Is Elon Launching A Coup?

 Several commentators, like Cheryl Rofer, Paul Campos and Scott Lemieux all seem to think it is. Primarily because it looks like Musk is purging the government and shuttering its functions absent ANY legal cover. Even the normally balanced Josh Marshall suggests that what Musk is doing falls outside even the cascading horrors of Project 2025 and normal Trumpist/GOP bullshit.

I do not understand why Democrats are not unifying around a message of constant, consistent opposition. Nobody cares if you reached common ground with Trump, and your primary voters will actively hate you for it. However, I can squint and see some need to rhetorically signal that you will work with Trump, until he does something that "with great regret" forces you to change your mind. 

That's bullshit, but whatever. We go to war with the Dems we have, not the Dems we wished we had.

Going to war with the unelected broligarch, the ketamine addled weirdo, the billionaire disrupter who likes to fire people even more than Trump does...that's a no brainer. 

What's more, the GOP is in Trump's thrall. He absolutely commands their utter and subservient fealty. 

Musk doesn't. Musk can never be president, he can only pull the strings, which is clearly what he's trying to do now. Attack him and you attack the whole construct of the GOP being the Billionaire's Party.

What Musk is doing is illegal by any reading of the law, and unlike Trump, he is not president and not covered by John Roberts' extraordinary extension of presidential immunity from legal consequences.

You won't put him in jail, but you have to make his presence in the government absolutely toxic. Attack Musk and you attack Trump sideways, where he can't defend with his usual bluster.

Unreliable

 The root of American power since World War II has been our more-or-less dependable nature. Sure, individual president's altered the focus of American foreign policy, but there were some agreed upon ideas that carried over from one administration to the next.

Trump's decision to blow up the North American Free Trade zone is bad on multiple layers. It should lead to massive supply line issues. It should lead to higher prices. But, as Krugman points out, it will destroy the idea of an America that even pretends to honor their agreements. A hegemonic power that agreed to bind itself with treaties was a historical rarity, and now that special situation is leveled by the worst person to ever defile the Oval Office.