The Witness Chronicles, 4/3/25

Dems waking up and Musk out?

Apr 03, 2025

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There’s Change in the Air

Are Democrats finding the way to the center, finally?

The end of Trump’s third month in office this term is nearing and it appears that the Democrats may finally be waking up. I think the early bellwether events were former VP candidate Tim Walz holding voter events in red districts, AOC and Bernie’s American Oligarchs mini tour that drew thousands, and the instructions from right wing House Speaker Mike Johnson warning his colleagues to skip those same kinds of public events.

Those were the early indicators that some Democrats were finding ways to tap into voter discontent with Trump and Musk’s rampage across the government. They also showed Republicans’ true colors as they basically chickened out rather than face their own constituents’ wrath.

Now, Politico reports that Musk may be pulling out, supposedly to shore up his sagging Tesla business and after his debacle in Wisconsin, where he basically embarrassed his Party by acting like a fool while throwing money around. It may very well be that Musk will be the first casualty in the expected first of Trump’s purges this time around.

I’m also watching Mike Waltz, the National Security Advisor who not only triggered Signalgate, but who now is said to have been using Gmail for what should be secured communications. And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth who also bungled the Signal thing and now is reportedly bringing his wife (her security clearances, if any, are unclear) to high level meetings with foreign defense officials. He also hired his younger brother in what appears to be an illegal act.

If these kinds of screwups keep coming, and they likely will, the people’s trust in this administration will fall apart. It was far from the mandate Trump claims, claims that may have encouraged his appointees to believe they have more leeway with the public than they do.

Pundits like to compare events like these to similar patterns in the first Trump administration, but this time around things are much different, orders of magnitude more extreme, and affecting voters on both sides of the fence, something Trump generally avoided the first time around.

This time it is apparent that he knows he won’t face voters again, despite his hints of a third term, something which can only take place if he declares himself dictator and then fakes an election. I’m still not paranoid enough to see that as a real possibility. The backlash would be extreme on both sides.

The real blocker to an active resistance in DC has been the reluctance of members of Congress on both sides to stand up for the American people. One theory why is that Trump will primary those who do, using Elon Musk’s money to destroy their political futures.

But we now know from the Wisconsin debacle that the power of Musk’s bottomless purse is not what it looked like, and that may remove that sword hanging over the Republican Party. It seems the American people don’t like arrogant unelected unofficials lording it over them and acting like a spoiled child with money to burn.

That dislike appears to be bipartisan and Musk’s influence not the weapon Trump thought it was. Playing the fool to MAGA crowds during a campaign is one thing, actually doing the business of the government is another.

Bipartisan is the keyword right now and it is a word Trump does not want to hear, because it implies that his divide and conquer strategy may be wearing thin. Maybe most normal Americans don’t actually hate the other side with the fervor Trump requires. Without that hate, his power base turns out to be weak and frail.

Anger about prices and inflation are real and they are not exclusively Democrat or Republican issues, they are universal. With Trump set to unleash an all out global trade war, those issues will eclipse all others, including immigrant deportations, which are increasingly looking like an excuse to operate as a police state.

Everyone is touting the upcoming national protest on Saturday and Senator Cory Booker’s marathon 25 hour speech as the harbingers of change, finally. But that ‘everybody’ is mainly Washington insiders. My guess is few average Americans are even aware of those events. I hope I am wrong but I’m fairly sure I’m not.

The country hasn’t been galvanized, yet. But we are getting closer. When you find out that Ford F-150 you’ve been coveting just jumped in price by ten grand, you might start paying more attention to the news. If egg prices could activate people, wait till they find out how the Trump economy might start to really hit their bottom line.

Historically people have rioted over food prices. I don’t see that happening here but a Trump recession could unite a lot of people and we might see an election upheaval. When things get really bad voters tend to give up on incumbents and shift gears to trying the alternative.

That’s probably the real tipping point.

Addendum: It’s liberation day! All hail the reign of Mad King Donald. We just declared economic war on the rest of the world. And guess who will get hit hard. Those billionaires who stood behind Trump on Inauguration Day. Jeff Bezos? How much Amazon Merchandise is imported? How about Tim Cook and Apple? I doubt he seriously supports Trump but Apple stock is already down due to those factories all over Asia.

And since we are talking about Elon, what about Tesla? They are all in on China which has 58% tariffs. These tariffs are hitting all the people that Trump sees as peers, though they are all far wealthier and more successful than Trump could ever hope to be. Revenge victims? Well, never underestimate his jealousy and need for retribution. Anything is possible.

The Witness Chronicles, politics decoded

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