My Reply: GOP Mayhem, Dem Malaise
Elon Musk's 4 gargantuan goals and the best thing Democrats can do to stop him.
Welcome to the second edition of My Reply, where I curate your questions and publish my replies.
Some of these exchanges come from an email I sent you Friday soliciting questions and insights. Others are pulled from the comments section of Convulsions columns.
Your part is in italics. Mine is not.
Ron, what’s with the new Democratic malaise?
asks, “Why do so many Democratic voters seem disheartened and inactive?” The best substitute for anxiety is action, he says, and "we need to get in gear!”
REPLY: Great question, Jim. Apt call to action. The malaise might have something to do with the depressing knowledge that MAGA’s only Opposition Party is too weak, too arrogantly disconnected from voters, and too strategically ossified to beat an unqualified and dangerous buffoon.
It’s not easy being on the right side of history but on the wrong side of 77 million voters, many of whom recently wore blue jerseys. It’s going to take more than money to right-side the political Titanic called the Democratic Party. You can read more on what I think it takes here here here and here. Or simply find an antidote to the MAGA blues here.
How far will Elon go?
asks whether we know how far Elon Musk “and his goons” will inject themselves into the Treasury Department payment systems. “A judge recently put a halt to this activity, but it seems kind of late. What do we do? Not file taxes until we know he’s in jail?”
REPLY: File your taxes. Don’t count on Musk going to jail. Don’t count on the courts to trim President Trump’s sails because the Supreme Court is controlled by Trump-nominated judges with a history of supporting expansion of executive powers.
Congress needs to take back the power it has ceded to a generation of presidents: Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden and Trump. That is as unlikely to happen with Trump’s lemmings controlling Congress as it was when Democrats ran the feckless institution.
Trump isn’t the cause of this constitutional challenge; he’s a dangerous and reckless expansion of it.
Why isn’t Elon facing criminal charges?
asks, “Why is this a political thing and not a criminal thing? If someone went to a bank, pushed aside the guards and the bank management, had six kids crack into the computer system, read and copied private banking data (and potentially changed computer code), would that not get them instantly arrested at gunpoint and put in prison for 10 years?”
REPLY: Love the analogy, Jeff. The difference is that Elon and his tech bros aren’t robbing a bank; they’re testing the limits of the Constitution and the resolve of the American public. The cops and courts won’t stop them. Only we, the people, can — by demanding that political leaders in both parties show some spine, and ultimately, by defeating Republicans in 2026 and 2028.
The wheels of justice move far more slowly than those of politics.
Stop bashing Musk!
accuses the media of “pushing alarmist narratives about Musk’s DOGE initiatives, framing it as a reckless power grab when, in reality, it’s an efficient audit focused on metadata to identify fraud and waste.”
REPLY: Two things can be true, Bob.
The federal government is bloated and outdated. Somebody needs to give it an efficient audit focused on metadata to identify fraud and waste.
Elon Musk is the wrong somebody and he’s going about it the wrong way.
Please see more on my thinking in the bonus “Must Read Special” at the bottom of this newsletter. Thanks for sharing yours.
Who’s the puppet? Who’s the master?
read my “Oh, Canada. I’m Sorry” column and writes, ‘Trump is the puppet and Musk is the puppet master!”
REPLY: That’s how it looks now, but I suspect that’s not how it will end. Did you see this Time magazine cover?
I’ve known Trump for more than 25 years. I’ve never met a more insecure or jealous man. How vain is Trump? His New York office walls are plastered with faux Time covers displaying his photoshopped image.
I can’t imagine that he will long abide even a hint of inference that his transactional billionaire tech pal is the power behind the throne. You can read more of my Trump takes here here here here here and here.
What if Trump defies courts orders?
, author of the Home Front Substack, asks on Notes, “What happens when a federal judge tells the administration to stop doing something and they go ahead anyway?
REPLY: We’re about to find out. You’re not gonna like the answer.
Make the your MRI Free!
wants access to the daily Morning Read-In (MRI) feature for paid subscribers, where I curate the most interesting stories on politics, culture, communications, and life — with micro-essays of insights. “Ron, you’re missing out on many readers like myself who are already subscribed elsewhere but would read free articles. As everything here is for subscribers-only I probably won’t be bothering with your site. Good luck.”
REPLY: Thanks for your input, Laurie. Here’s my thinking:
I want to build through my writing a community of people looking for a better way to live and govern together.
That means casting a big net to include people who can’t afford to pay, or who aren’t sure whether my work is worth paying for.
Which is why most of these newsletter columns are free.
Still, journalism isn’t free. Nobody works for free. And my family deserves some value from the time I dedicate to this work.
Which is why I offer paid subscribers (in addition to the columns) twice more content through the exclusive daily MRI. I may eventually add video and VIP interviews to the paid tier later this year. All for $5/month or $50/year
For the most dedicated subscribers, there is the Concierge service. For $500/year, they get all this content plus my cell number and in-person meetings for private consultations.
To summarize the three tiers to Convulsions:
FREE: Three or so newsletter columns per week plus Breaking News chats.
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Whatever tier you choose, I greatly appreciate your support.
Must-Read Special
From time to time, I stumble across a piece of journalism so compelling that I want to do everything I can do get you to read it. It’s a must-read. Our first installment of the “Must Read Special” is in today’s Washington Post, headlined, “In chaotic Washington blitz, Elon Musk’s ultimate goal becomes clear.”
Reported and written by Jeff Stein, Elizabeth Dwoskin, Hannah Natanson and Jonathan O'Connell, the piece itemizes Musk’s goals:
Shrink government
Seize and control data.
Replace huge chunks of “the human workforce with machines.”
Create a bureaucracy that bows to the political agenda of the sitting president.
Look, the federal government needs to work better — most voters agree with me on that. Democrats leadership disagree; or at least they’ve done nothing in more than a generation to reinvent government. Into that vacuum comes a billionaire pal of a president who is overreaching for personal gain — controlling data for himself and politicizing public service for Trump.
It would be wise for Democrats to keep that mind, and not let their righteous opposition to Trump and Musk be conflated with an opposition to reform. This would be a perfect time for Democratic leaders in Washington and in every state to propose sweeping changes to government that makes it smaller, more modern, more efficient, and more generous.
Want to defang Musk?
Want to defeat Trumpism?
Fix government the right way and let MAGA defend the status quo.
Friendly heads-up that your inaugural Must-Read Special is at The Washington Post, not NYT. Also. headline link doesn't work.
Your recommended must-read article is in The Washington Post, not the New York Times. "In chaotic Washington blitz, Elon Musk’s ultimate goal becomes clear
Shrink government, control data and — according to one official closely watching the billionaire’s DOGE — replace “the human workforce with machines.”
February 8, 2025 at 11:33 a.m. EST
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/02/08/doge-musk-goals/