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This is an adapted excerpt from the Dec. 12 episode of "Deadline: White House."
As Donald Trump gears up to return to the White House, his favorite billionaire buddy, Elon Musk, is sending a warning to Republicans: Support the president-elect’s Cabinet picks, or else. Musk is now threatening to financially back a primary challenge to any Republican senator who opposes Trump’s nominees.
We already know Musk thinks of himself as the master of the universe. This week, he solidified his title as the world’s richest man by becoming the first person to reach $400 billion in net worth, according to a new estimate from Bloomberg News. This week, Tesla shares closed at a record high, soaring 69% since Trump's election victory. Musk is using that wealth and his close relationship with Trump to wield the power of the presidency and intimidate and bully members of the U.S. Senate.
At some point, Republican senators will have to ask themselves, either in public or in private, do they want to be reduced to potted plants in this particular system?
This is the moment we’re at right now. We have this conjunction of massive wealth and massive political power with the absence of accountability. There are words in our language that describe what we are confronting here, words like oligarchy, kleptocracy and kakistocracy.
Ethics used to be something people cared about, but not anymore. Eight years ago, people were concerned about whether or not Trump would divest from his companies once elected president. Now, he’s not even going through the motions. Just weeks before he’s set to return to the White House, he’s out there marketing a new perfume product.
At some point, Republican senators will have to ask themselves, either in public or in private, do they want to be reduced to potted plants in this particular system? Will anybody stand up and say, “Stop”? This is what the Constitution is designed to do, provide checks and balances that would prevent exactly this sort of thing from happening. This is the big question going into Trump’s second administration.
It’s a test — not just for Republicans in Washington but for the country. We’re still a long way away from any confirmation hearings for Trump’s nominees but these hearings are going to be extraordinary. No matter what Republican senators think right now, when the country sees some of this testimony when they see some of the people who will come forward and tell stories about Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegseth or Kash Patel’s alleged behavior, it will be a gut check that Republicans have failed over and over again.
Allison Detzel contributed.