No Kind of Hero

I see that many on social media are having one of those 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' moments with regard to the falling out between Musk and Trump, with the former being seen in some quarters as some kind of hero for denouncing the 'Orange Shitler'.  While it is fun to see two utterly unspeakable arseholes of their ilk bad mouthing each other, the fact remains that they are still both unspeakable arseholes.   Musk doesn't get to be a hero for opposing Trump's 'Big beautiful Bill' the president is trying to push through Congress - he isn't doing it for philanthropic reasons.  He hasn't had some 'road to Damascus' revelation which has opened his eyes to the shittiness of his actions while in Trump's employ: he still doesn't give a flying fuck about all those federal workers he is responsible for firing, or the massive damage he has done to aid programs.  This opposition is simply about a disagreement over how best to screw the US economy for ordinary people whilst rewarding the ultra-rich.  He's afraid that he won't get as big a piece of the pie as he thought he would.  He certainly doesn't get to be a hero for claiming Trump is on the 'Epstein list' as a guest at one of that late millionaire's alleged child molestation parties.  Because in the same breath (or Tweet, to be more accurate), he reminds us that it was thanks to his money that Trump won the White House and the Republicans took control of Congress.  Basically, what he's telling us is that he was instrumental in putting a peadophile into the Oval Office and that he knew that his man was an alleged peado, (if we are to take his statement at face value).  He's admitting to be an enabler.

Of course, former enemies suddenly becoming friends has a long history - usually driven by expediency.  Let's not forget, for instance, that the Soviet Union started World War Two as, effectively, a German ally thanks to the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact.  Indeed, the UK actually conducted military operations against the Soviets during the 'Winter War' of 1940, when they and Germany jointly invaded Finland.  But, with the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, they suddenly became our friends and horrible communist dictator Josef Stalin suddenly became jovial 'Uncle Joe' Stalin in UK and US propaganda.  Likewise, some years later it became expedient for the UK to have Israel as an ally in the Suez debacle, despite the fact that only a few years earlier Israel's leaders had been terrorists (in the eyes of the UK) murdering British soldiers in Palestine.  So it is with Musk.  It has become expedient for him to distance himself from Trump and to try to get back onside with popular opinion.  After all, his businesses have been negatively impacted by the association by Trump, so he needs to rehabilitate his public image.  Plus, he' possibly suffering 'buyer's regret', in that he isn't getting what he thought he was paying for when he backed Trump - the doors of power haven't opened up to him in the ways he thought they would and it has become clear that Trump isn't going to be the Messiah creating that Ayn Rand inspired billionaire Utopia that Musk dreamed of ushering in.  Trump is all about Trump, not other peoples' dreams.  The only person, ultimately, that Trump wants to enrich is himself.  So Musk isn't the hero, the brave fighter rebelling against bad man Trump that he now wants us to think that he is - rather he's someone who used to like define himself as being some kind of outsider who has finally realised that he made a big miscalculation by becoming an insider.  The enemy of my enemy is still a self serving arsehole.