The President of the United States and the world’s richest man. This unlikely duo of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk has come to define the Republican Party and likely will continue to for years to come.
After senior Trump advisor Elon Musk’s Nazi salute at the indoor Washington inauguration celebration, more top Republicans have followed in making this gesture. This follows Musk’s comments at an alt-right rally in Germany where he said that it was time for the country to move beyond guilt for Nazi crimes.
At last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a conservative who’s who that included a speech from the president, Trump’s top strategist Steve Bannon concluded his speech yelling, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” as he held his right arm up in a Nazi salute. This seemed to be a formula as the next day Mexican actor and former presidential candidate Eduardo Verástegui opened his speech with a seemingly choreographed echo of the same three words and Hitler salute. Since this, a Michigan priest and an Idaho CEO have been removed from their posts for allegedly doing the Sieg Heil gesture in parody.
Last week, President Trump reversed the policy of congestion pricing in New York City meant to combat traffic, but what followed garnered more attention. The official White House social media accounts posted a celebratory AI-generated image of Trump smirking, wearing a crown that read, “Congestion pricing is dead. Manhattan, and all of New York, is saved. Long live the king!” While Trump may not be king in title, many of his allies and supporters have joined him in supporting an unconstitutional third term. Last week, at CPAC, stickers were also given out that read “Trump 2028: Finish the Job.”
Following the passage of the Republican budget plan, President Trump is poised to enact policy like the kings of old. The plan that passed late Tuesday night by two votes allows Trump to drastically raise costs on those struggling the most while giving a more than $1 trillion tax break to the richest 1% and increasing the national deficit in the process.
Trump, Musk and the Republican Party of 2025 do not represent the values of America. The historic party of Lincoln, Reagan and apple pie has now become the party of the 1%. Already, in the second month of their trifecta, Republicans have lost the confidence of voters with policies that are neither popular nor effective.
In the seemingly endless rush of post-mortems following the Democrats’ election loss this fall, pundits have given the party just about every prognosis. Some moderates want the party to push to the center, while other left-leaning liberals want to devote the party to progressivism. My solution is neither, but rather both.
If Democrats want to win future elections, the answer is simple, they should just be American.
Opposing the Musk-Trump Republican Party is as American as it gets. Our nation was founded on the idea of freedom from the tyranny of a king and our greatest moment came from defeating the same Nazism that unfortunately runs rampant in the modern Republican Party.
Democratic messaging should be easy to pull out of the mud. All we need to do is be American. Democrats must take the progressive populist message of the working class with the unabashed patriotism that many moderates describe. Democratic leaders cannot cave to conservative pressures to instill divisive fear and must frame the issues we face in words that everyday Americans can spell.
To be clear, this type of value-conservative, policy-liberal messaging is not a new idea, but America could not be more ripe for it to take hold across the country. Take, for example, the standing-room-only crowds at Senator Bernie Sanders’ rallies in the Midwest and Congressional town halls in conservative districts with voters angered by spending cuts.
If you are still not convinced that this is the path we should take, just look at examples from our past.
Like the Patriots who fought tyranny through the snow and starvation at Valley Forge to break free from a king across the sea.
Like the young men who gave the last full measure of devotion against brothers to preserve our union at Gettysburg.
Like the soldiers who climbed the cliffs of Normandy to defeat Hilter and his Nazi regime.
Like the generation who answered the call of what they could do for their country and put Americans on the moon.
Like the civil rights activists who marched because they had a dream about our country conquering the forces of hate.
Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger put it plainly: “Nazis? Losers. The Confederacy? Losers. The apartheid movement? Losers. I don’t want you to be a loser. I don’t want you to be weak.”
America is not a nation of losers. One day, we will look back at the history books detailing this era of Donald Trump and Elon Musk, where we saw Nazism and tyranny rear their ugly heads. As we read the pages, how will that story go? Will their power go unchecked, or, just like every other time in our American story, will the forces of evil be slammed into the dustbin of history?
America is a nation of winners and if Democrats want to win future elections, they need to answer the call of America’s greatest tradition. In the meantime, there will be lots of work to do and minds to change, so call your member of Congress and be a voice for what you believe in.
