Implement a political version of Malwarebytes
Musk is the living embodiment of AI: a broken, tech-bro tool that inserts itself into everyone’s life unsolicited and makes everything worse. — Alex Winter
Donald Trump is acting like he’s a king the way he fooled the the New York Times (1976) into thinking he was a successful developer. The way he pretended to be a successful businessman on TV. It was a con job then. It’s a con job now.
Before we go any further, let’s review Ezra Klein’s “Don’t Believe Him” commentary from the other day on Donald Trump’s efforts to snow people into allowing him to act like a king despite the real limitations of presidential power. Like every move in Trump’s life, it’s a “fake it till you make it” put on. I had not seen the video version until last night and found it a useful tonic. Consider watching it a “take a deep breath” act of self care.
Take thirteen minutes, or bookmark this for later. This is from @ezraklein, taken from The Ezra Klein Show podcast. It explains precisely what this administration is doing and why it is essential to keep focus and not play into it.#DemsUnited #DemVoice1 pic.twitter.com/1AY2l0uIm1
— Izzy Ⓜ️Ⓜ️ 🇺🇸🦅 (@1zzyzyx1) February 4, 2025
Now then, despite Alex Winter’s pithy observations about tech-bro emotional brokenness and Paul Rosenberg’s “The intelligence is artificial. The stupidity is real,” the damage Elon Musk is doing in D.C. is also real. “Any pretense of public service has been abandoned,” writes Matt Ford at The New Republic. Musk is malware. Our goal now must be to implement a political version of Malwarebytes.
We took concerned calls over the weekend at our local headquarters asking where were congressional Democrats at the end of last week when Musk raided USAID, etc.? Short answer: at home in their districts. DNC members were in a scheduled multi-day meeting electing new leaders. That was the point of Musk’s timing. The “opposition,” as he calls them were unavailable.
Since returning to D.C. , however, Democrats have begun to rally. And to hold rallies:
Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii announced a hold on all Trump nominees until Musk’s attacks on USAID, a vital tool for projecting U.S. soft power, are reversed.
Schatz organized an effort to stall Senate approval of Project 2025 kingpin Russell Vought:
At least three dozen Democratic senators will take part in a 30-hour talkathon to show they are fighting to stop Vought, a key author of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s far-right policy blueprint for Trump’s second term. Project 2025 calls for drastic cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. It also calls for a freeze on all federal grants, something Trump tried to impose last week but had to rescind because it sure looked illegal and left countless federal programs in disarray.
Update: We’re halfway through the night. I’m taking the 1am shift. Tune in. pic.twitter.com/LnXuIgSFBj
— Senator Brian Schatz (@SenBrianSchatz) February 6, 2025
Some friends were skeptical of the 50 states rallies held on Wednesday (they came out of nowhere and sparked concerns about false-flags), but they seem to have arisen organically like the George Floyd protests. And they took off around the nation.
Don’t get mad. Get busy.
(h/t AL)