This Weekend in Politics, Bulletin 35

… Trump threw Mike Johnson under the bus just days before the Speaker’s election on January 3. He said that Kevin McCarthy’s decision to extend the debt ceiling rather than shut down the government earlier this year “will go down as one of the dumbest political decisions made in years,” and Johnson continued to do exactly the same thing as McCarthy. Twice.

… Trump then demanded that Johnson reconvene Congress to attempt raise the debt ceiling now while Biden is in office since he wants to be able to blame Biden and Democrats for exploding the deficit when he passes massive tax cuts for the wealthy while dramatically increasing government spending.

… This is, of course, an impossibility so it will not happen.

… So the only thing his rage post tonight will accomplish is to give Johnson critics and opponents in the House the ammo they need to vote him out. Trump’s post tonight will be read on the floor of the House by one of the challengers to Johnson. The lesson to be learned by Johnson and every other Republican is that no matter how much you kiss Trump’s ass, the second you are no longer useful to him he will stab you in the back.

… Which they all should know already.

… Trump knows that at least two dozen Republicans will not support any budget that requires them to vote to significantly raise the debt ceiling. So he will never get one passed with their tiny majority in Congress if he: 1. Submits a budget that explodes the deficit; 2. Refuses to work with Democrats.

…. So he wants the lid off now so he doesn’t need to force a vote on it from right-wingers while he is in office. But it is too late for all that. Way too late. I’m sure he has been told that. And Mike Johnson is about to get the blame. Sad!

… The controversy raged on between Elon Musk and MAGA into Saturday about visas for foreign tech workers until Trump finally weighed in to side with Musk, leaving many of his most loyal and vocal supporters for many years hanging out to dry. Trump finally made a statement to the NY Post after 3 days of vicious infighting, then things died down somewhat on Sunday with a few still left grumbling and the rest trying to move on.

… There is still a lot of bad blood and hard feelings between many people in the MAGA movement who have never fought with each other before over anything. Some very tough things were said that simply can’t be undone or shrugged off by some. And most of the resentment and mistrust that lingers on is directed at Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

… I heard a new name today from one of them: Vivek Ramaswampy.

… Elon and Vivek are newish passengers on the Trump Train, but right now they seem to be driving it while Trump plays golf and hosts parties at Mar-a-Lago. They made the argument that we should dramatically increase the number of H-1B visas to foreign workers in the tech industry because there weren’t enough smart, hardworking Americans to take those jobs.

… When Trump finally chimed in on Day 3, he said that he has many people working at his properties on H1B visas and said they are great employees: “I always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That’s why we had them. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program.”

… Except he forcefully denounced the H-1B program in 2016. Said it was a “scam.” And his Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said they would never increase the H-1B numbers. But Miller and OG MAGA didn’t realize that Trump made this deal with Musk months ago. Now they are finding out.

… Musk is trying to justify increasing the number of these visas by claiming they are all super geniuses and indispensable to the American economy, while mass deporting everyone else, and Trump is saying they are cleaning rooms and cutting grass at his resorts. Musk and Vivek were specifically talking about tech engineers though, not foreign workers in any other fields or vocations.

… MAGA reaction was mixed. Some were begrudging realists, saying that Trump is siding with Musk because of the amount of money Musk put in to help him with the election so he owes Musk. Others correctly pointed out that Trump has H-1B visas mixed up with H-2B visas for temporary workers, which is what his employees came into the country on while they were working for him.

… (By the way, hundreds of these temporary foreign workers with H-2Bs were at Mar-a-Lago during the time period it was loaded with stolen classified documents, but I digress).

… Some Trump supporters also claimed that NY Post reporter Jon Levine either made up the quote, asked Trump a “gotcha” question when he wasn’t prepared, or took him out of context. Because Dear Leader couldn’t possibly be siding with Musk against them on immigration! Finally, there were people still unsatisfied that Trump failed to address the censorship and punishments doled out by Musk on X to his MAGA critics on this.

… At the top of that list of critics was Laura Loomer, who seemed pretty disappointed that Trump sided with Musk: “I’m going to have a very hard time selling the GOP in 2026 (to the MAGA base) if they can’t even fight for free speech. I mean really, what are we fighting for if we can’t even stand up to Big Tech for free speech? The elites don’t care about you or your voice. We are peasants I suppose.”

… It is easy to shrug a comment like that off and say that people like Loomer don’t move the needle much in elections, but a big slice of MAGA voters has NEVER showed up for mid-term elections when Trump wasn’t on the ballot. That has cost them in a lot of places. Many of these people don’t care at all about the Republican Party - they only care about Trump.

… Nikki Haley: “There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture. All you have to do is look at the border and see how many want what we have. We should be investing and prioritizing in Americans, not foreign workers.”

… Dan Crenshaw’s response to Haley’s post: “I tried to warn y’all about Vivek.”

… Rep. Tim Burchett claims that a lot people coming in on these visas are Chinese spies: “I side with President Trump on the H-1B visa issue, but we need to make sure the people we bring over here embrace our country.” Whatever the hell that means.

… White nationalist groyper leader Nick Fuentes, who had dinner with Trump at MAL two years ago: “Elon told Trump’s base to ‘go fuck themselves in the face’ for opposing cheap foreign labor, and MAGA influencers are trying to spin that into a win. It’s disgusting and you should never forget this episode.”

… More Loomer: “Why are former Trump critics now dictating immigration policy, calling Americans stupid, and pushing foreign tech workers? People like David Sacks, who backed Desantis (against Trump in the primary) and claimed Trump wouldn’t survive his indictments, are now being welcomed into the White House. Billionaires and Silicon Valley elites now want a seat at the table to dodge accountability and influence immigration policy.”

… Loomer then opened up a Bluesky account.

… Which was promptly suspended.

… Right-wing talk show host Bill Mitchell: “Everything was going so well. DOGE was all the rage and tech CEOs were begging to work with Trump! Smooth sailing to January 20! Then Laura Loomer comes along and throws a hand grenade in the middle of the whole thing and starts a MAGA Civil War! I ask you, WHO benefits from this? The DEMOCRATS, that’s who. Is Laura on their payroll? It would not surprise me.”

… I can tell you with metaphysical certainty that Loomer is not being paid by any Democrats for anything. Also, it was hundreds of activists, not just Loomer.

… Desantis supporter and conservative journalist Pedro Gonzalez: “Elon’s position was totally unacceptable to the online Right. They spent days becoming caricatures of what the Left says they are. Then Trump gave Elon’s position his seal of approval, and they immediately fell in line. Pathetic.” That is mostly what happened with a lot of them. Not all, but a lot.

… Musk outright nuked dozens of X accounts - just deleted them. Most of those were smallish far-right accounts that replied to his posts with a racial component to their argument - largely directed against Indian immigrants. Some just owned him too much and made him look foolish. Doesn’t really matter why. The Terms of Service mean nothing. X is the toy of a ketamine-addled child.

… A relative asked me over Christmas if I was worried about Musk nuking my account since I go after him every single day on his own platform, and dozens of those posts calling him out have gone viral. But I explained that I am not. Unlike so many MAGA influencers and independent right-wing “journalists,” I don’t have to rely on Elon Musk or any other oligarch or corporate overlord. That is thanks to our subscribers. I’m pretty fearless, but you provide me that extra level of security where I don’t feel the need to ever pull punches with people like Musk. I certainly appreciate that.

… At one point, Musk claimed that the reason why “critical people” like himself are in this country running successful businesses in the first place is because of H-1B visas. Except Musk was never here on an H-1B, and he violated the student visa he was here on when he promptly dropped out of school and started working without an H-1B.

… He then made the following post late Friday night that poured gasoline on the fire and made things much worse with this little missive to MAGA: “Take a big step back and FUCK YOURSELF in the face. I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend.”

… Trump issued his statement to the Post agreeing with Musk several hours later. Awkward.

… Steve Bannon then posted on GETTR responding to Musk: “Someone please notify Child Protective Services - they need to do a wellness check on this toddler.”

(As a side note, GETTR is basically a dead social media site that was started by Jason Miller, who then cashed out shortly before rejoining the Trump campaign. Bannon’s show has an account on Musk’s X, but Steve Bannon himself has steadfastly refused to open up his own account or post on X).

… But this Musk post calling his MAGA critics racist is the one that really set them off: “These contemptible fools must be removed from the Republican Party, root and stem.” They went absolutely nuts on that one, outraged that Musk would say that there are racist people in MAGA. Shocking!

… So Musk then came back and tried to clarify, but only made it worse: “The ‘contemptible fools’ I’m referring to are those in the Republican Party who are hateful, unrepentant racists. They will absolutely be the downfall of the Republican Party if they are not removed.”

… There is nobody on planet earth with less self-awareness than Elon Musk.

… Steve Bannon dedicated his entire show for 3 straight days hammering Musk with one guest after another: “You’re calling the MAGA movement racist? How dare you. Now you want to play the racism card? You think we’re going to tolerate that? We’re not. And I don’t care how big a check you wrote … You can’t stop us—we’re relentless, and we’re never going to quit. We’re a 1000 times tougher than you, and if you don’t get that, keep it up.”

… More Bannon: “Musk claims his companies depend on H1B visas. Let’s see the data— publish every engineer hired on H1B and prove Americans couldn’t fill those roles. From David Sacks to Vivek Ramaswamy to Elon, not one example of an ‘Einstein’ who couldn’t be replaced by an American. Americans first. You’re gonna have to climb over our dead bodies to defeat us.”

… This went on for hours and hours, day after day. Bannon: “Elon Musk, you’re gonna go to war on the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend. I hate to make it personal, but you’ve tried to trash individuals by punching down. Remember the first rule at gladiator school, bro: Don’t punch down. Either punch a peer or punch up.”

… Former Trump speechwriter and Revolver News reporter Darren Beattie on Bannon’s show: “Companies profit from H1B workers, who are effectively indentured servants hoping for green cards, while taxpayers foot the bill. This privatized profit, socialized cost model isn’t a natural market system. Even economically, H1B is a scam. H1B, which shifts its costs onto taxpayers, should be on the DOGE chopping block—not something for DOGE to promote.”

… More Beattie: “H1B isn’t about talent—it’s about cost-cutting. Tech companies hire cheap labor, shifting costs like green cards and chain migration onto taxpayers. It’s a scam that privatizes profits and socializes costs. If they paid the true price, they wouldn’t want H1Bs.”

… Former Republican congressman Dave Brat: “I’ve worked on workforce boards at every level, and here’s the problem - corporations refuse to invest in American talent. Offer them a program to train 20 tailored engineers, and they say no. They want to cherry-pick from Ivy Leagues and make taxpayers pay for it.”

… Musk’s alleged online alter-ego ‘Adrian Dittman’ started hosting X Spaces to discuss the controversy. Many people who have followed that account and listen to ‘Dittman’ are 100% convinced it is Musk, who has used multiple online identities over the years. I am one of those who is convinced it is Musk. The voice on the X Spaces sounds just like him trying to use some kind of voice modifier.

… On the Spaces last night, Loomer was on there and referred to Dittman as “Elon” and he responded by answering the question. Then when he later realized he was busted for repeatedly answering to ‘Elon’, he angrily denounced her for calling him Elon when he was supposedly “Adrian.” Pathetic.

… One right-winger who was on the Spaces: “It’s the most cowardly and bizarre display I’ve ever witnessed. It was some weird mixture of kabuki theater, Adult Swim, and a Soviet-style shaming ritual.”

… Musk’s trans daughter Vivian Wilson on “Dittman’s” voice: “It has the exact same voice, accent, mannerisms, way of speaking, viewpoints, etc. The first time I heard a clip of him speaking I got the exact same chills running down my spine from when I was a child hearing his voice. Personally, I entirely believe it’s him and I don’t think it’s particularly subtle.”

… What makes the Dittman thing even more pathetic is when you go back and read some of his old posts knowing most likely it is really Musk. Earlier this year Musk posted a photo of himself with one of his many kids. ‘Dittman’ replied to that: “You’re an amazing father, Elon. Your kids are very lucky to have you.” He’s (allegedly) praising himself for being a good father so people will think he's a good father. Sheesh.

… Naturally, after things calmed down on Sunday, Trump allies not involved in the feud blamed Democrats and the media for the whole thing, despite the fact that we just sat back with our popcorn enjoying the show. Fox host Mark Levin: “First, the media tried to create a battle between Musk and Trump. Now, the media are trying to create a battle between Musk and certain MAGAites. It's all nonsense. The vast majority of MAGAites don't give a damn about these online, media-promoted ‘fights.’”

… The media barely covered this at all. They certainly did nothing to “promote” the fights. But the Party of Personal Responsibility never takes personal responsibility for anything they do. Ask the Capitol Police.

… On Friday, I was asked on a podcast if this could be the end of Musk’s relationship with Trump and MAGA. I said then that I didn’t think this would be enough to do it, but it was another chink in the armor. Musk never supported Trump in the past - he endorsed Desantis in the primary. They remember that.

… My take is that MAGA recognizes that Trump may not have won the election without Musk’s help in a lot of areas and are grateful for that, but they never entirely trusted him. So, while this isn’t a total deal breaker for them, it won’t take much more to push them over the edge.

… So it’s not the end of the MAGA love affair with Elon. And it’s not the beginning of the end. But it may be the end of the beginning.

… Former President Jimmy Carter died today. He was 100 years old. I was a federal prosecutor in Georgia in 2001 and Plains, GA where Carter is from was in my