Kid Musk:
Elon Musk's unchecked power is illegal and unconstitutional. Privately many Republicans concede this. So, why aren't they standing up to Elon? Were they to do so, it might lessen the heat at their Town Hall meetings because clearly, their constituents want him out.
Art by Kevin Kreneck. For more Graphics and Greeting Cards, go to https://kkreneck.wixsite.com/mysite
Yeah, they're trying to re-write history.
The new Republican Jan 6 commission is re-investigating the events of Jan 6 with an emphasis on discrediting the original members of the first commission. All this is an attempt to somehow shift blame from Republicans to Democrats for the events of that fateful day.
Art by Kevin Kreneck. For more Graphics and Greeting Cards, go to https://kkreneck.wixsite.com/mysite
Exit the caring nation; enter the police state.
The Trump administration continues to de-fund and eliminate most departmental agencies that cater to the needs of regular people, while continuing to subsidize and cut taxes for Corporate America. Bottom line, Trump and his cronies are attempting to destroy the democratic state, leaving Trump and his Billionaire buddies in charge.
Art by Kevin Kreneck. For more Graphics and Greeting Cards, go to https://kkreneck.wixsite.com/mysite
Democrats are plenty mad at Sen. Charles Schumer and nine other Democratic senators who blocked the filibuster that threatened to force the federal government to shut down, in the hopes it would force Republicans to negotiate with Democrats.
The rank and file wanted Democrats to stand up and fight the Republican attempts to replace democracy with dictatorship. When House Republicans brought up a partisan stopgap resolution that was drafted without Democratic input and would allow the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s DOGE tech bros to carry out their efforts to slash the federal bureaucracy, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries rallied the House Democrats in opposition, but the stopgap resolution passed 217 to 213 on March 11, with one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, opposing it and one Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden of Maine. supporting it. Then House Republicans left town, daring Senate Democrats to filibuster and force the shutdown three days later.
Schumer at first said Republicans, who have 53 senators, lacked the Democratic votes to reach the 60 votes needed to overcome the filibuster. Schumer proposed an amendment to reduce the stopgap to one month, giving both parties work on a compromise, but he got a hard no from the Republican leadership.
In the end, Schumer concluded, “While the CR bill is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse. I believe allowing Donald Trump to take even more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option.”
Democratic Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Gary Peters of Michigan, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, as well as Angus King — an independent senator from Maine, who caucuses with Democrats — voted to close the filibuster and let the CR proceed.
After the vote, Schumer rejected calls for him to step down, saying he believed he was doing the “right thing for America” and for his party in voting to keep the government open. During a shutdown, he said, “the Executive Branch has sole power to determine what is, quote, ‘essential.’ And they can determine without any court supervision.”
Outraged voters need to remember that Democrats are not the bad guys in this situation. Republicans are in control of the House, the Senate and the White House. Democrats may fight them, but they can’t win, as Trump and Musk have effectively neutered any Republicans in Congress who might show a spine. All Trump has to do is call potential mavericks and threaten to promote a Republican primary opponent, who will be financed by Musk, in the next election.
Many Republicans are convinced shutting down government is a good thing and, during a shutdown, Trump and Musk would continue finding places to cut government agencies and employees in pursuit of dismantling the “deep state.”
Congressional Republicans, who control the oversight committees, have refused to call Musk to the Capitol to explain how his DOGE bros, with their sketchy backgrounds, are qualified to find “waste, fraud and inefficiency” in government agencies, when it seems they are arbitrarily ordering the layoffs of probationary federal employees, who have less job protection, and shutting down government offices, with most of the savings going to pay for tax breaks for billionaires.
Musk in February labeled Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” and “one big pyramid scheme,” fueling concern that he was making the case to dismantle key social safety net benefits, which is a longtime goal of right wingers. Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Musk’s comments show that Republicans are “coming after Social Security and Medicare. And they aren’t even hiding it.”
Republicans aren’t demanding that Musk show his work, either. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., defended Musk, saying his scrutiny of Social Security is focusing on “fraud, waste and abuse.” (Social Security’s inspector general in August 2024 reported that between fiscal 2015 and 2022, less than 1% of its payments were “improper,” most of which are overpayments, and they do attempt to recover those overpayments.)
Martin O’Malley, who served as Social Security commissioner during the Biden administration, said he expects the reorganization and staff cuts being steered by Musk and DOGE to cause a meltdown that could interfere with benefit payments that go to more than 73 million retirees and disabled Americans.
Acting Social Security Commissioner Leland Dudek threatened to shut the whole agency down March 21 because he’s angry a federal judge temporarily blocked Musk and his DOGE hackers from accessing sensitive information at the agency.
“Really, I want to turn it off and let the courts figure out how they want to run a federal agency,” Dudek said. Again, Republican congressional leaders are not showing concern, although unnamed Republicans have told reporters they wish Musk would shut up about calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme. And Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick didn’t help when he said on a podcast that anyone calling for help because their Social Security check didn’t come is likely a fraudster.
“Let’s say Social Security didn’t send out their checks this month. My mother-in-law, who’s 94, she wouldn’t call and complain. She just wouldn’t. She thinks something got messed up and she’ll get it next month. A fraudster always makes the loudest noise screaming, yelling, and complaining,” said Lutnick, a multibillionaire who could easily cover his mother-in-law’s expenses until Social Security gets sorted out.
Democratic leaders must do a better job messaging. of course, but Schumer isn’t going anywhere, and his term runs through 2028. Democrats’ best hope right now is getting federal courts to reverse Trump’s illegal actions that shut down agencies, intimidate liberal advocates and twist immigration laws to deport or deny entry to foreign nationals who criticize Trump.
Democrats must come up with strong candidates to replace retiring Sens. Gary Peters in Michigan, Tina Smith in Minnesota and Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire. They also need candidates for special elections in Ohio to fill the remaining two years of JD Vance’s term and one in Florida to fill the remaining two years of Marco Rubio’s term after he became Secretary of State. Democrats also expect a tough re-election race for Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia,
Endangered Republican incumbents include Susan Collins in Maine and Thom Tillis in North Carolina. In Texas, incumbent Sen. John Cornyn may face a Republican primary challenge from right wingers who think he’s not crazy enough, so Democrats should put up a strong challenger in case it turns out to be an open seat and Texas Latinos decide they have had enough of Trump’s harassment of Browns.
The best course forward is not to burn Teslas, but win back the House and Senate in 2026 and make Trump a lame duck. — JMC
