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(Photo/Alex Brandon) " title="President Donald Trump listens as Elon Musk speaks in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon) " subtitle="" class="lazyload size-article_feature" data-sizes="auto" data-src="https://www.courant.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/APTOPIX_Trump_95941.jpg?w=524" data-srcset="https://www.courant.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/APTOPIX_Trump_95941.jpg?w=524 620w,https://www.courant.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/APTOPIX_Trump_95941.jpg?w=659 780w,https://www.courant.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/APTOPIX_Trump_95941.jpg?w=861 1020w,https://www.courant.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/APTOPIX_Trump_95941.jpg?w=1079 1280w,https://www.courant.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/APTOPIX_Trump_95941.jpg?w=1567 1860w" ></div> <figcaption> President Donald Trump listens as Elon Musk speaks in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon) </figcaption> </figure> <div class="meta"><img alt='Author' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/?s=85&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/?s=170&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-85 photo avatar-default coauthor-avatar' height='85' width='85' /><div class="coauthor-avatar-container"><div class="byline">By <a href="https://www.courant.com/author/letters-to-the-editor/" title="Posts by Letters to the Editor" class=" author-name" rel="author">Letters to the Editor</a></div><div class="time">PUBLISHED: <time datetime="2025-02-19 05:15:58">February 19, 2025 at 5:15 AM EST</time></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body"><div class="body-copy"><div class="wp-remixd-voice-wrapper"><script type="text/javascript" id="remixd-audio-player-script" src="https://tags.remixd.com/player/v5/index.js?cb=%%CACHEBUSTER%%" charset="utf-8" async></script></div><p>On Monday I saw an interesting interview of James Carville about the worrisome and dangerous things <a href="https://www.courant.com/2025/02/18/trump-executive-orders-interview-musk/">President Trump</a> and <a href="https://www.courant.com/2025/02/18/social-security-head-doge-access/">Elon Musk</a> are doing. To be sure, Carville has always had a good sense of people, politics, and political strategy.<p>In the interview he recommended that the best strategy is for Democrats to back off, allowing things simply to play out as they will. Carville believes the train is already moving and we must wait to see what consequences accrue, rather than singling out everything Trump and Musk do.</p><p>Constant indictments of them, after all, <a href="https://www.courant.com/2025/02/17/thousands-of-protesters-brave-cold-temps-in-ct-to-voice-concerns-over-trump-administration/">have little capacity to stop the rolling train.</a> Moreover, they have, or will, become like the boy who cried wolf, thus neutralizing their potential effectiveness.</p><p>In short, Carville says that “nothing” is the answer to the question “what should we do?” Just let Musk and Trump implode.</p><div class="s2nPlayer k-iLgdKCFX" data-type="float" data-s2n-api="dfm_stn_player_script_id_iLgdKCFX"></div><script> function dfm_stn_player_script_id_iLgdKCFX( getS2NApiForPlayer ) { if( typeof window.MNGAuthentication !== 'undefined' ){ const s2nApi = getS2NApiForPlayer( document.querySelector('.k-iLgdKCFX') ); s2nApi.float = ! window.MNGAuthentication.isUserSubscriber(); } }</script><p>As odd as this recommendation seems, and as hard as it will be to follow, Carville may be right. To that I would add: focusing on every move by Trump and Musk will only support the Republican claim that Democrats are happy with a bloated government, the very thing Trump campaigned to end and for which MAGA Republicans voted.</p><p><em>Richard Cherwitz, Ernest A. 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