Elon Musk is Trump's method of punishment

The maelstrom of the first few weeks of Donald Trump's second presidency doesn't show any signs of winding down. Each day brings another atrocity, whether it's randomly firing massive numbers of workers, purging the Department of Justice and the Pentagon, slashing the FAA and the National Weather Service, rolling back civil rights regulations, eviscerating the scientific research infrastructure of the country or destroying our health and safety organizations. The entire nation is reeling from the wrecking ball Elon Musk has taken to the federal government. Meanwhile, Trump himself is busily tearing up the global order and working hard to blow up the economy with his daft misunderstanding of how things actually work.

A case in point is his continued insistence that a country's businesses and consumers do not pay for tariffs.

It's a lot. One of the main questions I get about what's going on is a simple "Why are they doing this?" It seems inexplicable that anyone would think such a chaotic, disorganized, slipshod assault on necessary government functions makes sense in a complex world in which millions of lives are dependent upon them working. There is nobody in America, even the most fervent Trump voters, who could have expected that he would essentially turn the government over to Elon Musk and allow him to take it apart with a chainsaw in the first months of his presidency. So why are they doing it?

Trump's campaign was based upon restoration. He was going to finish the job he started before the Democrats "rigged" the 2020 election and stole the White House from him. His issues weren't much different than the first time he ran. Immigration topped the list, tariffs were going to solve every economic problem, foreigners were going to pay up and he was going to end whatever the fever swamp culture war issue of the day happened to be, in this case "DEI" and transgender people. He said he'd bring costs down with "drill, baby, drill" and would initiate the usual GOP roll back of regulations and tax cuts. And he somehow convinced millions of Americans that they were rich when he was in office before and vowed to make them prosperous and happy once more.

Many of us were aware that there was another agenda, a very detailed one, called Project 2025, which Trump said he hadn't read and disavowed. I think we knew that it was likely going to be at least attempted because many of the people involved were Trump insiders, but it was unclear whether they'd be able to accomplish their goals, especially since Trump didn't seem particularly interested in massively cutting government. Whenever he was asked about the deficit or downsizing government services, with a few exceptions, he waved it away and argued he would bring in so much money with the tariffs that it would all be taken care of. He believed voters weren't all that interested in details, and he was right.

Yes, he originally wanted to become president again to stay out of jail but the Supreme Court took care of that last summer so it became a moot point. And of course he wants to accumulate as much money as possible and is quite successful at doing that as president. So far, he's shown that he no longer cares at all about the appearance of corruption and is openly trading in Crypto schemes and foreign investment partnerships as president. So it's not making money that's making him do what he is doing and it certainly isn't ideology because he has none. No, the motive that is driving him to do everything he's doing is simple: vengeance.

That was the one issue that Trump never failed to bring up on the campaign trail and it's the one, I believe, that motivates everything he is doing today. I've written about his philosophy of retribution extensively over the years because he's never tried to hide it and it clearly is one of the single greatest clues to his character. But it's now gone far beyond his desire to hurt individuals — he's intent upon seeking revenge against the country itself, maybe even the whole world.

Trump is seething with anger and resentment at having been officially exposed as a sexual predator, a fraud, a coup plotter and a thief. He's still upset about the Russia Investigation, which he even brought up again on Thursday, explaining that he and Vladimir Putin were bonded over it so he feels he can trust the Russian dictator. Imagine the fury and frustration he feels at people knowing, no matter how much he says otherwise, that he lost the 2020 election and couldn't admit it. The damage to his fragile psyche is overwhelming and all he wants now is to wreak revenge on his enemies.

And this goes beyond his well-known desire to go after the Department of Justice and the FBI. This week he signed an executive order pulling security clearances from a private law firm that is representing former Special Prosecutor Jack Smith. He couldn't be more clear about his motives. Note the steely ire in his voice as he talks about how he's been "targeted."

For example, he's angry at the leaders of the military for refusing to carry out his illegal and unprincipled orders so he installed a gadfly with no respect for them or military traditions as the Defense Secretary and he's fired anyone who would attempt to thwart him in the future. He doesn't like Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau because he's young and good looking so he's pushing the inane idea of annexing his country as the 51st state. He's abandoning Ukraine, which he irrationally hates, probably because he associates it with his humiliating first impeachment.

Here he says that the European Union was formed to screw the United States so he's going to screw them back with huge tariffs. But in reality on some level he knows that he's in over his head and that they know it too.

Trump: "The European Union was formed in order to screw the United States, that's the purpose of it. And they've done a good job of it. But now I'm president."

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) February 26, 2025 at 12:35 PM

Even his allowing the violent, misogynist brothers, Andrew and Tristan Tate back into the country is a metaphorical slap in the face to all the women who spoke up about his assaults, affair with Stormy Daniels and the enduring humiliation of being caught on that "Access Hollywood" tape as a predatory creep.

Finally, consider that Elon Musk's wrecking crew is really a way of punishing America for failing to love him the way he believes he should be loved: unambiguously and unanimously. If his own MAGA supporters have to pay as well, that's their own fault for not working harder on his behalf.

Donald Trump is 78 years old and he's been frustrated his whole life that he couldn't ever seem to get the respect he believed he deserved. Now, having been restored to this position of power with no one to stop him, he's settling accounts.