What the heck is going on? Have some of America’s leaders gone completely bonkers?
How else to explain the world’s richest man and the globe’s most powerful political figure slapping each other around with the cockiness of pimply teenagers? President Trump and once-best buddy Elon Musk looked like plastic Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots in that tiny Mattel boxing ring. We—the observing public—find it hard to turn away from the spectacle. Instead, we watch as the red and blue (or in this case, red and red) pugilists land blow after blow. But for what purpose?
Why does the president punch down like this? Mr. Trump could have killed the drama before it started and come out looking coolly tough if he’d left it to lesser figures in his retinue to dismiss the gazillionaire politely. Ignore him and move on was the better move. Getting into a spitting match with an angry plutocrat diminishes everyone involved. Americans rightly think the president has better things to do with his time and words—like encouraging economic growth, creating jobs, stopping inflation and making the U.S. strong and respected.
What was Mr. Musk thinking? While he says he now regrets many of his posts slamming Mr. Trump, the damage is done. He looks petty, even crazy. He and the president are likely forever estranged. Far from raising voter concern about the debt or reconciliation bill, his schoolyard taunts and imperious threats raised suspicions that he was mostly irritated that Republicans axed a green tax credit paid to Tesla buyers.
Both men should consider how the rest of the world is seeing this and the ramifications for America. Do we want the greatest nation in history to look like a circus?
The globe and the U.S. specifically face serious challenges. Having two enormous egos hurl insults at each other does nothing to solve them. If only the spectacle ended there.
Sadly, our political decline reaches across the aisle.
California this past week has been case in point as Los Angeles has been consumed with anti-immigration-enforcement rioting. Gavin Newsom, governor of America’s most populous state, thought it real slick to dare federal officials Sunday to arrest him after border czar Tom Homan said he’d jail anyone who impedes federal law enforcement. It’s hard to see how this was helpful in a political climate in which leaders of both parties—first Republicans, then Democrats—have chanted “lock her up” or “lock him up” in recent presidential campaigns. But the California Democrat apparently thought he could help his in 2028 by demanding his arrest, booking and detention.
What he and other Democrats don’t seem to understand is that the chaos in California could be their Sister Souljah moment. Bill Clinton used his to bring the Democratic Party out of the nose dive of three straight White House defeats. By strongly denouncing violent protesters, today’s Democrats could help their party start ridding itself of a reputation for defunding the police, excusing violent urban carnage, and opening the border to a tidal wave of illegal aliens.
Our rhetorical fall isn’t a matter of a few loudmouths at the top of the heap—both sides have real problems with their lesser lights. Bit players from each party’s fever-swamp element seem consumed with an insatiable desire for the attention that verbal extremism generates. In L.A. Sunday, Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters shouted at law enforcement, asking if they were going to shoot her, and tried to force her way into an immigration detention facility. Meantime, MAGA mouthpiece Steven Bannon last Thursday demanded Mr. Musk be investigated, his government contracts canceled and him deported, despite his U.S. citizenship.
