Let’s Cut Democrats a Little Slack

 

Let’s not sugar-coat it. Let’s call it what it is: a coup.

It’s not a policy shift, a government shake-up, or a peaceful transfer of power. It’s not something Americans know much about, or are prepared to deal with.

We’re witnessing a full-on fascist takeover. It would be right out of the Hitler playbook, except Hitler had nothing like the computer skills and gargantuan financial resources of the “tech bros,” Elon Musk and Peter Thiel. These two immigrants are, quite ironically, riding a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment to launch a hostile takeover of the federal government.

It’s hard to know what to do about it, and better minds than mine are now pondering it full-time. But one way to start is to get over this ridiculous notion that Democrats are somehow responsible, or asleep at the switch, or should have seen this coming.

A lot of them did indeed see it coming, long ago. Elizabeth Warren, Adam Schiff, Jamie Raskin, and dozens of other elected Democrats have been waving red flags, some of them for decades. They’ve tried to tell whoever would listen that we’re heading down a dark and dangerous road, that our institutions and social contracts are disturbingly vulnerable, that our cushy lifestyles are under threat. I’m sure they’re not happy to be right.

But we can’t say we weren’t warned. Unfortunately, Americans do not pay attention. Which leaves Democratic elected officials standing at a focal point in American history, in a role most of them didn’t sign up for. They will either cave or step up, neither choice especially palatable. And stepping up will require the kind of courage most of us have never had tested. I assure you they are as frightened as we are, and we need to cut them some slack.

Republicans have already caved. Even the so-called “moderates” — the ones known to use a knife and fork — are drinking the Kool-Aid. Even in swing districts, they’re falling in line, and the speed with which they’ve surrendered to the Trump-Musk junta raises ugly questions of blackmail and physical threats to their families. Does anyone think the coup leaders would hesitate to kill children, even Republican children, if it advanced their agenda?

When multiple Republican senators go on the record to “express deep concerns” about wacko appointees — the likes of Gabbard, Hegseth, Kennedy, Patel, Vought, Bondi, etc. — and then turn right around and confirm them anyway, it’s hard not to believe that they’re being extorted in some way. Most of them understand what they’re doing, and they’re doing it anyway.

But you have to wonder how far even they can afford to let Musk go. Do they just stand by and watch their constituents lose regular checks in their mail, whether from Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid? The question has not yet been posed, but I can’t help but think it’s coming soon.

Which is why the true existential threat is Elon Musk’s seizure of the Treasury computers. Everything else is painful and stupid, but this is on another level entirely. Everything else is burning, but this is where the fire engines need to go.

It’s probably too late. Our entire financial and national security infrastructure could be compromised beyond repair already. If Musk’s incel tech-boys have been monkeying with government software, our traditional allies have no choice but to assume that the U.S. is, at best, a massive security breach, and, at worst, a dangerous enemy. They have no choice but to cut us off from all intelligence sharing, and to assume we will betray Ukraine. The mutual trust that has been in place since World War II is gone already, and it might never be restored.

Democrats are trying to find their footing in all of this, even as they try to deal with an onslaught of nonsensical but explosive executive orders, all of which are blatantly illegal, and all of which will need to be fought out in court.

This is not a bad thing. Yes, the courts move slowly, but that can favor the good guys, especially when injunctions are involved. The longer these disputes take to crawl through the judicial system, the more obvious it will be what the vandals are doing, and the more people will be affected at ground level. There will be widespread damage inflicted on everyday Americans — especially on Trump voters — and it’s crucial that everyone be made aware of that damage as it happens.

So lawsuits and injunctions will be our friends. They are now proliferating in both federal and state courts, though it’s hardly a given that Musk will obey them.

Which is why it might fall to prosecutors in individual states — New York, California, and Illinois come to mind — to go after him. It would be too much to think they could arrest him — even though the law would be on their side — but they can certainly throw up roadblocks. Anything that slow-walks an atrocity is worth doing, and there are lots of atrocities out there.

Even if these lawsuits, which are already voluminous, ultimately get decided in the Supreme Court, the blowback by then might even get through to the Alito clique. Ever wonder what those six stooges think of Musk taking down the government? They were looking for a theocracy, not a technocracy, and I have to believe they’re as shocked as we are at the speed and scope of the coup. I wonder if they even understand that having ruled for Trump in such corrupt fashion, they may have ruled themselves out of existence. Trump doesn’t do gratitude.

Most of these cases, both civil and criminal, will take months if not years to reach SCOTUS, unless the judicial process somehow gets tanked altogether, which is not out of the question. But while we may bemoan the glacial pace of the court system, it’s that same system that allows for injunctions, cease-and-desist orders, and legal challenges to all kinds of rogue actions. May they multiply and flourish.

As long as we’re looking on the plus side — difficult, I know — another thing we have going for us is that everybody hates Musk, not least the MAGA crowd. You can bet there are people close to Trump who would love to take him down. The theocrats of Project 2025 must surely be wondering what the hell Trump is letting Musk get away with, and they must suspect that Musk is stealing money they themselves want to steal. So to them, Musk is a loose cannon. And Trump can turn on anyone in a heartbeat.

In the meantime, the MAGA minions are throwing up all sorts of shiny objects, all transparently illegal, all designed to divert our gaze from the real villainy. So we can’t go for the head fakes. Pay no attention to Trump’s free associations concerning Gaza, Greenland, Canada, or Mexico. Even Trump knows he’s not serious, and he’s counting on our hair-on-fire rage to distract us from the real plan, which is the gutting and looting of the federal government.

So let’s be real. We’ve lost the presidency, both houses of Congress, and the Supreme Court. It’s up to all of us, not just our elected officials, to ask ourselves where the leverage will come from. Where can a difference actually be made? What kinds of action can actually be effective?

I’m expecting to hear some good answers, any day now. When I do, I’ll pass them along.