What the Media Missed: Musk's millions, bad-luck Chuck, and a red-state tour

Welcome to What the Media Missed, where we dig into the many examples of legacy media malpractice that disgraced the nation’s front pages this week—while highlighting how Daily Kos goes past the spin to uncover the real horror stories of our new Trump era.

Elon Buys the GOP

Tesla CEO and shadow President Elon Musk already owns most of the Republican Party. This week, he moved to buy what little remained in the form of a rumored $100 million “donation” to President Donald Trump’s political operation. But while mainstream media outlets reported on Musk’s unprecedented gift to his alleged boss, only Daily Kos dug into exactly what Musk would be buying with all that cash.

When Trump turned the White House lawn into the world’s tackiest Tesla commercial, Markos Moulitsas reported that “Trump’s pathetic Tesla stunt proves he’s chosen billionaires over his base.” The event was Trump at his infomercial best, but even Fox News remarked on how out of place his marketing stunt felt amid an ongoing stock market meltdown. This is just real life now, folks.

Musk has a good reason to buy his way to safety: As Daily Kos reported on Wednesday, Musk’s much-hyped cuts from his so-called Department of Government Efficiency haven’t reduced federal spending. In fact, total government spending is up, leading some White House insiders (especially an irate Secretary of State Marco Rubio) to call for Musk’s immediate humbling. Fat chance when Musk is on track to become the single largest donor in Republican Party history. As it turns out, being a nearly bottomless source of ethics-free financing makes you a pretty untouchable force in right-wing politics.

For now, Musk’s fat wallet can still buy him a place at the decision desk. But with federal courts overturning his mass firings and Cabinet secretaries bristling under his bumbling mismanagement, Musk’s money is no longer a guarantee that anyone in the White House will be listening forever. As Musk’s star dims, Trump’s demands for cash will only increase—an impossible ransom, even for the richest man in the world.

Schumered

On Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer boldly predicted that Senate Republicans lacked the votes to pass their rotten government-funding package. As experienced Schumer watchers know, that kind of confidence is almost always followed by a betrayal of Democrats’ position. And just one day later, Schumer lived up to voters’ lowest expectations.

Instead of using Republican dysfunction to showcase their incompetence to the American people, Schumer announced he would abruptly stop fighting and support Republicans’ nightmare bill. That announcement did more than just sow confusion among Schumer’s Senate colleagues—it once again reminded voters that even Democratic lawmakers don’t seem to know what they believe. And it gave nine other members of the Democratic caucus permission to join him in voting to end debate on Friday, including two senators who are retiring.

Daily Kos called it what it was, quoting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York: “outrage and betrayal.” Schumer’s clockwork caving to GOP pressure sent a wave of fury through the party as rank-and-file Democrats realized they were on the verge of surrendering yet another pivotal legislative fight to Trump and his MAGA cronies. Progressive Democrats, including Ocasio-Cortez, blasted Schumer’s gambit as “dangerous” and cited his spinelessness as an example of why Democratic voters are losing faith in their party. 

It’s hard to argue with that bleak diagnosis. Once again, Schumer’s sclerotic leadership has led Democrats into a trap that makes them look like weak-willed rubes. If Democrats can’t address their identity crisis, they may lose their chance to retake a chamber of Congress in the 2026 midterm elections, and the nation can’t afford that kind of worst-case scenario.

Democrats (Slowly) Fill the Void

The Beltway media went ballistic in early March, after National Republican Campaign Committee Chair Richard Hudson directed his House GOP colleagues to cancel upcoming town halls in an effort to avoid the ire of voters furious about trade wars and rising prices. But most outlets missed the news out of Minnesota, where Gov. Tim Walz offered to attend town halls in districts where Republican lawmakers had bailed.

“If your Republican representative won’t meet with you because their agenda is so unpopular, maybe a Democrat will. Hell, maybe I will,” Walz posted on X. “If your congressman refuses to meet, I’ll come host an event in their district to help local Democrats beat ‘em.” 

As Daily Kos reported this week, Walz announced his first town hall stops in Iowa’s 3rd District, represented by Republican Rep. Zach Nunn, and Nebraska’s 2nd District, where Republican Rep. Don Bacon barely won reelection last year. Walz joins Ocasio-Cortez and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders as the first Democrats to fill the void left by Republican lawmakers. Which begs the question—where the heck is everyone else? 

It’s no surprise Republicans want to avoid their voters. Across the country, the GOP is now facing its most sustained unpopularity in years. Fifty-seven percent of voters, as well as a third of Republicans, now say Trump’s leadership is “too erratic” and Republican policies are hurting the economy. All that chaos is hopefully persuading exhausted Americans that it’s time to correct their electoral mistakes, starting with ousting the GOP’s dysfunctional House majority in 2026. Traveling town-hall tours are a great way to start.

Headline Watch

Good thing there’s no dark historical precedent for a fascist leader deciding who is and isn’t Jewish …