President-Elect Musk Begins To Piece Together His Administration with DT

Are we doing this? Are we ready to start talking politics again? Honestly, I’m not all that eager except to mock the decisions of President-Elect Musk and his advisor, Donald Trump. After listening to a dozen podcasts analyzing the election and reading a couple dozen post-mortems, I’m going to skip the Democratic finger-pointing phase and just say: Kamala Harris was a solid candidate facing economic headwinds that worked against her. Having her campaign essentially run by Biden’s team due to time constraints didn’t help, and the DNC’s heavy-handed management after the convention diluted what was otherwise a vibrant, infectious campaign.

That said, one thing absolutely worth carrying forward is Tim Walz’s approach to reproductive rights and LGBTQ issues (especially trans issues): “It’s none of your damn business.” Harris’s framing of abortion rights as personal freedoms was hugely successful and clearly resonated in states where voters rejected abortion restrictions. That’s the strategy we should adopt for trans rights, too: it’s not about being “woke”; it’s about personal freedom. Stick to the civil libertarian angle. “It’s none of your damn business.”

Moving on: President-Elect Musk, under Trump’s advisement, has appointed himself and Vivek Ramaswamy as co-leaders of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE, naturally, to appeal to crypto bros on X). Their goal? Cut the national budget by a third without pushing unemployment to 10%, depriving seniors of Social Security, or triggering a recession (before the tariffs they’re planning do). Interestingly, the DOGE will work outside the White House, which makes me wonder if it’s just an excuse to keep the two most insufferable people in the administration far away from everyone else.

Before the election, I listened to Ezra Klein interview Ramaswamy, which was enlightening because he and J.D. Vance (close friends with differing political philosophies) disagree on how to handle government bureaucracy. Vance wants to replace bureaucrats with loyalists, while Ramaswamy favors simply gutting the system. Neither option sounds good. Both parties, Democrat and Republican, have been promising to “cut red tape” for decades without success, which makes me think this “DOGE” job is just busy work to keep the eggheads occupied—it’s a non-governmental commission with no actual power, just the ability to make recommendations. (The issue with Ramaswamy, under all the culture war bullshit, is that he’s smart and loves to show it off, which is probably grating for Trump, who … isn’t.)

We should be far more concerned about Trump’s decision to nominate Fox News host Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense. Despite being a National Guard veteran, Hegseth is wildly unqualified for the role. Likely chosen because he looks the part, his main goal seems to be rooting out “wokeness” in the military—by which he means, equality. He also believes women shouldn’t serve in combat. He said that. Out loud. Right before the election. My guess? He’s going to be unpopular with the very people he’s supposed to lead.

Pete Hegseth 5 days ago: "I'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles."

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.bsky.social) November 12, 2024 at 9:50 PM

Another shocking pick was Gov. Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel. This choice is absurd and proves, once again, that for Republicans, Israel policy is about appeasing evangelicals who view Jews as tools for their endgame (the rapture). Not that Israel’s right-wing government cares; they cheered the decision, as Huckabee doesn’t recognize Palestinians and believes the West Bank should be annexed. This signals that the U.S. policy in the Middle East for the next four years is essentially: “F*ck you.” Blaming Muslims in Michigan who voted for Trump or the far left for voting for Jill Stein doesn’t make the deaths of thousands more Palestinians any less cruel or unjust.

Also in the lineup: Marco Rubio as Secretary of State and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security. It is important to note, however, that President Musk (and DT) are not likely to listen to anyone or take their counsel. Most of these positions are figurehead positions for loyalists who can exploit their new positions for financial gain.

(As always, Lee Pace is pictured instead of Elon Musk for aesthetic reasons, with apologies to Lee Pace.