Twitter’s new CEO, Elon Musk, is calling for voters to cast their ballots for Republicans for Congress. It’s not exactly a surprise, given his expressions of support for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and a QAnon-affiliated House Republican this year. But his poor reasoning for why he was endorsing the GOP is yet another example of the flimsiness of his depressingly influential political arguments.
Musk is ignoring the fundamental asymmetry between the parties on existentially significant issues.
“To independent-minded voters: Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic,” Musk tweeted on Monday. Musk even pinned the tweet to the top of his user profile, suggesting he felt it was a particularly important message for his 100 million-plus followers.
His tweet is the latest anecdotal example of a broader phenomenon known as “balancing” — where a slice of the electorate backs the opposition party as a check on the governing party’s power.
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On the surface, Musk’s thinking is understandable. But the logic is filled with holes, and it’s particularly weak reasoning at this particular historical moment. The pursuit of balance in government without regard for what the parties actually stand for and how the government is actually functioning is not a commitment to moderation. It is deeply irresponsible.
First, a split federal government in America today isn’t a balanced one, but a dysfunctional o