Bob MaistrosLittle remains to be said about the sudden and explosive grudge match between the world’s richest man and its most powerful.
Other than that, the blowup is not only completely puerile (“You’re a pedo who should be impeached.” “Oh, yeah? I’m going to eliminate all your contracts!” “Then I’m going to cancel my rocket!”)
But also galactically stupid. Not just because it allows radical progressives to exult in one of your correspondent’s favorite ploys in his days as a volunteer political adviser: “Let’s you (the opposing candidate) and him (an ally recruited for the purpose) fight.”
But also because it results from circumstances predicted right on these here pages by this here long-time (dating back to his 1970s start on a Democratic legislative staff) and hence deservedly cynical observer of the Washington scene.
Who now gets to type out that most delicious and demeaning of all disparagements: Told ya so.
Told ya so way back in December, to be exact.
When this digital ink-stained wretch expressed “his best wishes for” and admiration of “the astronomical talents, infectious enthusiasm, and media magnetism of the dynamic duo of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy,” who at the time were to co-pilot the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
But also his informed “skepticism” that DOGE could “cut waste. Reduce headcount. Chop a quarter of federal spending, including entire agencies. Eliminate counterproductive regulations. And increase efficiency to boot.”
Why? Not just because of more than a century of meager results from various reform and efficiency commissions and initiatives.
But specifically, due to first, an “appropriations process” known for “larding” bills “stuffed like a Christmas goose” with special favors but also with “stealth substantive statutory changes.”
Add the vaunted “reconciliation process” to that category. In the form of a 1,000-plus-page Big but not so Beautiful Bill (BbnsBB), the House Ways and Means summary of which runs 47 pages. And which adds, depending on your source, up to $2.5 trillion in debt in coming years.
Second: the fact that “every program forwarded for elimination will have champions not just among Dems but in the GOP caucus.” In this case, Blue State Republicans fought to maintain the fraud-ridden, grifter-and-sloth-benefiting and massively budget-busting Medicaid program intact, not to mention billions of dollars in scandalously wasteful and counterproductive Green New Deal dollars flowing to their states.
In addition to fighting to reinstate billions in tax breaks for billionaires, in Miss Lizzie Warren’s and Uncle Bernie Sanders’ favorite phrase, in the form of state and local tax (SALT) deductions.
And third, the “immutable” Iron Triangle, in which lobbyists buttonhole and folks back home importune representatives over essential spending in individual states.
So now that the page is turning to the “rescission process,” the Office of Management and Budget dares to pony up only $9.4 billion – that’s with a “b” – in withdrawn funding. Or 0.47% of the $2 trillion in cuts initially promised by the initially bright-eyed, bushy-tailed Musk, who somehow thought he could charm the pants off Potomac Swamp creatures as he’s wowed worshipping Tesla shareholders.
And “told ya so” even before that, just five days after the supposedly “landslide” election. These pages highlighted a counterrevolution that has placed yet another set of massive hurdles in the path not just of DOGE’s efforts but The Donald’s entire second-term agenda:
“(I)f you think the battle was won with last Tuesday’s victory, think again. And prepare for a prolonged siege of renewed lawfare, forum-shopped court challenges, scorched-earth rhetoric, media gaslighting, tech censorship, Deep State defiance, and Uniparty vetoes of promised reform.”
And fingered rogue state officials and radical left advocacy organizations who had been gearing up for months for the assault.
Your correspondent need not detail how each element of the above has come to pass precisely as foreseen. How – specifically relating to Musk’s grudges – forum-shopped district court judges, with the scandalous sufferance of sclerotic, scarcely sentient Supremes, unconstitutionally usurped Article II powers. They’ve ordered withheld spending to be disbursed, purloining programs to be sustained, and dismissed Deep Staters – who led the way to the courthouse – to be reinstated.
How that “scorched-earth rhetoric” inspired and escalated into literally scorched Tesla vehicles and dealerships – along with the napalming of Elon’s heretofore powerful personal brand.
How compliant media gaslighters spun sob stories of pink-slipped workers and supposedly starving Third World children and millions who would “lose benefits.”
And as just related above, how the Uniparty is closing ranks around the BbnsBB.
If actual grownups were involved, all of the above would hardly be grounds for circular firing squads. Rather, on the one side (Musk’s), they would occasion resigned shoulder shrugs and redoubling of efforts to advocate for reform. Or gracious withdrawal from the front lines, passing the torch to administration officials to carry forth the battle with continued support and encouragement from the sidelines.
And on the other (Trump’s), the counteroffensive calls for a truly Gipper-esque effort to take on the federal Leviathan. Your correspondent switched parties in 1980 just in time to join the battle for a truly momentous (if temporary) redirection of government that resulted in across-the-board double-digit tax cuts and real, as in real-term reductions of spending.
How was it done? Not by decrying the difficulty of getting to 218 votes in the House and 51 in the Senate, as Team Trump has done in dodging the responsibility of a true attempt to avoid the looming debt cliff.
But by going over the heads of recalcitrant reps and stubborn solons directly to the American people. Who obediently marched on Washington, burned up the Capitol Hill phone lines and buried congressional offices in pro-Reagan Revolution correspondence.
The Donald and Elon came out of the election with abundant political capital and personal goodwill to engage the opposition in the same manner. And having previously “told ‘em so,” this commentator is telling them now to grow up, get a grip, chill the toddler-like tantrums and Twitter twit-for-tat – and reengage the right way with their common foe, and that of an undoubtedly disappointed electorate.
Bob Maistros, a regular contributor to Issues & Insights, is a messaging and communications strategist, crisis specialist, and former political speechwriter. He can be reached at bob@rpmexecutive.com.
Views expressed by guest contributors to Issues & Insights are their own and don’t necessarily reflect the views of the I&I Editorial Board.
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DOGE is the bold and innovative effort to do what many of us know the Federal Government has desperately needed for decades; a good house cleaning.
The Federal Government is a result of the inclination of every politician to add programs, raise taxes and ignore the results.
Every city and state has needed a full-on DOGE for decades, too. My city of Philadelphia has 124 commissions, departments, committees, agencies, etc., added by Council and by Ballot Questions; half of the 124 no one now has heard of and not one of the 124 has a sunset clause; so they are perpetual unless our city DOGEs ourselves, too.
With so many billions of dollars of waste, fraud, redundancy and outrageous nonsense all voted on by politicians, sloshing around in every city, state and the federal government, mistakes will be made, but the concept of DOGE is on everyones agenda now.
That is a massive step forward. Let us take full advantage of DOGE for much better governments and lower taxes.
Well, Elon set in to do some real work, sacrificed a lot of his own time and effort that cost him many billions of dollars, for what? at the end of the day, all the savings and stuff, nobody cared, and they all stuck their heads right back into the trough for another guzzle of that free stuff. Can’t blame him one bit after seeing all that corruption, and being powerless to stop any of it.
When Egos Collide.