Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo was on All In with Chris Hayes last night. They talked about the interplay of Musk and Trump, given the arguments Musk had with some of Trump's cabinet members at the unannounced cabinet meeting on Thursday and Musk's visit with Republican Senators on Wednesday.
Marshall said something I hadn't thought of, and I haven't heard anyone else say at this point. While Republican office-holders may not like a lot of what Musk is doing, they support the general idea of making government smaller, and if Musk is the one doing the cutting with his chainsaw... they can't be blamed for it. Trump can also say the problems it causes are Musk's fault — even though that's even more ridiculous than Senators or representatives saying they couldn't stop him.
It's worth watching the whole 9:30 video, but around 5:00 minutes, Marshall says:
They want to be out of the loop... Nick Begich, the freshman congressman from Alaska, [excused his inability to his constituents, saying] "I'm just in Congress."... That is what they want here. If you're Congress and you want to say, Hey, we're going to cut all these things, then you've got to pass a bill, and write it down, and do you want to vote for it or against it. And when you vote for it, then there's going to be an election.... [So] everybody wants to be out of the loop. The president's out of the loop, Congress is out of the loop, and it kind of works for everybody.
With Musk as the hatchet man, as Hayes replies. Everyone else gets to go, "I don't know!" in a hands-off way.
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