FRIDAY: Is something "wrong" with Musk / Trump / Vance?

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2025

No, really—is something wrong? Is something "wrong" with Elon Musk? No really—is something wrong?

The latest string of bizarre behavior starts with the gang of bro/defectives he's siccing on the republic. One such fellow was 25-year-old Marko Elez. We'll let Mediaite provide some basic background:

DOGE Staffer Out After Social Media Posts Unearthed: ‘Normalize Indian Hate’

[...]

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Elez was connected with a social media account on X under the name @nullllptr that previously used the username @marko_elez. The account was deleted back in December shortly before Elez joined DOGE.

“You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity,” the account wrote on X in September, according to the Journal. Around the same time, the account wrote “Normalize Indian hate,” in regard to Silicon Valley hiring people from India.

“Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool,” the account connected to Elez wrote in July while another tweet read, “I would not mind at all if Gaza and Israel were both wiped off the face of the Earth.” The account also called for repealing the Civil Rights Act and backed a “eugenic immigration policy.”

The youngster was racist before it was cool! He wouldn't mind if Gaza—and, in fairness, Israel too—was wiped right off the map!

For the record, here's the initial Wall Street Journal report. No one has claimed that the Journal's reporting was inaccurate. That said, here was Musk's response:

Musk Demands Firing of ‘Disgusting, Cruel’ WSJ Reporter Who Uncovered DOGE Employee’s Racist Tweets

That is correct! Musk, who is now the world's richest and most powerful person, wants the reporter fired!  He has denounced her as "disgusting and cruel." Could something be "wrong" with this man?

If something's wrong with Elon Musk, so too perhaps with JD Vance. 

You'll recall that Vance grew up in a home which was so disordered that his grandmother is positioned as the heroic, sane one in the crew—and she once poured gasoline over her sleeping husband and set the man on fire.

Stating the obvious, none of that was the fault of the mistreated child who grew up to be Vance. But the adult Vance has now jumped up to insist that the bro who wants to normalize hatred against people of Indian ancestry / heritage / background should of course be rehired by Musk:

Vance Goes to Bat for 25-Year-Old ‘Kid’ Who Resigned Over Racist Tweets: ‘Bring Him Back’

Inevitably, that has led to this new report by the same Wall Street Journal reporter, dual headline offered:

Trump Calls for Rehiring of DOGE Staffer Who Resigned Over Racist Posts
Employee has links to a deleted social-media account that advocated for racism and eugenics

Inevitably, also this:

JUST IN: Elon Musk To Rehire DOGE Staffer Who Bragged 'I Was Racist Before It Was Cool'

Musk will be rehiring the bro in question. So we all get to enjoy a thoroughly feel-good ending!

In the Iliad, Achilles weeps for sacred Patroclus. Trump and Musk are busy weeping for this disordered "kid."

For better or worse—stated opinions are going to differ—this is the world the reigning commander has dropped on American heads. As for the commander himself, he also wants the Washington Post's Gene Robinson to be fired!

‘He Should Be Fired Immediately!!!’ Trump Rips Washington Post Columnist Following Morning Joe Segment on USAID

As you can see if you read the report, this complaint is stone cold stupid all the way down. Could something be "wrong" with Trump?

Full disclosure:

Normally, when people behave in such erratic ways, you may suspect a drug problem. In the case of these very strange men, it may be as simple as this:

There may simply be something "wrong" with the commander's remarkably large collection of broken toys.

Also, it may be too late to turn back the "night assault" being staged by these peculiar men. That said, Katherine Stewart is holding out hope in a new guest essay for the New York Times.

In our view, the headline above her essay asks an interesting question:

Now Will We Believe What Is Happening Right in Front of Us?

They told us they would smash the institutions that safeguard our democracy. And that is exactly what they are doing.

Many Americans chose not to believe what they were saying. Will we now believe what we are seeing?

To be clear, “they” are not just Donald Trump and his billionaire co-pilot. Over the past half-century, an anti-democratic movement has coalesced in the United States...

That's the way the essay starts. It poses an intriguing question:

At this point, will we Americans be able to see what's happening right before us? Will we be able to believe what we're seeing? 

 In this morning's report, we pondered a similar question. Here's the problem with Stewart's framework:

Stewart seems to assume that it isn't too late for us to come to our senses and successfully push back. It could be that it isn't too late. But it may also be that it is.

How did we ever get to this place? At present, madness is conducting a "night assault" on basic institutions. Next week, we expect to explore the various ways we denizens of Blue America have helped bring on, and enable, this burgeoning madness.

Is something "wrong" with Elon Musk? No really—is something wrong?