COMMENTARY: Forget the Swamp, D.C. Is a Snake Pit
By Donnie Johnston
COLUMNIST
There is an old saying that rattlesnakes don’t commit suicide. They do, however, distrust and turn on each other.
Case in point: Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Three months ago they were best buddies. Now they are at each other’s throats.
Did anyone really think that two billionaire egomaniacs could work together for long? The fact that Musk even agreed to follow Trump to Washington amazed me. But, as I wrote in a column back in the beginning, when you have done everything else, it is fun to have a country to play with for a while.
The initial parting was so Shakespearean with the president praising Musk for all the “wonderful” work he had done. Then, when Musk was safely out of Washington, Trump and his Republican Congress took a solid punch at the billionaire by removing electric vehicle subsidies from the pending spending bill now in the Senate.
Musk, who built and owns the largest electric vehicle manufacturing company in the country, was visibly upset and almost immediately came out publicly against the legislation that he had wholeheartedly supported while part of the Trump Administration.
Like spoiled children, Trump and Musk took their displeasure with each other to social media. Then House Speaker Mike Johnson got involved and the fire rages on as Republicans turn on each other.
How could Musk not realize from the very beginning that this kind of thing is part of Trump’s modus operandi? He uses people and then leaves them holding the bag. Look at those officials from his first administration who trusted Trump and would up going to jail. Like the rattlesnake he is, someone else pays the price and he slithers away unscathed.
That was last week. This week Trump is buried in another controversy — the Los Angeles immigration protests against ICE. As you may or may not know, the president ordered in the National Guard and the Marines to deal with the unrest.
Under American law, such action is the responsibility of the governor of the state, not the president, and Trump explicitly said so during his first term concerning the Portland, Oregon, riots.
There is, however, precedent for this. In 1957 President Dwight Eisenhower sent troops into Little Rock, Arkansas, to help enforce the integration of schools there. Governor Orval Faubus, a segregationist, had refused to being in outside help.
In the California incident, Gov. Gavin Newson, who is pro-immigration, also refused to order the National Goard into the city. So, Trump did.
Now Newsom is arguing, and probably with merit, that Trump wants to use Los Angeles as an example in an effort to prove that Hispanics are troublemakers and escalate the ICE war on illegal immigration.
In response, Newsom and California are suing Trump and the United States government. It may one day be up to the Supreme Court to one day decide who is the craziest — the state of California or Donald Trump.
While the unrest in Los Angeles continues, Trump is gearing up for his birthday parade Saturday (camouflaged as an event to celebrate the army’s 250th anniversary). The estimated cost? About $45 million. That figure, according to one source, would equal the yearly salary (including benefits) of 300 of the workers that Trump and DOGE fired.
It will be interesting to see how well-attended Trump’s birthday parade will be in one of the most Democratic cities in the United States.
Yes, it has been an interesting week. But then Trump has dominated the news since the day he took office. One controversy after another. It is so bad that the Washington TV station newscasts don’t even have time to report on the daily murders anymore.
And we thought Trump’s first term was eventful. Wonder what’s next.
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