😹🤡😹

It hits different when he’s part of the administration pic.twitter.com/BUBF7xlpRy

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 25, 2024

I’m sorry. I can’t take these people seriously. 😹

Elmo is not part of the Administration. Not yet. He won’t even be director of the OMB.  At most he’ll run a clown committee with Vivek, but when the GAO comes calling (that’s a Congressional agency, not an administration agency; nothing Trump can do about it), enforcing the Federal Advisory Committee Act (hem hem, federal law)*, Elmo and Vivek will get bored, cry “FOUL!,” and go back to being completely useless.

But the funny part is, neither Elmo nor Trump will arrest any mayor for declining to fully cooperate with ICE. State sovereignty, for one thing (you think the six Supremes will overrule their entire judicial philosophy this one time, for Trump? Nah!). The most Trump can do is withhold some federal funds and, best I can tell from one simple Google search, only one out of four circuit courts upheld his power to do that (the 2nd). That leaves a lot of cities free to carry on.

There is no criminal sanction for being a “sanctuary city.” Rule of law, bay-bee. Even Trump can’t lock people up on his Presidential authority. Elmo, once again, doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He’s about as powerful as this emoji: 🤡

And worth even less attention. Advent is coming. Forget about Elmo.

Musk's primary appeal is to rather dim right-wing guys who don't know a lot, and don't want to learn, but have strong opinions and confidence in them. They see Musk expressing the same opinions and, because he's rich, they treat this as confirming his opinions are correct, and thus so are theirs.

And what will they do when their hero quits rather than fight? 😹🤡😹

*Or, if he gets his army of volunteers, the Anti-Deficiency Act.