With just a week until Donald Trump takes the oath of office that will reignite his wildfire of a presidency, the MAGA movement is already in open civil war over who gets to be part of Trump’s exclusive (and highly powerful) inner circle. Nowhere was that clearer than in Steve Bannon lambasting billionaire Elon Musk as “truly evil,” while urging the Tesla CEO to “go back to South Africa.” Yikes!
You wouldn’t have heard about that if you watched the cable news shows this past week. It shouldn’t surprise you to know that the major media networks are all in an advanced state of “anticipatory obedience” to Trump’s incoming authoritarianism. That means no more criticism of MAGA bigwigs—especially Musk, the biggest, richest wig of them all.
That media silence feels even weirder when you consider that the Bannon vs. Musk feud is one of the dominant issues burning up the terminally online right-wing punditverse. Truly, we live in two mutually exclusive worlds.
From MAGA brawls to the high-stakes fight to bury special counsel Jack Smith’s report on Trump’s misconduct, cable TV’s talking heads missed quite a few big stories this week.
The states of Greenland and Canada
The major broadcasters wrote off Donald Trump’s shocking threats to annex Greenland, make Canada a U.S. state, and seize control of the Panama Canal almost as quickly as the president-elect issued them. While it’s clear the corporate media plans to treat Trump’s increasingly hostile threats with an eye roll, the truth is more serious. Trump’s gambit isn’t just a slap in the face to America’s allies, it’s a potential political minefield both at home and abroad.
Daily Kos’ Andrew Mangan wrote Sunday about how Trump’s effort to turn Canada into America’s 51st state might cause The Donald more headaches than he may realize. That includes welcoming five new political parties into the American political sphere, many of whom are so progressive they make America’s Democrats look like a bunch of right-wing radicals. But Trump’s troubles don’t stop with a new Congress: The state of Canada would possess 50 electoral votes—a huge electoral shift.
Elsewhere at Daily Kos, Alix Breeden tackled Trump’s aggressive threats to economically sanction Denmark unless they agree to hand over Greenland to the United States. And as Breeden notes, Trump’s lust for an island in the Arctic Circle isn’t driven by delusion alone. Greenland’s huge supply of valuable minerals and close access to Arctic oil fields would prove a huge boon as the United States seeks to weaken China’s grip on strategically important rare earth metals.
Trump is serious enough about his territorial expansionism that he’s refused to rule out seizing Greenland through military force. Corporate media outlets may treat Trump’s statements as silly punchlines, but world leaders don’t threaten war on NATO countries lightly—even dopes like Donald Trump. Fortunately for the GOP, cable news outlets have made sure voters won’t see Trump’s latest attack on America’s allies.
DOGE goes digging
You would think the goings-on of the world’s richest and most politically connected man would be absolute catnip for cable news outlets eager for scandal and sensationalism. Yet most Americans have barely heard a peep about Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency since it was first announced months ago. As John Adams once wrote, it’s marvelous how political plants grow in the shade—and DOGE is spreading like kudzu.
Instead, some of the most incisive coverage of Musk’s unofficial presidency comes from media outlets in Europe, where Musk is being (appropriately) branded a democracy-threatening villain by political leaders, including France’s Emmanuel Macron. Daily Kos’ Oliver Willis has also been hot on Musk’s trail, including a great piece on how DOGE is already harassing government officials despite not being a real government agency and holding no actual power.
Vivek Ramaswamy
This all comes despite growing numbers of government officials—on both sides of the aisle—telling Musk and his DOGE co-chair Vivek Ramaswamy that they simply won’t find $2 trillion in federal spending cuts. Daily Kos’ Emily Singer reports that all those meetings have led Musk to lower expectations around what DOGE can achieve. When pressed, Musk couldn’t even name any spending areas he would cut. This is going to go great, y’all.
Singer also reminds Republicans of a truth they’d rather forget: Any spending cuts approaching anything even close to $2 trillion would necessarily include slashing the nation’s massive defense budget. That’s a no-go area for the GOP. Ramaswamy has said DOGE isn’t even considering trimming the defense budget, which means DOGE will struggle to hit even sharply reduced spending goals. This was supposed to be the easy part!
It’s easy to understand why the media has closed their eyes to Musk’s wild claims. After all, Musk’s sprawling network of business and investment relationships means many of the executives responsible for determining TV news coverage have at least a tangential connection to the notoriously litigious Musk. Most outlets would rather avoid scrutiny and a potential lawsuit altogether by simply allowing Musk to operate outside of the realm of press accountability.
Democracy, as they say, dies in darkness—and it’s getting pretty dim out there, folks.
Reach out!
Keep the conversation going all week by sharing stories you think the media missed with me at @themaxburns on Bluesky! And remember: If you’re tuned to cable news, you aren’t even getting half of the story.
Until next week, keep your eyes peeled and stay inquisitive, friends.
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