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THE VIEW FROM HERE - Donald Trump and especially his MAGA supporters fail to realize that Trump’s biggest liability is his mental disorders, HPD & NPD and his best friend is the Republic. Histrionics often mistake enemies as bosom buddies. True believers of any ilk including MAGA and Wokers often cannot read the hand writing on the wall. Here’s what happened.
The Republic is designed to spread power among many different factions so that no one place accumulates too much power. Not only do we have three different branches of government, but within the legislative branch, power is divided between the House of Representatives and the Senate. Before any bill can even go to the President for his approval, it must receive a majority vote in both the House and the Senate, and sometimes, a bill must receive a 2/3rd Yes vote. Assuming a bill passes Congress, then the President must sign it for it to become law.
All four of the House and Senate DEM and GOP leadership had agreed to pass the Continuing Resolution (CR) or the government would close down at 12:00.01 AM Saturday. Among other things, the CR continued the present level of spending until March 2025, and it added a lot – and I mean a lot – of new matters. The CR was A-OK from a constitutional standpoint. (Oh yes, Doddering Old Joe’s handlers had told him that he had to sign whatever Congress approved.)
There was no constitutional defect with the bill’s being 1557 pages and Congress had only 72 hours to read it. (War and Peace has about 1,225 pages.) This is not such a great task. No Congressperson need read it since there are scads of lobbyists to tell them what is objectionable. Also, Congress members will defer to their colleagues with expertise on special sections. What 95% of TV viewers missed is that there was no significant objection to any of the items within the CR. Hence, the habitual nay sayers complained about the length.
Then, along came Elon Musk who was upset that one CR item stopped him from sending military sensitive technology to China. With Musk’s growing multi-billion dollar businesses within China, the Chinese leadership would be sure to retaliate against Musk if the prohibition on selling American military technology to China became law.
Thus, Elon Musk launched a blizzard of anti-CR tweets on Twitter, threatening GOP members that unless they stopped the CRA, he would “fire them.” Elon Musk and Trump still live under the delusion that Trump can just yell, “You’re Fired” and Congressmen members will resign with their tails between their legs like FBI Director Wray. In government lingo, “You’re Fired,” is “You will be primaried.” Trump did it to Liz Cheney in Wyoming, so why couldn’t Musk do it with all the GOP House who defied him? Someone, it seems, reminded Musk that the “You’re Fired” line belongs to Trump. Thus, quite a while later Donny backed up Elon and threatened to primary everyone who supported the CR, and then, Trump took one more very myopic step – he demanded that a new CR would have to remove the Debt Ceiling.
I’ve never met Susie Wiles, Trump’s new chief of staff, but I fantasize that she was running thru Mar-a-Lago screaming, “No, No, No! Stop! STFU. Stuff a McDonald’s big mac in his mouth.” Unlike Elon and Trump, she had to know that the GOP Freedom Caucus would vote against any bill which raised the Debt Limit. That would be similar to the Pope’s declaring that Judas and not Jesus was part of the trinity. Furthermore, none of the DEMS would vote Yes, leaving the new CR with substantially less than a majority of votes, when it would need 2/3rd Yes vote. (When a bill is not provided to all Congress a full 72 hours before the vote, it must receive a 2/3rd Yes vote.) Furthermore, the Republic had three more checks on Elon’s power move: (1) In the Senate, Majority leader Chuck Schumer would have to put the bill on the floor for a vote. (2) If Schumer should allow a vote, 2/3rd of the Senate would have to vote Yes, and then (3) Old Joe would have to sign it.
Trump’s absurd Debt Ceiling demand would survive none of these checks. Nonetheless, Elon insisted that Speaker Mike Johnson bring the Debt Ceiling CR to a vote. Did Trump really think that his threatening to primary all GOP House members would cause them to vote Yes? Even if each GOP voted Yes, the CR would fail without tons of DEM votes. In other words, Elon Musk pants Donny Small Hands in public.
So How Did Musk Win When Trump Suffered Such a Humiliating Defeat?
Either Musk just lucked out or he was playing three dimensional chess while the Dems and Trump were playing twiddly winks. There was time for another CR to avert a government close down. While 98% of the country thought a close down was a bad idea, Elon got Trump to say he did not care if the government shut down just before Christmas. Trump’s Ebenezer Scrooge like statement will turn out to be a gift which will not stop giving to the DEMs. My next fantasy is that Trump is hiding in a broom closet at Mar-a-Lago, while Susie Wiles is stalking the halls with a meat cleaver.
What Did the DEMs Negotiate as the Third CR?
The Dems agreed to remove every single item except for $100 Billion for FEMA relief and $10 Billion for Farmers which both GOP and DEM wanted. In other words, the DEMs got bupkis. The DEMS agreed that Musk could continue to send American military secrets to China which removed a huge bargaining chip from Trump when he has to deal with Xi Jinping. To further humiliate to Trump, Musk cut the section which reduced medical drug costs for Americans which was part of Trump’s promise to reduce inflation.
Speaker Mike Johnson Is Not Happy
Right now no one seems smart enough to care how Speaker Mike Johnson feels about Musk, but the signals are present. After the final vote on the CR without the Debt Ceiling clause, Johnson made clear that he had spoken with Musk before he spoke to Trump! In response to the absurd calls for Elon Musk to replace Johnson as Speaker, I have another personal fantasy – Johnson played Jack Nicholson in a Few Good Men, and told Musk, “You cannot handle the job.”
Elon Musk treats the Republic as the Trump behaved on The Apprentice – he not only owns Republic but he can also fire all its employees. Musk walked into Twitter and fired scads of employees, but he cannot fire a single member of Congress. Similarly, Trump lives under the delusion that he has some mandate to run the US government as he sees fit and anyone who disagrees will be fired. Is there any GOP member of Congress willing to be Speaker went Elon Musk gets to have the final word? Maybe Matt Gaetz would like the job; he’s so loved by his House colleagues.
In their effort to turn America into their personal oligarchy, Musk and Trump will persist in fighting against the Republic and the US Constitution. Presently, the meme “He who has the gold makes the rules” is in control. The question is: How long will Trump tolerate his being a humiliated and enfeebled second fiddle?
(Richard Lee Abrams has been an attorney, a Realtor and community relations consultant as well as a CityWatch contributor. You may email him at [email protected])
