Trump propaganda ads are blaring on cable TV touting the president’s greatness while Elon Musk picks up the tab for a million-dollar network ad buy to celebrate “draining the swamp” with DOGE, the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.
“After four long years of humiliation, of failure at home and embarrassment abroad, our long national nightmare is finally over,” says the Musk ad narrator as we see footage of former President Joe Biden tripping on the stairs to Air Force One.
You’d think we were in high campaign season, and you’d be right. We are. It’s a battle for hearts and minds as Trump and Musk try to convince voters everything is on the right track, not to see their lying eyes.
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The stock market is freaking out because Trump says he can’t rule out a recession and he’s yanking tariffs around like balloons on a string. Another one of Elon’s Space-X rockets blew up, and his Tesla stock was plunging until Trump goosed it—even if momentarily—with his stunt turning the White House lawn into a Tesla showroom.
And the response from Democrats is… drum roll, please… zilch. Except in Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin Democratic Party introduced its “People v. Musk” campaign this week featuring a barrage of 30-second TV ads, billboards, door-knocking visits and town halls—all to win a seat on the state Supreme Court. The election is April 1, and it’s a big test for Democrats.
“This is where we see if Democrats in a pretty purple state can get up off the mat and fight back,” Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler told the Daily Beast.
Musk’s PACs (America First and Building America’s Future) have contributed $8.3 million to elect Republican Brad Schimel, the Badger State’s former attorney general and vocal critic of abortion who says female liberal justices get “too emotional” about the issue. His platform includes reinstating the state’s 1849 anti-abortion statute.
Liberal billionaires have done their share, too, with George Soros donating a million dollars to Democrat Susan Crawford in January, followed by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker with $500,000 and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman’s $250,000. Soros, Hoffman and Pritzker. That was enough for the far-right House Freedom Caucus PAC to assail the trio of “left-wing billionaires” for putting millions into the race “because Crawford is a leftist ideologue who will turn Wisconsin into Illinois.”
Never mind the broligarchy, with Musk leading the pack, bankrolling Trump’s ascendancy to a second term and all too willingly joining him in shredding democracy.
The Wisconsin People v. Musk 30-second ad gets right to the point. We see Musk wielding his chainsaw as the narrator intones: “Firing air controllers, shutting down rape crisis clinics and attacking Social Security, Elon Musk is out of control, and now the power-hungry billionaire is unloading millions to buy the Wisconsin Supreme Court… Protect our last line of defense, elect Susan Crawford for Supreme Court.”
Crawford is a lawyer and Harvard professor who served as special assistant for science, technology and innovation policy in the Obama administration. Her credentials are not mentioned in the ad. “This is about capturing the energy and fury at Musk, and turning it into a liability for Schimel,” says Wikler, who cites a poll taken among Democrats showing Musk at 1 percent favorability with 94 percent unfavorable.
What’s happening in Wisconsin is a sprint to win an election, which is an opportunity that must be seized and does not violate James Carville’s dictum that Democrats play possum while Trump and Musk drive the economy into the ground and betray their voters.
Carville appeared last week before an eager standing-room-only crowd of students at the University of Virginia’s Institute of Politics, where he was interviewed by Larry Sabato, its founder and director. According to Sabato, Carville stuck with his advice that when your opponent is digging a hole for himself, let him keep digging.
“And I agree with him not to expect so much so soon,” Sabato told the Daily Beast. “We’re just halfway through the first 100 days! There’s a time for everything and time for intense and effective criticism is not here yet, but it will come. Democrats have got to recognize Republicans have the power and if they (Dems) push their advantage too far, they’ll get blamed for the shutdown.”
Sabato is alluding to a looming Friday showdown where Republicans will need some eight votes from Democrats to keep the government open and overcome a likely filibuster. If they provide those votes, are they complicit in the Trump-Musk demolition derby?
Democrats are divided about which path to take. Lynda Tran is a communications specialist and a former top aide to then Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. She worked on the bipartisan infrastructure bill and her inclination is to avoid a government shutdown and support the continuity of services, she told the Daily Beast. “But I can see them (Democrats) going either way. Whatever direction they choose, they need to get on the same page, and the explanation better be clear.”
Musk provides a useful foil for Democrats. But it’s not enough, says Ben Olinsky, senior vice president for structural reform and governance at the liberal Center for American Progress. Musk won’t be on the ballot. Neither will Trump though he may resist leaving office when his term is up.
To tell the story that reaches voters, “Democrats have to connect what Musk is doing with the President’s blessing and tie it back to what’s happening to people in the real world. Put the spotlight on cuts to programs that make us less safe, or where people don’t get benefits, or have to drive long distances because offices are shut.”
The VA and veterans is a good place to start, says Olinsky. Trump Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins has already cut 2,400 jobs and will cut another 80,000—many of them veterans—after an internal memo outlining the plan was leaked. VA crisis line workers have been let go, trainings for suicidal prevention have been cancelled, and complaints about long waits are already fueling enough anger that Republicans have been told by their leadership to stop holding town halls.
“These kinds of cuts stack up,” says Olinsky. “People are going to see the consequences.”
No amount of ads can conceal the damage that Trump and Musk are doing under the guise of DOGE. Drawing a sharp contrast is the best line of offense for Democrats. Reality will catch up.
