This week, I can’t stop thinking about the similarities between the pardoned January 6 felons and the Elon Musk fanboys who now seem to be running the Federal government (into the ground!) on Trump’s behalf.
Former Federal prosecutor Brendan Ballou, who prosecuted many January 6 cases, has a haunting op-ed in the NY Times where he lays out why Trump issued the pardons en masse:
The effect — and I believe purpose — of these pardons is to encourage vigilantes and militias loyal to the president, but unaccountable to the government.
And what Trump expects from these newly freed foot soldiers in return:
There is great value to him in having members of these groups released, doubly loyal to him, and eager to carry out his agenda and silence his critics through violence. Mr. Trump has shown his willingness to use his pardon power, and little stops him from doing so again.
What might happen next? Vigilantes could harass, assault or even kill perceived enemies of the state. Under the thin pretext that these vigilantes were acting in self-defense, the president could pardon them for federal crimes, or pressure pliant governors to do the same for state ones. In such a scenario, the president could put those loyal to him above the law, quite literally. This kind of violence was a part of our past; it may be a part of our future.
I appreciate Ballou’s willingness not just to point out the effect of these pardons but to state clearly that this is the goal. Donald Trump has always loved the cultish devotion of his followers, but he also understands their strategic value. A mob of people willing and able to do your dirty work for you, to act as your enforcers, and take the blame for you when shit hits the fan. Now, the mob has been freed from consequences, welcomed back into the fold, and stands ready to be deputized on Trump’s behalf again.
These folks planned a coup and stormed the Capitol to destroy American democracy by overturning an election. As I’ve followed Elon Musk’s actions at DOGE, OMB, and other federal agencies this week and seen the influence of the PayPal Mafia in Trump’s Administration, I realize it’s two sides of the same coin. Elon and the tech bros also seek to destroy. Instead of storming the Capitol, they’ve stormed federal government agencies, terrorizing the federal government workforce and Americans who rely on the work that they do. These two factions might have different tactics but the goal is the same.
Musk uses the same playbook he used during his Twitter takeover and has deployed some of the same lieutenants to help. The now infamous email that was sent to all federal workers this week even uses the same “fork in the road” subject line that emails sent to Twitter employees with a similar offer. Musk, whom I guess has no one to go home to at this point, is even sleeping at the DOGE office in DC, something he also did in his early days at Twitter.
This is where I remind you to read Character Limit, the most important book for understanding how Elon Musk operates. The disdain that Musk and his goons had for Twitter employees is clearly the same disdain they have for Federal Government workers. It’s wild to me that anyone who lived through that Twitter shitshow thought it made sense to do the same thing in the federal government, but Trump values loyalty (and $288 million in political contributions!) over competence. Elon and his goons might be wealthy, but they aren’t bright.
READ: Biden Was Right About Oligarchy Threatening Our Democracy
Trump has empowered a militia and a mafia to enact chaos and harm on his behalf. One cohort promises revenge and almost certainly ensures more political violence in Trump’s name. The other has taken a wrecking ball to the federal government, risking the reliability of every service Americans rely on daily. The tech bros probably see themselves as the brains and the pardoned felons as the muscle. But their actions show no evidence of this. If anything, the tech bros are merely another kind of foot soldier. Here to do Trump’s dirty work for him and to keep the heat off of him when he eventually blames the tech bros entirely for whatever disasters putting them in charge causes.
One final thought: as I watch Donald Trump attempt to blame DEI and diversity for a horrific plane and helicopter crash that happened on his watch, Americans are now seeing in real-time what happens when you let MAGA white men and their enablers take over and run things. They whine about DEI and “woke” because they’re terrified of actually having to compete on an even playing field with the rest of us. Given what we’ve seen of how Elon’s mafia and Trump’s militia operate, their fear is clearly justified.
This is an excerpt from Ctrl Alt-Right Delete, a newsletter produced in partnership with COURIER — a civic media company. It was republished with the author’s permission. Subscribe HERE.
