The billionaire has put himself front and center in the closing days of the campaign, making himself a perfect avatar for Trump’s plutocratic policies
Behind his generally genial persona, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has got a sharp tongue on him. He was particularly cutting toward former President Donald Trump on Tuesday when he appeared alongside former President Barack Obama to herald the start of early voting in Wisconsin. But the Democratic vice presidential nominee also had a new target in his sights: chaotic billionaire turned GOP megadonor Elon Musk.
Specifically, Walz took aim at Trump’s promise to appoint Musk to lead a new “government efficiency commission” if he wins. “[Musk] could spend millions to make more than $10 billion on the back end,” Walz told the crowd. “Donald Trump, in front of the eyes of the public, is promising corruption.”
It’s a sharp elbow from Walz — and one that Musk deserves to catch. In funneling his fortuneinto trying to get Trump elected, it is all too clear that the owner of Tesla and SpaceX is hoping to profit handsomely as a result. But in doing so, he’s also made himself a ready-made plutocratic villain for Walz and Vice President Kamala Harris in the closing days of the campaign.
Anyone still trying to argue Democrats are the party of rich elitists is out of their fucking mind.
Projection for the 15 zillionth time by the GOP
In no way am I trying to defend the GOP, Musk, Trump, or dissuade voting for Harris, because Democrats are obviously the lesser of the 2 evils, and we are like days out from the election so nothing we can do about that now besides get energized for the next round of primaries.
BUT I’d say there are still plenty of valid arguments that the Democrats are a party of rich elites. It isn’t mutually exclusive, both the GOP and Democrats can be this at the same time, and I’m not saying “BoTh SiDeS aRe ThE sAmE” because literal fascists are worse than neoliberals or however you want to characterize Democrats.
Am I out of my mind?
I would be much more open to the criticism that the “Democrats are a party of rich elites” if the other party was not wholly dedicated to stopping any and all progressive action taken by said Democrats. When they’ve had the actual legislative power to get shit done, they have. Last time they had control of both houses of Congress, POTUS, and enough votes in the Senate to bypass a GOP fillibuster they passed the ACA. That was with an absolute BARE MINIMUM number of votes that required compromise with Lieberman.
We literally elect enough people to stop them from doing anything that doesn’t benefit rich elites. I don’t think that’s the same thing as being a party of rich elites, when there are plenty of progressive politicians with power in the Democratic party and they’ve put forward lots of decent policies that the GOP kills 100% of the time.