Wisconsin Rebukes Elon Musk's Pathetic Pandering

Yesterday marked the first day of this Administration that wasn’t completely, horribly, abysmally awful. Granted, it began with thousands more layoffs at health agencies, where Robert F. Kennedy continued his purge of senior leaders and scientists as part of his deeply unpopular anti-vaccine agenda. But even as that was unfolding, the Senator from New Jersey took to the Senate floor—and didn’t stop. Cory Booker spoke for a little over 25 hours, assailing the Trump Administration and, more impressively, delivering a powerful tribute to the legacy of John Lewis with far more eloquence than one would expect after standing for an entire day.

It’s true that Democrats have very little power in Congress right now. But what they can do is steal attention and disrupt the GOP’s flood-the-zone strategy. And yesterday, at least for a little while, Cory Booker owned the spotlight.

Then came the election results.

In Florida, Democrats lost both special elections in deep-red districts, but they slashed the margins by more than half compared to last November (a 16-point swing in one, 22 in the other). If they can pull off 15-point swings in ruby-red territory, imagine what’s possible in actual swing districts or even in Republican districts with single-digit advantages. And imagine what they could do if they actually rallied around a cohesive message. That swing was almost entirely driven by dissatisfaction with the current Administration.

And in Wisconsin, the Democratic-backed judge blew out the Republican-backed candidate by 10 points in a race that was called in under an hour. This, in a state Trump won just five months ago. Elon Musk and the GOP tried to buy that election — over $25 million poured into the race, including two $1 million giveaways and $50 cash payments to voters who posted photos of themselves at polling places with the Republican judge’s campaign materials. It didn’t work. Wisconsin voters told Musk to f**k off.

Voters aren’t just unhappy with the Administration; they’re not impressed by Elon Musk’s attempt to bankroll Republican success. He can’t buy his way to a win, and he can’t dig the GOP out of the hole Donald Trump and Elon Musk have put them in.

Yesterday’s results may not just embolden Democrats to stand up more forcefully, they may also push some of the feckless Republicans to show a little spine. Yes, the GOP still holds the power in Congress, but they’re paralyzed by fear of Musk, who looked a whole lot less scary after last night.

And that Wisconsin win wasn’t just symbolic, it was consequential. It means Democrats will maintain judicial control in the state on major issues like voting rights, abortion access, and redistricting.

Also? It was really fun to see “Eat shit, Elon Musk” trending all night.

For what it’s worth, even Joe Rogan took a swing at the Administration yesterday, slamming them for “horrific” deportations of “people who are not criminals … getting lassoed up and deported and sent to El Salvador prisons.” He specifically cited Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man living legally in Maryland who was wrongly deported due to an administrative error—and the Administration has refused to fix it.

Later this afternoon, Trump will announce new tariffs after the closing bell, potentially tanking the economy. But for now, let’s take a beat to savor the Wisconsin victory — and the broader message voters (and, uh, Joe Rogan) are sending: What this Administration is doing is not OK (and the White House is even reportedly fed up with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.) And maybe a few Republicans will join Democrats and find the guts to do something about it (Shhhhh. For a few hours, just let me marinate in this delusion.)