"All children, except one, grow up."

"I want never to be a man. I want always to be a little boy and to have fun!"
Peter Pan

To title today's post, I used the opening words of the story of Peter Pan, written by J.M. Barrie in 1902. Peter Pan has been with us for a century, and is now in the public domain.

People will be writing about Elon Musk a century from now. He has shaken up the auto industry, social media, space travel, satellites, artificial intelligence, robotics, and brain science. He, too, is a careless, imaginative, creative boy who never grew up.

Musk is acting like Trump's undisciplined id, the entitled child inside the already-entitled narcissist child that is Trump. Trump and his MAGA followers delight in "owning the libs." Trump has contempt for the people MAGA has contempt for.

Rachel Maddow expressed shock at Musk's latest flurry of insults. Musk said the Saturday afternoon protests in 50 states are carried out by paid losers feeding at the public trough. Here are quick screen shots:

Does this make your blood boil?

That is the point. It displays Musk "not giving a F - - -," which Musk loves to do. The insult delights MAGA people who love owning the libs, and, who knows?, they can imagine some people really are paid; you can't prove a negative. The insult doesn't need to be even remotely true. It has "truthiness" to people who want to believe Democrats are lazy welfare cheats. It feels right, even if it isn't. So assert it. Let Democrats squirm at the insult!

Best of all, Musk's insults may provoke more vandalism. Musk needs that vandalism. Fox News is full of stories about intentional damage to Tesla vehicles and dealerships. It doesn't take many incidents to turn the story of mass protests into a story of Democratic vandalism.

Musk is taunting Democrats. He wants to be the sympathetic victim in the grand political dramas of the spring of 2025. He and Trump are in competition for the role of Chief Victim. Trump blames economic distress on the Fed, on the cheating Chinese, on weak-kneed Republicans, on bond market participants with the "yips," on snobby woke Harvard, and on the media. So many enemies. Tesla sales plummeted. Musk also needs a villain. Musk's enemies are Democratic vandals, stock sellers, and critics of his excellent cars. So many enemies.

Democrats need to be smart, not angry, but there is no practical way to control the odd vandal or arsonist. Democrats can condemn vandalism, and should, forcefully. In a matchup against Trump, the Democratic position is for the rule of law. Trump is the lawless one. Remember which side you are on.

There is a bigger peril for Democrats. Abrego Garcia is certainly a victim, but not necessarily a hero. Trump is taunting Democrats, showing off an image of Abrego Garcia's hand, with "MS-13" photoshopped in. It is dishonest, cynical, and manipulative. But Abrego Garcia-as-dangerous, or at least suspicious, fits the "truthiness" narrative for voters impatient with uncontrolled immigration. Trump knows what he is doing. He is daring Democrats to oversell him.

Democrats want this to be Trump's unjust effort to deport and imprison a good guy -- someone Americans can identify with. Arguments about "due process" have a sterile, academic feel. Our emotions lead us to care whether this is right or wrong, whether Abrego Garcia is safe to have as a neighbor or not, rather than whether it was procedurally correct or not. Trump will find something wrong with him even if he has to make it up, which he is already doing, joyfully and shamelessly. But he won't have to make it up. Everyone has something to criticize.

Trump and Musk have a superpower. We are fascinated by people who appear to act without the restraints and self-editing and conscience brought by adulthood. The richest man in the world and the most politically powerful man in the world can act out on personal will with no apparent concern about who they hurt and offend. They are free to be jerks. That is their power: They don't give a F - - -.