Erick-Woods Erickson
Yesterday, the world witnessed perhaps the gayest thing to ever happen in Pride Month in the history of Pride. Don’t take my word for it. Take the MAGA spin patrol for a whirl.
Why do the MAGA bros always sound like Ellen DeGeneres in April of 1997?
Let’s be honest — this was always going to happen.
The world’s most powerful man and the world’s richest man are together the immovable object meeting the unstoppable force. It’s Billy Bob Thorton and Angelia Jolie breaking up.
I have a friend who is a deep-in-the-weeds conspiracist who is convinced this is WWE staging to help Elon Musk rehabilitate himself with the left as he departs the White House. I’m not sure we’d have gotten the Jeffrey Epstein list (there is not one) tweet if that was the case.
“You threaten my business interests and I’ll accuse you of being on a secret list of pedophiles!”
“Great idea! And I’ll get Steve Bannon to suggest your immediate deportation and the nationalization of Space X.”
Here’s the reality — guests and fish start to smell after 3 days.
Elon Musk had overstayed his welcome, often acted like a co-president, ran roughshod over White House staff, and began alienating people who were weary of a co-presidency between Trump and Musk.
Musk has a drug habit and is on the spectrum and his lifestyle is incompatible with Washington. A genius at building stuff, Musk found the Byzantine world of Washington too much. He tried to smash through it and grew frustrated that he could not.
Trump does not like sharing the spotlight. This is supposed to be the second season of the Trump show. He did not sign up for his co-star attempting to outshine him on his eponymous show. I Love Lucy was Lucille Ball’s show. Desi was always meant to be filler whether he knew it or not.
Musk lacked self-awareness. Trump gave Musk a lot of rope and Musk, not Trump, decided to strangle both of them with it. Many a cabinet secretary was ready for Musk to leave and some were very, very happy yesterday afternoon texting the funniest memes on Twitter to friends.
Elon Musk is a very smart man. Many smart men are outsmarted by Washington. Elon Musk is a charismatic man. Many charismatic men stand too close to the sun.
We’ll see where this goes.
But for all the rallying around the Trump flag, as people make this a one-sided “blame Elon” game, there is a serious reality.
The world’s most powerful man has three years on the world stage left.
The world’s richest man currently controls the most powerful conversation starter in the world and has thirty to forty years left. Do Republicans really want to alienate him? Ask Grok.
Oh, and Trump just alienated Leonard Leo, who has over a billion dollars to spend advancing the right.
In both the case of Elon Musk and Leonard Leo, I suspect a few too many grifters have whispered in the ears of those around the President to help poison the well for their own advantage, not for the rest of us or even the President.
I assume, because of their mutual interests, Musk and Trump will ultimately kiss and make up and everyone will insist it was all staged. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get some peace offering of some kind today, probably a meme on Twitter from Musk. Neither man wants to give the left a win, and both men share a list of common enemies.
Lastly, we should not let this overshadow something more important.
Eighty-one years ago today, 156,000 Allied soldiers stormed the beaches of France to liberate a continent and defeat Nazism. By sunset, 4,400 of those soldiers would be dead on the beach.
We get to watch the spectacle because the young men of America, in a different era, rose to face evil and won.
