Donald Trump might as well have campaigned in a Santa Claus outfit as he claimed – falsely, as usual – that he alone could make America wealthy, healthy, strong and powerful again. (Since the election, he’s already walked back his signature campaign promise to bring grocery prices way down.)
Too bad that too many voters listened to him instead of Elon Musk, who has bought himself the role of presidential sidekick or perhaps manipulator in chief.
Musk revealed his inner Scrooge in late October, when he said Americans should accept some temporary economic hardship before long-term prosperity kicks in. He didn’t say how long the hard times would last, but his estimated net worth of $439 billion will surely cushion him from any pain.
Trump did follow through with his plan to form a Department of Government Efficiency, which is up and running with Musk and fellow billionaire/failed presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy at the helm.
Proponents of DOGE make sure to pronounce it differently from “dodge,” and the full name suggests it’s a worthwhile effort until you think about whom it’s intended to benefit.
After Trump and Musk tanked a bipartisan continuing resolution to avert a government shutdown this holiday season, they supported an alternative that was more in line with their priorities – showering already wealthy corporations and individuals with tax cuts and deregulation at the expense of worthwhile programs for the rest of us.
Our own GOP Congressman Dan Meuser is a proud member of the new DOGE Caucus. Never missing a chance to butter up anyone who outranks him in the MAGA fraternity, he went on the talk show circuit last week to praise the “DOGE brothers” for leaning in “pretty hard” to take a chainsaw to the admittedly massive government funding bill.
And Trump for demanding a two-year suspension of the debt ceiling “so we don’t have to worry about that” (when enacting the aforementioned tax cuts).
But just as Meuser has tried to take credit for Democratic legislation that paid for projects in our district, he didn’t address the good items that the MAGAs cut while drafting their alternative continuing resolution.
Among them are reforms to pharmacy benefit managers, which are widely blamed for inflating prescription drug costs. In a lawsuit filed in September, the Federal Trade Commission accused the industry’s top three players — Caremark Rx, Express Scripts and Optum Rx — and their group purchasing organizations of anticompetitive and unfair rebating practices.
The Bulwark listed several other casualties of Musk’s meddling:
* Ensuring that providers of internet service to rural areas don’t rip off customers.
* Protecting consumers from hidden hotel fees.
* Securing semiconductor supply chains.
* Restricting U.S. outbound investment in China.
* Prohibiting deepfake pornography.
“Few people expected that the initial deal would make a comeback—meaning that many of its components were likely gone for good,” Bulwark Managing Editor Sam Stein reported on Thursday.
But at least one omission – renewed funding for a children’s cancer research program – did make a comeback after the Senate unanimously passed a standalone bill that the House had overwhelmingly approved in March.
That bill, which Meuser had voted for, funds the National Institutes of Health program through fiscal 2028.
As for the continuing resolution, Congress passed a version that was “essentially the same” as the MAGA/DOGE one but without the self-serving debt limit suspension, according to the Associated Press.
To be sure, most Democrats would ordinarily support getting rid of the debt ceiling, given how the GOP has used the threat of a catastrophic government default to avoid funding programs for constituents, not just what House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called “the Billionaire Boys Club.”
Still, the GOP is certain to bring up the matter next year, when it has control of both chambers of Congress. And in the House, some ultra-MAGAs have raised the unthinkable possibility of replacing House Speaker Mike Johnson with Musk.
People are complex. We embrace the spirit of giving that Santa embodies, and most of us try to curb our Scrooge-like qualities. But our elected and unelected MAGA leaders are embracing the cruel and greedy side of human nature, and our congressman cheered them on last week.
Lisa Von Ahn is an experienced columnist previously published in the Pottsville Republican Herald newspaper.
Canary note: Opinions expressed in any Op-Ed column appearing on this site are the views of the writer and are not necessarily the opinions of Coal Region Canary.
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