Maybe I Have This Twisted

 

Last night, I had the stupidity to forget how kiss-up, punch-down hierarchies work because I have never actually lived in a fully corrupted banana republic before. My dumb ass posted: 

And DOGE undermining the social safety net and intimating that Medicare and Social Security need big cuts is actually very bad? 

Because of course that is--but his antipathy to democracy at all is also really bad. 

I think it gets worse from here for Musk.. And I think I like it that way. As he starts to sink and stink, Trump will cut ties, because that's how he rolls. 

Except that was dumb, because if Trump truly believes he is post-"elections matter", well, he no longer has to care about whether people hate Elon. He just has to protect the guy who can easily dump $100M into his PAC (slush fund). 

Joe Six-Pack with the retirement fund and a MAGA hat isn't his main concern. Elon SuperPAC donor is.

Ergo, he turned the front of the White House into a sales lot for Tesla and cut a promo. They are cutting the Board of Education, Veteran's medical access, Social Security functionality as a whole thing, IRS (the revenue-finders!) and so on, but the White House had to help rescue one stock today.

The DOW lost many points. Tesla had a little unreality rally. Also, too, Trump declared folks vandalizing Tesla dealerships were "domestic terrorists."  

Let me get this straight. Pardon the idjits who attacked the Capitol with great violence on 1/6/2021 but the people protesting Tesla are the real villains against the US? 

This is what you get when the autocrat (Automobilecrat? Have I just sucked up Musk's lame humor or is there something there? I don't even know anymore.)  gets to decide winners and losers.

This seems to be what the "hokey-pokey" tariff threats are about, too--he gets to threaten, and then people will pay not have to suffer the government penalty. The mafia doesn't have such a shakedown and enforcement racket. He relents because he gets some pay-off. How often will he do this sick idiosyncratic and insulting thing? As often as he wants unless someone can stop him, but his minions used the government tools whatever way they wanted to already dismantle whatever checks he would have ordinarily had. 

I might wish aloud some other government anywhere had something on him to give us a little help out here. 

But the deal is--Trump's friends will prosper in this economy, even while others suffer. He doesn't care if he looks like a third-rate lemon salesman in his big suit and long tie and bad hair. He is that! This is who he would be if his dad was just Fred Schmit the Century 21 guy who helps you make cash for your mortgage by selling you on that duplex. 

Trump the car salesman is actually the fucking realness. Even the Doocy nepokind questioned the optics of "buying a new car" when people are watching their retire funds drain out. 

DOOCY: You're buying a new car. There are some folks who will see this clip at home and they are struggling with their retirement accounts down at the moment.

TRUMP: Well I think they're gonna do great. Our country had to do this. pic.twitter.com/Jf5zMXufav

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 11, 2025

Trump's answer is nonsense!  And I don't think Trump can even relate to the idea some of us are going to retire and want to just live out some declining years with a little comfort. Because here he is at his big age, hustling cars on the White House front lawn and selling off our government--because I know that I know if he's letting civil servants go, once people get mad about the lack of services, he's optioning privatization and rewarding cronies. 

And it will cost us more money and we will be further fucked. His humping and shilling still gets him the ducats. The rest of us aren't so lucky. 

I am just here to announce for the benefit of MAGA who stumble along here, Trump is absolutely not you first. 

That's the part I still know I have straight.