As Trump and Musk Sink in Ratings, The Resistance Rises

Trump & Musk's desire to create a new Broligarchy Reich is being challenged by the majority and a GOP base, which is slowly realizing that Republicans don't care about them or the price of eggs.

Nothing lasts forever. Not even dictators.

After consolidating power, Adolf Hitler boldly proclaimed he was ushering in a 1,000-year Reich. Well, he was just a little bit off with his math. Thirteen years later, he’d be taking cyanide pills in a bunker as the Nazis faced defeat and humiliation. Napoleon, another dictator who Trump quotes and paraphrases, died in exile on the island of St. Helena. During the final days of WW2, Il Duce, the “strongman” fascist Benito Mussolini, was executed in an Italian village. Libya’s dictator Gaddafi was beaten and tortured to death by Libyans whom he claimed loved and adored him throughout his brutal rule. Iraq’s Saddam Hussein was found hiding in a “spider hole” in a farm and was later tried and executed for crimes against humanity.

All of these men blustered, bragged, and abused their power for years, sometimes decades, to enrich themselves and their families at the expense of their people. They committed untold atrocities and traumatized generations, but all of them eventually became food for worms.

I’ve been thinking about these dictators and strongmen a lot this week as Trump has proclaimed himself “King” and yet again "joked” that he won’t be leaving after his term ends. Elon Musk, the richest man on Earth who seems to have bought the presidency for $290 million, appeared at CPAC wearing shades, slurring his words, and then bombastically waving a chainsaw to celebrate his pillaging of our government. Steven Bannon also appeared at CPAC and decided to follow in Musk’s goosesteps by flashing a “Roman Salute” at the end of his speech, which looked a lot like a Nazi salute. Bannon doubled down on Trump being President again in 2028 and he has infamously bragged that Republicans would rule for a good 40 years.

Arrogance, power, and incompetence are a dangerous and violent cocktail that does incredible harm, but it is also inevitably self-destructive.

The Trump honeymoon phase seems to be waning already. It’s only been a month since a convicted criminal who incited a violent insurrection was re-elected by a plurality of Americans on the promise of making America great again. According to a Washington Post/ISPOS poll, Trump’s approval has dipped and more than half of Americans view him unfavorably. Musk is faring even worse. In the same poll, a majority of Americans want Democrats to control Congress. In a Gallup poll, Trump received his worst economic approval rating ever at -12. It seems provoking “the dumbest trade war in history” with our allies, Canada and Mexico, isn’t the best way to bring down the prices of eggs, which remain sky-high.

Nearly every single one of his programs and actions are now unpopular with a majority of Americans, especially his pardoning of violent January 6th insurrectionists and laying off thousands of federal employees, some of whom are Trump voters. A majority of American voters see Trump as a “dictator,” not democratically elected Zelensky, who is the President of Ukraine, a country that is fighting an illegal invasion by Russia. It also doesn’t help Trump when he repeats Russian propaganda and talking points by attacking our European allies in service of his master, Putin, an actual dictator and war criminal.

In a classic “FAFO” moment, a veteran and a federal employee fired during President Musk’s ongoing purge said, “I voted for Donald Trump. But this is not what I was expecting. We didn’t think they were going to take a chainsaw to a silk rug.” Whoopsie! Maybe these Americans should’ve read Project 2025, the GOP’s supervillain plan that explicitly detailed their plans to gut popular social programs, such as Medicaid, which the recently released House GOP budget plans to slash by 10%.

These voters, especially in Red states, were perfectly fine with Trump and MAGA punishing the rest of us with their cruelty to “own the libs” without realizing they were the ones who were going to suffer the most. These same voters, overwhelmingly white and conservative, are now railing against their Republican elected officials in town halls like the one that just happened in Georgia. In an R+18 district in Ohio, Republican Congressman Troy Balderson is feeling the heat and openly saying Trump and Musk’s executive orders are “getting out of control.” He added, “Congress has to decide whether or not the Dep. of Education goes way. Not the president. Not Elon Musk. Congress decides.” Alas, if there was only something Republicans like Balderon, who control both the House and Senate, could do to hold Trump accountable and reign him, but we know they won’t because they’re privately fretting about retaliation and violence from their MAGA base.

It seems that when you elect violent, stupid people, you win violent, stupid prizes. As for the majority, we should encourage this in-fighting. Let them bring out their sabers and cut their own now that they’re realizing they’re the ones about to lose their benefits, their jobs, their farm subsidies, their food stamps, and the emergency funds. Let Bannon continue his attacks on Elon Musk and call him “a parasitic illegal immigrant.” They all deserve each other.

Our job is to start organizing, protesting, and using every skill and opportunity at our disposal to resist Trump and Musk’s authoritarian agenda. People are already out in the streets in major cities and the women of the Democratic Party, especially AOC, Rep. Crockett, and Sen. Warren are leading the way. Earlier today, Maine Gov. Janet Mills told Trump to his face that she’ll resist his cruel Executive Order targeting transgender rights and that she’d follow the law instead and see him in court.

This is the type of fierce, bold energy and spine we need to resist authoritarians and cut them down to size revealing their insecurity and weakness. In the courts, in the streets, in the town halls, and in front of racist, MAGA city councils, we need to make our voices heard like former NFL punter Chris Kluwe did in Huntington Beach protesting a MAGA plague being placed in a local library. He was arrested for his peaceful, civil disobedience but he inspired millions with his act of courage. “Someone’s got to step up,” he said.

That someone is all of us.

As MAGA fights amongst themselves, the majority has to unite. It’ll be a long walk with immense damage and pain, but at the very least we can figuratively punch a bully in the face and make it impossible for them to create their MAGA Reich in America.

Sic semper tyrannis. Long Live Democracy.

On today’s episode of Democracy-Ish, Danielle and I break down Trump’s lagging numbers and how the majority is finally waking up to the MAGA game plan that is set to enrich the broligarchy at the expense of the majority. Give us a watch and subscribe!