Of all the black trailblazers in American sports, Jack Johnson is, without question, the most criminally overlooked. And that’s a shame.
Not only was he the first black man to reign as heavyweight champion (and, oddly enough, the inventor of a wrench), but he was the first heavyweight to popularize feinting as a boxing strategy. As boxing historian Mike Silver described him:
Feinting was still very much in vogue during Jack’s time and he used his head, legs, arms, shoulders and eyes to create openings or confuse opponents. Johnson could hypnotise you with his hand motions. They were always moving, sometimes broadly and sometimes in little circular motions, ready to feint, lead, block or counter punch.
The advantage to feinting is misdirection: Used effectively, it (perpetually) keeps your opponent off balance. That’s an enormous benefit, because the most dangerous punch is the one your enemy doesn’t see coming. And the only way to negate feinting is to avoid overreacting or underreacting!
This brings us to Elon Musk, the Democratic Party, and last night in Wisconsin. On the same night the GOP scored a pair of (narrower) victories in House races, the Democrats notched a nine-point victory in a Supreme Court race over a Trump-endorsed candidate. And it came after Elon Musk personally campaigned in Wisconsin.
“I’m honestly shocked. I thought we had it in the bag,” said Pam Van Handel, Chair of the Republican Party of Wisconsin’s Outagamie County. “I thought [Musk] was gonna be an asset for this race. People love Trump, but maybe they don’t love everybody he supports. Maybe I have blinders on.”
Rohn W. Bishop, the mayor of Waupun, Wisconsin, and former chairman of the Republican Party of Fond du Lac County, admitted that the race “throws up a bunch of warning signs for the midterm election.”
“I thought maybe Elon coming could turn these people to go out and vote,” Bishop said. Instead, he added, “I think [Musk] helped get out voters in that he may have turned out more voters against [Schimel].”
Democrats had sold the Wisconsin election in particular as a referendum on Trump and Musk. And as the dust settled, they gloated.
“It’s time for them to walk away from this unelected, unpopular, unhinged and un-American billionaire puppet master,” a triumphant House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said of Musk Tuesday night. [emphasis added]
Obviously, the Democrats are hoping to parlay the Wisconsin results (and even their drubbings in Florida) into an even-larger PR victory. They’re going to overhype and oversell the results, primarily to placate their base (and get those donations rolling in again).
What they can’t win via the ballot box, they’ll try to steal via the post-event coverage. (Which isn’t a bad strategy: He who frames the post-event narrative is he who controls the story.)
Politico’s coverage continued:
In Wisconsin, Democrats think they may have figured out a playbook that will help them as they gear up for the midterms. They sought to use Musk’s influence against him, framing the race as yet another example of the world’s richest man — a “special government employee” often by Trump’s side — wielding undue influence over the country.
Musk’s approval ratings consistently lag behind Trump’s, and the president has repeatedly had to defend his senior adviser as Democratic messaging has coalesced around criticism of Musk as an unelected “oligarch.”
“He’s becoming electoral poison,” said Evan Roth Smith, a Democratic pollster. “The Democratic Party is going to make Elon a central issue in its messaging, as it should, and Democrats are getting better at focusing on what matters to voters, which is the threat he poses to entitlements.” [emphasis added]
It’s a pivot. They’ve gone from vilifying Trump to vilifying Musk:
Throughout the campaign, Democrats strategically positioned Musk as the primary antagonist, framing his substantial financial contributions as an attempt to “buy” the election. Judge Crawford and her supporters emphasized this narrative in their messaging, portraying Musk’s involvement as an unprecedented assault on democracy.
In her victory speech, Crawford declared, “Today, Wisconsin defended against an unprecedented attack on our democracy, our equitable elections, and our Supreme Court. Wisconsin has firmly declared that justice cannot be bought; our courts are not for sale.” This rhetoric resonated with voters who were wary of corporate interference in judicial matters and galvanized Democratic turnout. [emphasis added]
The Democrats are feinting. We don’t want to overreact to the results of a judicial election in Wisconsin on April Fools' Day; that would be silly. Wisconsin isn’t all of America; for a host of reasons, its strategy for the Supreme Court seat would be ineffective in a traditional, national election.
But we don’t want to underreact either.
And the truth is, there’s a flashing “warning” sign on the GOP’s dashboard: The Democrats have discovered that Elon Musk is a useful foil for rallying their base.
Part of the problem is Musk himself.
He’s a genius. Ridiculously successful. And he’s given so generously of himself to the cause of MAGA that it’s almost indecent to complain. But partisan politics is a zero-sum game; it’s not about fairness, decency, or anything else.
It’s all about winning. To quote Al Davis, “Just win, baby!”
Elon Musk is a genius, but he’s a neurodivergent genius. I suspect his success is largely due to his brilliance at identifying possibilities that others cannot. From digital payments to electric vehicles to artificial intelligence to space travel, he’s been on the bleeding edge of innovation his entire adult life. In any sane, rational culture, he’d be showered with accolades — and universally acclaimed as a national treasure.
But that’s not the world we’re living in.
Because of his intellectual uniqueness, he struggles with predicting how others will react to his words, actions, and antics. His intentions are splendid, but his weakness at the PR game has left him vulnerable.
As CNN’s chief data analyst Harry Enten said:
I have rarely if ever seen any change of perception as dramatic as this one. I mean, Elon Musk's net favorable rating, it's dropped from +24 to -19 overall from 2017 to 2025. And look at these—look at, among Democrats. He used to be beloved by Democrats at +35. Look where it is now, -91 points on the net favorable rating. That is a movement of over 120 points in the negative direction, falling through the floor.
According to a recent Fox News poll, only 40% of voters approve of Musk’s work with DOGE. A whopping 58% disapprove.
More problematic is who’s doing the disapproving: Over 90% of Democrats and 70% of independents.
That’s an absolutely brutal combination in an off-season election for the GOP. It’s going to mobilize Democrats and anti-Trump independents!
(Which seems to be the best explanation for the Democrats’ overperformance in the Florida races and in Wisconsin. The Democrats tried to turn the races into a referendum on Musk, and the strategy worked a helluva lot better than anything else they’ve tried. And that means they’re gonna double down on it. This is just the beginning!)
Musk provides a slew of goodies to the right. DOGE, X, free speech, and oodles of money helped enormously, but so did the prestige of the Elon Musk brand: The stamp of approval from the “real-life Tony Stark” mattered in the minds of the voters.
But right now, Musk is also providing political goodies to the left. It's transformed him into the conservative version of George Soros. And today, it's using him to gin up its base, drive voters to the ballot box, and rebuild its party.
Like it or not, Musk’s political utility for MAGA is directly — and irrevocably — tied to public perception. When that goes south, so does his utility. That’s how the game is played.
DOGE is vital for eliminating fraud and waste, but those dividends will be down the road. The truth is, every stupid, inefficient government program still helps someone, and the media will make a point to highlight absolutely every pain-point, misstep, and (photogenic) “victim” of DOGE. That means the headlines will be increasingly negative for Musk the longer DOGE goes on.
That might be why there’ve been articles like this one in Axios yesterday: “Musk’s DOGE days could end soon, Trump suggests.”
Either way, it’s increasingly clear that MAGA needs a better plan in place to protect Elon Musk. He’s too important. And a good, moral movement takes care of its own.
Elon Musk has many gifts. PR isn’t one of ‘em.
We shouldn’t overreact, but we better not underreact either.
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