The smirking billionaire who is pictured above (you know him, I am sure: Elon Musk) apparently thinks that he is now the effective President of the United States of America.
No, Musk was never actually elected. In fact, having been born in South Africa, Musk is not Constitutionally qualified to be president. The events of the last several days, however, indicate that Musk, who is currently the "richest person in the world," is claiming the de facto right to be in charge of the government of the United States.
The actual president-elect, another billionaire, has taken direction from Musk (as opposed to giving Musk directions), by approving Musk's demand, going into the Christmas holidays, that all United States government employees will not get their scheduled paychecks - including postal workers, government workers at airports, and those serving in the nation's armed forces. Musk's demand has been that the government will simply have to suspend operations and shut down. Musk indicated, in fact, that the government should be shut down until January 20th, the day when president-elect Trump will be inaugurated.
How did this all happen? Well, it's the triumph of the billionaires! As The New York Times revealed in an article that ran in its Friday, December 20, 2024, edition, president-elect Donald Trump had dinner on Wednesday evening, December 18th, with Musk, who is the #1 richest person in the world, and also with Jeff Bezos, the #2 richest person in the world.
Musk, who obviously believes that the richest persons should get to tell everyone else what to do, sent multiple messages to Members of Congress on December 19th, telling them that they should refuse to enact a bill that had been negotiated in the Congress on a bi-partisan basis. Rather than having the government continue its operations, as that bill would have provided, Musk told Members of Congress that Congress should simply shut down the government.
Musk sent this message to the Republican Party elected officials who have a majority in the House of Representatives by way of repetitive postings on a social media platform over which Musk has absolute control. Musk, in other words, acted like he could tell Congress what to do, and Trump got right in line, backing up Musk's directives.
As those reading this blog posting undoubtedly know, the United States Constitution does not, in fact, provide that the president (or his billionaire friends) can tell Congress what to do. Who does tell Congress what to do? Well, WE do. That's the way we have set it up, anyway. Every member of Congress is put into office by a specific group of citizen/voters. Once elected, they are our "representatives," representing the people who voted to put them in office. Senators are accountable to every voter in the state they represent. Members of the House of Representatives are accountable to the voters in the geographic district from which they were elected.
Musk has a different idea. He threatened all Members of Congress - particularly Republican Party Members of the House of Representatives - telling them that unless they did what he, Elon Musk, said they should do, and shut down the government, Musk would use his billions to make sure they were not returned to Congress after the next election, in 2026. Again, to be clear, the designated president-elect, Donald Trump (a minor-league billionaire, compared to Musk), immediately kowtowed to Musk, perhaps because of Musk's much more abundant billions.
Musk, with Trump backing him up, was obviously willing to send the following message to the citizens of the United States: Merry Christmas! / Happy Holidays! / Too bad about shutting down the government and any inconvenience that might cause - and too bad about the termination of funding for pediatric cancer research, as well!
President-elect Trump stepped forward immediately to back up his unelected billionaire buddy, Musk, when Musk issued his demands and threats to the Members of Congress who were actually elected to make the kind of governmental decisions that Musk thought that he could arrogate to himself. Until yesterday evening, it was unclear whether or not Congress would give away its power to Musk, as Musk had demanded.
Well, here's the news flash: Congress did not give away its power! A Bloomberg "Evening Briefing" late yesterday, December 20th, reported that "Republicans Defy Trump, Pass Bill to Avoid Shutdown." NPR followed up with a later report, indicating that the Senate ratified what the House did - and saved that funding for pediatric cancer research, too!
Now, as I have revealed in earlier blog postings, I prefer to look on the "sunny side of life." Perhaps it's a good thing that the citizens of the United States (specifically including those who voted for the nominal president-elect, Donald Trump, and those Republicans who are, or soon will be, Members of the Congress as of January next year) can now dramatically see what that last election was really all about.
This blog posting, if ever read by any Republicans who voted for Donald Trump, is an appeal to those voters to ask themselves whether they really want the billionaire friends of the president to tell Congress what to do, or whether they want to make sure that the system outlined in the Constitution will continue in effect. That system, just to refresh all our recollections, is one in which the elected Members of Congress tell the president what to do, by enacting the laws that Congress decides are appropriate. Once the Congress has told the president what to do, by passing laws, the Constitution says that the president should then "faithfully execute" those laws. That is the direction in which governmental power is supposed to move, not in the opposite direction with the president (and his billionaire buddies) telling the elected officials in Congress what to do.
Musk, the billionaire, obviously thinks that those with the gold should make the rules, and that the billionaires should tell the president what to do, and that the president should then tell the Congress what to do, with the billionaires backing up their demands with their prolific, big bucks.
That's where we are, today. That's the situation. Where are we going to be after the next four years?
In the end, I am going to continue to bet on Abraham Lincoln. I am hoping - and I do think I am right - that the people of the United States are not inclined to turn over control of their government to a bunch of unelected billionaires (or even to an actually-elected president), but that "the people," meaning ALL of us, acting through our elected representatives, will decide (and take action accordingly) to insure that "a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from this earth."
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