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Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The blowback is continuing to be felt [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-02-24
New York Times:
Some Trump Officials Push Back Against Musk’s Ultimatum to Workers Several Trump-appointed agency leaders urged their staffs not to comply with Elon Musk’s order to summarize their accomplishments for the past week or be removed from their positions, even as Mr. Musk doubled down on his demand over the weekend. Their instructions in effect countermanded the order of Mr. Musk, challenging the broad authority President Trump has given to the world’s richest man to make drastic changes to the federal bureaucracy. The standoff serves as one of the first significant tests of how far Mr. Musk’s power will extend.
Heather Cox Richardson/Letters from an American
Something is shifting,” scholar of authoritarianism Timothy Snyder posted on Bluesky yesterday. “They are still breaking things and stealing things. And they will keep trying to break and to steal. But the propaganda magic around the oligarchical coup is fading. Nervous Musk, Trump, Vance have all been outclassed in public arguments these last few days. Government failure, stock market crash, and dictatorial alliances are not popular. People are starting to realize that there is no truth here beyond the desire for personal wealth and power.” Rather than backing down on their unpopular programs, Trump and the MAGA Republicans are intensifying their behavior as if trying to grab power before it slips away. Trump’s blanket pardons of the people convicted for violent behavior in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol were highly unpopular, with 83% of Americans opposed to those pardons. Even those who identify as Republican-leaning oppose those pardons 70 to 27 percent. And yet, on February 20, the Trump Justice Department expanded those pardons to cover gun and drug charges against two former January 6 defendants that were turned up during Federal Bureau of Investigation searches related to the January 6 attack.
x Remarkable: Trump's own pollster just found that in swing House districts, Dems lead by 5 points and voters want tax policy to prioritize working people, per Politico.
Yet GOP is about to slash the safety net and give the rich huge tax cuts!
New piece:
https://t.co/VQpmbnqTxp — Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) February 22, 2025
POLITICO:
The political education of Elon Musk Elon Musk’s move-fast-and-break-things ethos has served him well so far in his efforts to demolish the federal bureaucracy. But now comes the moment the billionaire leading President Donald Trump’s DOGE initiative may not be prepared for — managing the politics of his sprawling cuts. The classic early signs of backlash are beginning to surface — a batch of worrisome polling, angry town hall scenes, protests — and congressional Republicans are beginning to get nervous. If the period of quiescence is truly coming to an end, Musk only has himself to blame. His brash statements and indiscriminate, chainsaw-wielding approach suggest a one-dimensional view that could prove costly to the party in power. Musk aired it last week in a joint interview with Trump on Fox News.
x Tina Smith going after Elon Musk harder than all of the Democratic leaders in Congress. (She’s not running for re-election.)
https://t.co/0wAUhkVD93 — Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) February 23, 2025
New York Times:
Chris Murphy Emerges as a Clear Voice for Democrats Countering Trump The third-term senator from Connecticut is eschewing caution and throwing out the traditional political playbook as he seeks a broader audience for his critiques of the president and his agenda. As Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, sat seething in his office last month watching President Trump blame diversity requirements at the Federal Aviation Administration for the deadly plane crash over the Potomac River, members of his staff warned him against publicly venting his rage. The midair collision had happened less than 12 hours earlier, they reminded him; bodies were still in the water and families were still being notified about the deaths of loved ones. Perhaps it would be more befitting of a U.S. senator to be respectful of the tragedy and all of its unknowns, rather than seize the political moment and respond? Mr. Murphy had no time for that. “Everybody in this country should be outraged that Donald Trump is standing up on that podium and lying to you — deliberately lying to you,” he said in an impassioned video he recorded and posted within 30 minutes of Mr. Trump’s news conference. “Every single senator and member of Congress should call him out for how disgraceful it was.”
Murphy is also not up for re-election. Does that matter? See Bill Cassidy fold on every Musk/Trump Cabinet vote.
x Exit polls have AfD at just under 20% of vote in Germany. Still too high, of course -- but the polls on Jan. 20 had AfD at 20%. So all of Elon's and JD Vance's pro-AfD propaganda over the last month may not have helped them. Heartening, and perhaps hopeful for the future. — Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) February 23, 2025
pluribus news:
Republican governors, wary of Trump, balk at Medicaid letter The impasse has left Democrats frustrated, as deep cuts loom. “Policy changes that mandate specific eligibility requirements and alter the fiscal makeup of the program threaten Medicaid’s effectiveness and reduce state flexibility in program design,” the groups wrote. “[R]educing the 90% federal match rate for Medicaid expansion could cut federal spending by $561 billion over nine years, forcing states to either drop expansion or absorb higher costs — jeopardizing coverage for millions and harming state economies.” The National Association of Counties, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National League of Cities, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Council of State Governments and the International City/County Management Association all signed the letter, addressed to U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D), who heads the National Governors Association, asked Republican governors to sign on as well. NGA vice chair and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R), along with other Republican governors on the NGA’s executive committee, vetoed the letter. Instead, the NGA on Saturday said governors had agreed to a statement “supporting flexibility and waiver opportunities and funding” for Medicaid and other programs.
x Elon suggesting people who fill out “good responses” should be candidates for promotion at same time senior leaders are telling entire departments and agencies (FBI, State) not to respond
The controversy isn’t over whether employees should be required to tell a manager what… pic.twitter.com/LDmR796NSf — Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) February 23, 2025
Wisconsin Public Radio:
US Rep. Glenn Grothman faces hostile crowd at Oshkosh town hall meeting Constituents ask congressman about Medicaid funding, power of Elon Musk “This is moving very quickly compared to other administrations, and I think, across the board, he’s done some very good things,” Grothman said. Boos and shouts erupted around the room. When Grothman praised orders ending birthright citizenship and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, the crowd only got louder. Grothman updated constituents on three of his goals in the current legislative session. One, he said, was “welfare reform.” “There are a lot of problems with regard to welfare. One of them, of course, it discourages people from working,” he said. Several people shouted “no!”
x I think local news is doing a helluva job covering the doge fallout. Reporters are connecting the dots from DC to main street, going beyond acronyms to explain what government agencies do & giving voice to concerns of regular people. My latest ⤵️
open.substack.com/pub/jennifer...
[image or embed] — @NewsJennifer (Jennifer Schulze) (@newsjennifer.bsky.social) February 23, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Will Bunch/Philadelphia Inquirer:
Outside Tesla in the Philly suburbs, the green shoots of an American uprising Rage over unelected billionaire Elon Musk sends protesters to Tesla showrooms as America wakes up to the reality of our oligarchy. For Matt DeCarlo, a 39-year-old social worker from Conshohocken, it was watching Musk — currently taking a chainsaw, both figuratively and literally, to the federal government as a bizarre kind of copresident to Donald Trump — give what to all the world looked like a Nazi salute at a rally on the day of Trump’s inauguration. “It’s the constant Hitler salutes,” DeCarlo told me, as passing motorists on the busy commercial strip honked their support in the background. “My family is half Italian and half Jewish, and we were told to remember — to remember what happens when they come for marginalized people. It’s really hard to turn away from." That’s what prompted DeCarlo to go to the store and produce his large, emoji-packed, fact-checked-true cardboard sign — “ELON MUSK CHEATS AT VIDEO GAMES” — and hold it up against the cruel February winds, one man raging against the machine.
x Here's one creative way @SecretService managers told agents to respond to Elon Musk's surprise email demanding hat fed employees list their 5 accomplishments last week. Sources said it was designed to avoid agents sharing sensitive and classified details of their work protecting… pic.twitter.com/3dSx9n0ayi — Carol Leonnig (@CarolLeonnig) February 23, 2025
AOC takes on Border Czar Tom Homan:
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