Week 8 — The Return

This week Trump faced a contentious online conflict, on the topic of H-1B visas, between his traditional MAGA base and his new bedfellows, the Silicon Valley billionaires. Once the clash erupted on Elon Musk’s social media platform X, things only escalated on other mediums. This follows a week in which House and Senate Republicans openly defied Trump. Not quite the smooth transition of unchallenged, absolute power that many, especially Trump, were expecting.

The conflict within Trump’s base over visas follows a similar chasm we touched on in Week 5: the brazen kleptocracy of his regime running counter to the country’s reaction to the murder of United Healthcare’s CEO. It’s easy to see how a reckoning is coming: these countervailing themes of oligarchy and kleptocracy versus populism are totally at odds, and unsustainable. This week’s explosion is sure to play out again and again in the coming year, putting Trump in an unexpectedly precarious position as he takes office.

Finally, concerns over Musk’s outsized role in the Trump regime, and his access to Trump himself, are growing. The chorus of those sounding the alarm went beyond elected Republicans and Democrats last week, to this week MAGA voices and senior military officials. Musk is omnipresent.

1. An AP-NORC polls found most adults feel the need to limit their political news consumption (including 72% of Democrats, 63% of Independents, and 59% of Republicans), citing fatigue and information overload.
2. On Wednesday, Christmas Day, President Joseph Biden and Trump sent drastically different messages. Biden urged “quiet reflection,” and to set aside things that “divide us.” Trump sent a series of confrontational posts.
3. Trump posted on Truth Social about “Radical Left Lunatics,” whom he said are “constantly trying to obstruct our Court System and our Elections,” and said of Biden, “They know that their only chance of survival is getting pardons from a man who has absolutely no idea what he is doing.”
4. Trump also attacked Canadian Minister Justin Trudeau, whom he referred to as “governor,” and posted “if Canada was to become our 51st State, their Taxes would be cut by more than 60%.”
5. Trump also took aim at the Panama Canal, referring to Chinese soldiers “who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal,” and claimed the people of Greenland “want the U.S. to be there, and we will!”
6. On Thursday, incoming White House border czar Tom Homan, who oversaw implementation of the zero-tolerance family separation policy in the first Trump regime, said the second regime will reopen family detention facilities.
7. Biden had closed three such facilities as advocates and pediatricians said the settings were harmful to children. Homan said the regime will not hesitate to deport parents, and it will be up to them whether they bring their US born children.
8. NBC News reported immigrants rights advocates are preparing plans to help families in case an undocumented relative is suddenly detained. Many families had a somber Christmas, wondering if would be their last together.
9. United We Dream, the nation’s largest immigrant youth-led network, will reopen its hotline on the day Trump is inaugurated, and urged members of Congress to make sure the Trump regime’s immigration enforcement tactics do not “go against American values.”
10. On Friday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued an order blocking the Biden Administration from removing further border wall materials, claiming the move was “clearly motivated by a desire to thwart President-elect Trump’s immigration agenda.”
11. Bloomberg News reported Trump’s tariff threats have sparked companies trying to frontload orders ahead of his inauguration, leading to bottlenecks and higher costs in the supply chain, and leaving it vulnerable to disruption.
12. On Friday, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and other members of the regime from Silicon Valley clashed with far-right MAGA supporters on Musk’s platform X over the H-1B skilled-worker visa program.
13. Far-right activist Laura Loomer also criticized Trump’s pick of Sriram Krishnan, who was born in India and has advocated for removing caps on green cards, as a senior policy adviser.
14. Musk and Ramaswamy claimed there are not enough US-born tech talent for the country to be competitive. Counter to Trump’s “America First” populism, Ramaswamy said if we rely on only US talent, “we’ll have our asses handed to us by China.”
15. The online clash was filled with racist commentary. Some cited censorship after Musk stripped Loomer and others of their verification and monetization capabilities. Musk also called them “contemptible fools” who “must be removed from the Republican Party.”
16. On Saturday, Trump weighed in, backing the Silicon Valley billionaires, saying, “I have many H-1B visas on my properties.” Trump has few such employees, and has largely employed those using H-2B visas, which are for unskilled workers.
17. On Monday, Loomer railed against Musk on former White House adviser Steve Bannon’s podcast, calling Musk a “Stage 5 clinger” who “orbits President Trump,” adding Trump is being “overshadowed by the richest man in the world who has these ulterior motives.”
18. Loomer also told conservative Eric Bolling that no one wants to cross Musk, “the king of the world…the monarch.” She called for campaign finance reform, a Democratic priority, adding, “This is the problem when you … allow for a billionaire to make a $200 million donation.”
19. On Monday, NYT reported Musk has rented a cottage on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property, and has pretty much stayed there since the election, granting him easy access to Trump, and allowing him to drop in on dinners, to attend meetings, and to sit in on phone calls.
20. Musk left for a few days around Christmas. Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday: “Where are you? When are you coming to the ‘Center of the Universe,’ Mar-a-Lago. Bill Gates asked to come, tonight. We miss you and x! New Year’s Eve is going to be AMAZING!!! DJT.”
21. On Friday, Trump asked the Supreme Court to pause implementation of a law that would ban social media platform TikTok from the US if it is not sold by its Chinese parent, in order to allow the incoming regime “the opportunity to pursue a political resolution.”
22. Trump, who in his first regime was for the ban, met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at Mar-a-Lago in December and said he now had a “warm spot” for the app. The court is set to arguments on January 10, and rule the day before Trump is inaugurated.
23. WSJ reported Chew had sought Musk’s input ahead of his meetings with the Trump regime. Chew, and executives at TikTok’s parent company, Chinese tech giant ByteDance, view Musk as a helpful conduit.
24. On Sunday, former US military chief Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré wrote in an op-ed that Musk’s influence in Trump’s inner circle, given Musk’s deep ties with Beijing, could compromise US national security.
25. Bloomberg News reported Musk is using his newly found power and influence with Trump to expand the global reach of his Starlink business, as governments seek to relax bans or regulations.
26. Musk, who was born in South Africa, is in discussion with its President Cyril Ramaphosa to find ways for the government to change the rules of requiring local Black ownership to allow Musk’s Starlink to operate legally there.
27. On Thursday, in a letter to US Senators, William Webster, the only person to lead both the FBI and CIA, urged them to reject Trump nominees Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard, citing their “profound lack” of intelligence experience.
28. Webster, who has served presidents of both parties, also cited the “critical importance of nonpartisan leadership and experience,” adding, “The safety of the American people — and your own families — depends on it.”
29. On Saturday, Trump claimed in a Truth Social post, without evidence, that Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign had paid for celebrity endorsements from singer Beyoncé, Oprah, and MSNBC host Al Sharpton, whom he also called a “third rate Con Man.”
30. On Saturday, in an op-ed in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Musk called the far right political party AfD the “last spark of hope” for Germany. Shortly after, Marie Kogel, the editor of the opinion section, resigned in protest.
31. On Monday, a federal appeals court panel upheld a jury’s verdict, finding Trump liable for sexually abusing and later defaming advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, and ordered him to pay $5 million.
32. WSJ reported an unprecedented number of career Justice Department lawyers, especially those who worked on prosecutions of Trump and his close allies, are considering exiting the DOJ to work at law firms.
33. On Monday, US Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves, DC’s top prosecutor who spearheaded the DOJ investigation into January 6, 2021, resigned effective four days before Trump takes office.

In closing, a reminder of our theme not to dream up nightmares. The start of the second Trump regime is not the peaches and cream that many envisioned. In fact the contrary — he has been challenged from many sides, even without his traditional opposition, the Democratic base, lifting a finger. Repeating my advice to live in the moment, be an informed observer, and practice self-care.

Happy New Year!