Wisconsin Curd-Stomped Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s political power is already waning.
Elon Musk turned the Wisconsin Supreme Court case into a referendum on himself. He spent millions of dollars on the race, even giving out million-dollar checks to select Wisconsin voters in the final days. Susan Crawford’s victory over her opponent became another expensive self-own for Musk. If the race was, in fact, a referendum on Musk, voters don’t seem to like him at all. Which is why some Democrats are now mocking Musk, begging him to come and campaign in their districts for their opponents.
The super-rich attempting to buy Wisconsin Supreme Court races is nothing new. This election cycle might have broken a spending record, but outside spending has always been considerable. Most billionaires attempting to buy a Supreme Court seat have enough sense to write a big check and try to keep that fact quiet. Elon Musk, however, is completely addicted to the attention. I suspect he craves it even more than the win.
We don’t get many wins right now, so I encourage you to savor this one. Crawford’s position on the bench and the court’s continued liberal majority are objectively good for Wisconsin. More damage to Elon Musk’s power, wealth, and personal brand is an objectively good thing for America. And if I’m being petty, seeing that smarmy jerk lose made me happy.
It’s also important to be strategic. No one voted for Elon Musk, and it’s clear that even a lot of Trump’s cronies don’t care for him. The knives are already out with leaks that Musk’s time in government might soon be coming to an end. The White House has denied this, but Vice President Vance is already speaking about Musk in the past tense. As Musk bankrolled Trump’s own victory, it’s unclear if Trump can cut Elon loose, even if he might want to.
Sinking Elon Musk and making MAGA own him is low-hanging fruit. Musk and his DOGE goons are stealing America’s infrastructure out from under us for Musk’s own gain. DOGE has spent half a trillion dollars of our tax dollars, uncovered no actual waste or fraud, and Musk has enriched himself with government contracts for his own companies worth billions of dollars. Wired reports that DOGE has even commandeered a $500 Million Building for its office space.
Musk’s DOGE is responsible for gutting the Social Security Administration, slowing down service, and already preventing Americans from accessing the funds they’re entitled to under the program. DOGE continues to slash and burn America’s Federal agencies one by one, causing massive job losses that will harm the economy and make it impossible for Americans to access the government benefits and services that our tax dollars pay for.
Elon Musk is a thief. He’s robbing you and everyone you know blind. He’s stealing from you and your family to enrich himself. He’s also never been more vulnerable. Weeks of Tesla Takedown protests, terrible press, and now Wisconsin have brought Musk’s political capital and reputation to an all-time low. We shouldn’t let up until Elon is sent packing; his personal wealth greatly reduced and his reputation as a genius in tatters. Let’s finish the job.
ICYMI
The Tech Fantasy That Powers A.I. Is Running on Fumes (NY Times)
I cackled when Tressie McMillan Cottom described AI as “mid tech.” Snark aside, her take on what AI can and can’t do vs the hype is a needed dose of reality for the conversation.
MAGA and Manosphere Podcasts Helped Andrew Tate Reach Millions While He Was Stateside (Media Matters)
From the research: “While Tate was in the U.S., at least 5 podcasters interviewed him, and their videos with Tate have since garnered at least 47.8 million views across social media.”
We should be talking more about the 40-day boycott of Target organized by Black faith leaders. Because it’s working.
Tufts University Pushes for Release of Student Grabbed Off the Street by Immigration Officials (NBC News)
Last week, I wrote about the importance of showing solidarity and the courage it can sometimes take to do so. Tufts University is offering an example of how it’s done, and how a University can stand with its students and against the MAGA regime.
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Coda
That’s all for this week. Thanks so much for reading and enjoying Ctrl Alt-Right Delete. We’ll do this again next Sunday.
This is good, but we still have the Project 2025 crowd to deal with, not to mention the garden-variety racists and misogynists who want to take the country back to the 1850s. Since JD Vance is Trump's Get-Out-of-Impeachment card, we've got a way to go yet, but between Wisconsin, the solid showing by Dems in Florida, and all of us hundreds of thousands in the streets demanding HANDS OFF! yesterday, we are up to it for sure.
Musk has a case that is going before the courts in Wisconsin and will wind up in he Wisconsin Supreme Court. Thus his interest in Wisconsin.