Dem
54
Ties
2
GOP
44
By spending almost half a billion dollars to support singularly obnoxious Republican candidates, particularly Ken Paxton and Vivek Ramaswamy, Elon Musk has now made himself public enemy #1 for the Democrats. They have some power in 2027 and may have a lot more in Jan. 2029, if history is any example. The president's party lost the White House in 2016, 2020, 2024, and usually does so when the peasants are angry.
In his victory speech, Sen.-elect James Talarico (D), who won his race by 12 points, specifically singled out Musk for attention. He said: "We just proved that all the money in the world is no match for the people of Texas. We just sent a message to every billionaire megadonor—every trillionaire megadonor." Musk made a weak joke saying his election-interfering space lasers had failed. He didn't specify what religious group put them up in heaven. Maybe he needs to ask Marjorie Taylor Greene for some help.
What Musk has to worry about now is that he moved himself and his SpaceX company to Starbase, TX, a new community he
created on the Gulf Coast, about 120 miles south of Corpus Christi, and only 2 miles from the Mexican border as the
crow rocket flies. He did that because he felt Texas was friendly to billionaires and trillionaires. He may have
an unpleasant surprise coming since the new governor, Gina Hinojosa, is a Democrat and so is the incoming Texas AG,
Nathan Johnson. One problem is that Musk already has advanced plans to build data centers in Texas and he is going to
run head-on into Hinojosa, who opposes data centers. Of course, he could pick up stakes and move to Cape Canaveral,
FL.
If a Democratic president in 2029 wants to take Musk down a peg or two, he or she could strip Musk of his U.S. citizenship and deport him. The motto could be: I support deporting immigrants who have committed crimes. Musk was admitted to the U.S. from his native South Africa on a student visa. Student visas ban working. He worked anyway, which is a violation of immigration law. Suppose the president just sent armed marshals to Musk's house with an order to seize his passport and put him on a plane to South Africa. Didn't ask the courts, just did it. There is a strong legal case. Eventually the Supreme Court would have to decide. Traditionally, the Court has given the president wide discretion on foreign policy and immigration. Would it in this case? Even if it didn't, that would set a precedent clipping a president's wings in the future, which might not be a bad thing. And Musk might be out of the country for years while this played out. During that time, the president might ask Congress to nationalize SpaceX, since ownership by a foreigner is a danger to national security. It might just send Musk a message that he is better off building cars and rockets—getting rich, but staying out of politics. In any case, by getting into politics and betting on the wrong horses big time, he has made himself a huge target for the Democrats. (V)