Rick Wilson, the former Republican strategist turned author of Everything Trump Touches Dies, has always been a noisemaker. His acerbic criticisms of Trump are well documented. Now he speaks out about the recent Trump-Musk debacle and raises an important point many have overlooked because we are all on tenterhooks to find out who’s the biggest bigot here.
Wilson raises the point that Musk really has one great card to play.
Trump’s base—the loyalty of Trump’s base and the fear that base puts into Congress—all comes from Twitter. It’s the power of Twitter to be a normative force inside of MAGA—that is the one unified group in our country at all times behind Trump. Elon can turn that switch off. He can turn that dial down. I think that Trump hasn’t thought this through because he rarely thinks anything through, but there’s a lot to be said here. We’ve got two guys with a lot of weapons, but Elon probably has more guns right now.
. . .On the back end of Twitter, we know that he boosts and deboosts accounts all the time. We know that he elevates certain content and knocks certain content below the threshold of visibility all the time. He could easily turn Twitter into a machine right now that bashed the tax bill—endlessly bashed the tax bill—and killed it. You want to take revenge on Trump, that’s a good way to kill the bill. You want to show Trump that you’ve got the power, take away his signature piece of legislation.
. . . And he could switch off the pro-Trump bot universe probably with three clicks, and it would change the political climate in this country almost instantaneously.
I think Trump has not thought this through. I don’t think these people have thought this through. I don’t think anybody’s thought this through on Trump’s team. But then again, I also think that Trump’s team is being absolutely railed by this news right now, and they are completely out of control.
Trump really hasn’t got that many cards. He can’t cancel the contract with Space X because the US has no other recourse and the space program depends on it. They could try to deport Musk but on what grounds? And Trump’s presence echoes throughout the Epstein files―which is not fake news. When that hits the fan, says Wilson, MAGA will explode.
We can only hope that they eat each other!
This blog did make me sit back in my seat for a minute. Great new (to me) thought that Wilson has about the power of the Twitter/X angle. That hadn’t occurred to me at all(!). If Trump *were* to deport Musk, it apparently doesn’t have to be legal. Would he send him back to South Africa or to the rental space in El Salvador?
It’s a contrarian Saturday up here in the mountains.
Let’s say that Musk prevails. Would you rather have him (via a proxy puppet like Vance) in control?
Small subsidiary point that no one mentions: Musk eliminated 80% of Twitter/X’ s employers, and it’s functioning perfectly well.
“Let’s say that Musk prevails. Would you rather have him (via a proxy puppet like Vance) in control?” Absurd question, Peter.
Trump is President and has numerous megaphones beyond the one he owns. what would happen if he issued an executive order denying tax breaks to Tesla. my guess is it would win immediate massive coverage irrespective of what happened on X.
“And Trump’s presence echoes throughout the Epstein files―which is not fake news. When that hits the fan, says Wilson, MAGA will explode.” If that turn out to be true, it’s the best news I’ve heard all week. But I have my doubts.
Charlie P.
If MAGA explodes, what’s next? That’s what I was “asking” with me facetious question?