Behind the scenes. The Trump team has been playing hardball, and they've been giving an ominous warning to any Senate Republicans who might oppose his nominees. One Trump adviser telling our Jon Karl that the message is, quote, if you are on the wrong side of the vote, you're buying yourself a primary. [00:00:15] That is all. And there's a guy named Elon Musk who is going to finance it. The Trump adviser added the president gets to decide his cabinet. - No one else. - That's right. Yesterday, ABC news reported that Trump's team is threatening to sic. Elon Musk, just the richest man in the world. [00:00:32] That's all on any Republican senator who dares oppose his brilliant cabinet appointments and their flawless appointments. We have to say that now, legally, for fear of being thrown into some sort of illegal prison. But this isn't the first time we've heard a report like this. [00:00:48] Last week, journalist Lauren Windsor posted the following. A senator told me that the rumor on the Hill is that Elon Musk is threatening to fund a primary challenge to any House Republican who doesn't fall in line with Trump's agenda. That threat happens to have a lot of money behind it, [00:01:05] and only a few days after the election, if you don't think this is a real thing. Musk himself wrote of his America PAC, normally a PACs go somewhat dormant after a big election. At America, PAC is going to do the opposite and keep grinding increasing [00:01:21] Republican registrations in key districts around the country in preparation for special elections and the midterms. Following up with and, of course, play a significant role in primaries. But what's so interesting about the story is also that Musk's threat [00:01:38] hasn't worked out, at least so far. Matt Gaetz, Trump's pick for attorney general due simply to his incredible qualifications, didn't last two weeks before he had to withdraw, according to the New York Times. Gates decision to drop out was based on four other Senate Republicans opposed [00:01:54] to his nomination Lisa murkowski, Susan Collins Mitch McConnell and John Curtis. Thankfully, McConnell unfroze long enough to make that stance very clear. You know, to get things past McConnell. These days, you kind of have to bank on an impromptu freeze. [00:02:11] And when he's when he's fully live action. Well, he's a wild card, Jake. Yeah. So, believe it or not, I got mixed feelings on this, so let me explain. Number one, I believe in political bullying. Okay. I believe in carrots and sticks, and and you sometimes got to play hardball. [00:02:28] So I always think shoe on the other foot. So let's say that, Bernie Sanders had won in 2016 or 2020. He's made me the enforcer. I would say, vote against us at your peril. We will make sure that we spend every ounce of energy we have in defeating you in primaries. [00:02:44] That is a logical step if you want to advance your agenda. On the other hand, now let us note the incredible irony of the Republicans saying, let's drain the swamp and hand the government over to our biggest donor. And if you cross our biggest donor. He will then eliminate you from politics by using his big money. [00:03:02] So who cares about your stupid votes? We got this money, Mr. Moneybags, over here. And he's going to eliminate anyone who doesn't agree with him. And gee, I wonder what he's going to push for. Maybe extra advantages for his businesses. No, I'm sure he never would. Right. [00:03:18] And now, if you're a right winger and you don't believe in you think Elon Musk is an angel and there's no way. And this all makes sense. And da da da. Let me ask you, if the shoe was on the other foot in the other direction. And let's say Biden had won and said, you know what? A George Soros is now in charge of government efficiency. [00:03:36] He will get to cut whatever programs he likes, add whatever programs he likes. And if you dare oppose Joe Biden, George Soros will eliminate you politically. He will spend so much of his money, you'll have no chance. Would you be cool with it? Be careful how you answer. Would you be cool with it? [00:03:53] Okay, you know that if you're a right winger, you wouldn't be cool with that. But now you're cool with Elon Musk. One of the largest owners in American political history, getting to basically run the whole country. They're not cool with it happening even when it's not happening from George Soros. And they believe it's happening. So imagine if it was. [00:04:09] Yeah. Even when he isn't doing that and they think he is. That's right. But he controls everything. And that's why they won. - Yeah. - Right. Yeah. What happened to that? To what happened to the all powerful Soros? Right, right. One thing. First takeaway. How did nobody have the name America Pac until this year with Elon Musk? [00:04:29] You think that name would have been taken already? Great point. You know, just has nothing to do with anything here. John Curtis is the new newly elected senator. He has Mitt Romney's seat in Utah. Matt Gaetz supported his primary. So did Donald Trump. The person who primaried him, he was not even elected, right? [00:04:48] I mean, this was an open seat. Lisa murkowski won as a write in candidate primary. And Lisa murkowski, probably not a successful track. And then the other is Susan Collins. If Susan Collins gets primaried, the Democrat's going to win after 2028. [00:05:04] If if Collins doesn't win her reelection, it's going to be a Democratic seat up there for a very long time. These are not the wisest people after whom to go. But the point is, what he's doing is political bullying. It's also politics, right? It's like, if you don't do this, we're going to do this. [00:05:20] So call our bluff, do it, and then see if we can beat you. I don't have a problem with it necessarily, but it is, again, what Jack just said about money and politics, about draining the swamp. It is hypocritical, but hypocrisy seems to be a winning formula in America today. [00:05:38] There's a lot of ways to drain a swamp. They weren't specific. One way to drain a swamp is to put so many bodies in there that the swamp water just bounces out, right. I hadn't thought about it. Yeah. Archimedes. Promises made. Promises kept. Eureka! [00:05:56] Okay, so good luck to us all. By the way, there is one way that I would use a similar model, which is and this was one of the original ideas behind Wolfpack, which never raised anywhere near enough money. But if you raise all the money and then you use it ironically [00:06:13] to get money out of politics. So as a real quick example, we in Connecticut, we spent a lot on a local race and every all the local. And it was again, it was in the Democratic primary and the Democrats were upset. The local press was upset, of course. [00:06:28] And they're like, you know, isn't this ironic that you claim to have a group that wants to get money out of politics and you put money in politics here? I said, I know, so the way that you would stop that is to get money out of politics. Okay. So go ahead. And if we had enough money, if we had an Elon Musk like figure, [00:06:46] if George Soros was what the right wing actually thinks he is, right? And he actually wanted to get money out of politics, which he most certainly does not. Okay, we could use that money to say, hey, if you don't get our money out, we're you're screwed. We're going to eliminate all you guys. [00:07:02] Right. But of course, nobody wants to do that. Instead, they want to use the money to further their business interests, of course. And sadly, that really is so much. The truth of it is that our vote is still very important, but it's so weakened. It's so it only really applies and matters in that we can create [00:07:22] systemic change one day. Theoretically, if we put enough people in, that will get the money out, that will be fiercely against corruption, against the outsized, insane influence of dark money in our politics. Money is what controls it. Our vote moves things around the margins, and you hope that you can one day [00:07:39] make enough change. But it is true. Regardless of what side wins, it's money that decides it's the richest people in this country that decide what happens. And it's just a battle of billionaires and the fact that people are okay with it some degree don't realize it, some degree have their blinders on [00:07:57] and don't want to see it, but it is not. You know, this is a kleptocracy. A lot more than it is a democracy these days. It's a little bit of Hunger Games. If the if the rich don't support you and they don't help you out in the middle of The Hunger Games, you're toast. [00:08:13] So. But don't worry. I'm sure Ellen has your best interests in mind. He would never even think about his own interest. I mean, the fact that he's already listed all the regulators who regulate his business as the ones that are that should be fired. [00:08:28] No concern at all. All for your benefit, of course. Same with George Soros. - Always for your benefit. - And Hunger Games style. It's exactly right because, you know, they misuse their great slogan, their tagline in that movie may the odds be ever in your favor. What they really mean is the odds will never be in your favor. [00:08:46] May random dumb luck be in your favor if you happen to pull the one out of many thousands on that wheel, because the odds are in the favor of the people who get to put their chips on lots of numbers. - Yeah. - Yeah. And we'll also see, by the way, quickly, if Elon Musk is not out for himself [00:09:02] when it comes to China because he and Donald Trump come from totally different points of view on China. Elon needs China. So you'll see that Elon is all about himself when it comes to China. Yeah, that's another very interesting point because I listened, you know, very [00:09:17] tortuously to all three hours of Elon's appearance on Rogan before the election. Listen to it after the election, thank God. Otherwise, I probably would have voted him. But the only the only point, literally, that he made for Trump the entire time of three hours, the only thing he argued for was this [00:09:37] insane argument that if the Democrats win, there will never be an election again because they're bringing in so many illegals, they're going to somehow give them the right to vote. And it's going to never be an election like you had before. The only argument for the argument against when Rogan asked him, [00:09:53] the only medium tough political question during the interview was what do you think about tariffs? And Elon Musk was like, tariffs are actually really bad and, and could really affect business and they can crush business if you don't have enough lead time to know where your supply chains are going to be able to affect it. [00:10:08] So I really hope that doesn't happen. But go Trump. - I mean, what based upon what. - No, no, that's what I'm telling you. The next four years are going to be amazing because like, there's so many different conflicting interests here. And and Donald Trump is not a man known to have principles. So let's see what happens. Anything can happen. [00:10:26] Thanks for watching The Young Turks. Really appreciate it. Another way to show support is through YouTube memberships. You'll get to interact with us more. There's live chat emojis, badges. 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