here we are, Musk on a tear through our government, a president that has stated that and acts as if the judiciary is an optional side quest for governance, and an angry movement targeting those two while the real source of a lot of this destruction is passed over as if they aren’t the ones in the room allowing it to happen. This is like getting mad at a professional wrestler cheating in a match and not caring that the referee is helping him do it. We know the wrestling heel is going to cheat to win, but if the ref is allowing it to happen, we have to know they are in on it and we should act like it.
The difference is wrestling is scripted and for entertainment, gutting social security, closing federal agencies, defunding the national weather service, harassing front line level workers, this is people’s lives. Republicans and republicanism are the ones that should be protested, not just one billionaire. Musk and Trump are symptoms of political party that doesn't seem to care about the fundamental separation of powers in the United States constitution. Protest what Musk is doing, mock cybertrucks, don't buy Tesla stock, that is all well and good. Musk could be done tomorrow, Trump could be reigned in tomorrow, if the republican party – and their supporters – cared about the future of our country as a secular state.
They have made it clear that they do not. This is not a case of them being bamboozled or duped into inaction. Republicans are complicit in the awful things Musk and Trump are doing.
Protest them, not just Musk.
Musk will go away when republicans do.
Any protest that destroys property of another person is bad! So, you don’t like Musk protest PEACEFULLY. Violence is never a good thing. Americans voted for this when Trump was elected. Be mad at them!