This Weeks Politics in Review

“Things fall apart” is perhaps an apt expression to summarize this week in politics, as tensions across the global right wing grow. The battleground of choice for these spats, well, “X” of course, because where else is a more dignified and intellectual arena for taking down one’s political rivals?This weeks round of political infighting found itself home, and away, with right-wing politicians (and wannabe’s) in both the US and UK, taking to their various social media platforms to sling mud at one another.

Where else better to begin than the very messy public breakup between the global power couple, Trump and Musk. The trajectory of Trump and Musk’s “friendship” (could we call it that?) has tracked very similarly to a high-school romance, accompanied by all the mess and all the drama. In the beginning, it was marital, honeymoon bliss, with Musk keenly campaigning beside Trump, making stage appearances at his rallies, mobilizing support via his social media platform, X. The pair seemed practically joined at the hip, to the point where I questioned whether Melania needed to step aside from her FLOTUS position-it was evident that Musk had quickly become a prominent figure in the 2024 electoral campaign, and wasn’t planning on leaving Trump’s side anytime soon. There was however, an abundance of skepticism by political analysts and journalists alike. How could two men, so well notarized for their gargantuan egos, longing for power and, both possessing definitive and unique views to how the political system should operate and develop, sustain a peaceful and cooperative relationship? It was almost certain that at one point or the other, the two would come to blows in a struggle for power or political direction. But how quickly these tensions would arise, no one was too certain. I for one, would’ve bet, and lost, money that the partnership, given how positive and emphatic it had been for so many months following campaign and inauguration, may span a little longer than a few months.

I was wrong. I knew this with full certainty when I first heard that Musk had criticized Trumps “Big Beautiful Bill”, and thought to myself, “this is going to get messy”, and messy, it was. The Big Beautiful Bill is the Trump administration’s newest announced financial reform proposition, containing plans for government spending, taxes and tax thresholds. What on earth does a financial bill have to do with Elon Musk then? The answer is, everything. In January, Musk was appointed to spearhead “DOGE” or, The Department of Government Efficiency, his aim to streamline government operations and spending, hence, making them more “efficient”. His work in DOGE, focused on cutting federal expenses, and reducing national debt-actions that of course, directly contradict and do not align with a bill that proposes an abundance of spending. He made his thoughts about this contradiction clear describing the bill as a “disgusting abomination” that senators should promptly “kill.” Why not listen to his advice instead, and stop the spend-Musk proposed his own “Beautiful Slim Bill.” Are we putting spending bills on ozempic now?

As I stated, the minute I saw Musk make these comments, I knew the relationship was over. It came as no shock, then, when Musk was presented with a goodbye ceremony, albeit quite civil, as he stepped away from his role in the DOGE department-and indeed, his once beloved place at Trump’s side. It seemed there was a concerted effort by Trump to try and salvage some sort of relationship with Musk, with the president describing Musk’s comments as “disappointing,” however offering wishes that their great relationship may prevail, and perhaps Musk would return to a governmental position in the future.

This future, however, has become incredibly uncertain indeed, as this once “great relationship” has deteriorated more quickly than anything reality TV could offer. Who needs love island when you can tune into X to watch the world’s most powerful men sling accusations at each other between shady retweets? Musk levied a number of accusations towards Trump on his social media platform, claiming that he was ungrateful, that he would’ve never won the election without his help, and perhaps most perniciously, that Trump had full and knowing engagement with Jeffrey Epstein and his sordid activities. Trump took to his own social media platform (yes, everyone’s got one now) to respond “Elon was wearing thin, I asked him to leave, I took away his EV mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do) and he just went CRAZY!” The classic trope of the jlted ex is being played out in real time, except, in this case, both parties are as morally dubious as the other, and doing so under the watchful eyes of millions of people. All we could do was sit by and watch as the threats between the pair escalated-between cancelling government contracts, decommissioning space programs and questioning each others sanity, many began to question whether world war three had taken on another dimension-Putin has exited the picture. When asked by ABC whether he planned to speak to Musk in order to end the ongoing disagreement, Trump replied “You mean the man who has lost his mind? I am not particularly interested in talking to him right now.”

The feud is, very much just as messy as we had expected-but will it really case a significant political rift in the US System? We will have to wait and see. Donald Trump undeniably has unprecedented support from a great number of US citizens, many of whom have rallied to support him and his bill in the midst of the argument, with Conservative media personality Steve Bannon suggesting that Musk should be deported (come on Steve, that’s a bit dramatic). Then again, Musk is the richest man in the world, and has found support from more moderate republicans, and indeed suggested there should be an alternative party founded to combat the current GOP. Will he, going forward, support an opposition to Trump? Will this cause a split in the US right wing? Or will the pair kiss and make up by next week? It all remains to be seen-I defy anyone to coin politics as “boring” after this rather eventful sequence.

Across the pond, things are looking equally pear shaped. Earlier in the week, ex-conservative turned reform MP for Runcorn and Helsby, Sarah Pochin, attended her first PMQs in the seat. Controversially, Pochin inquired of the Prime Minister, whether he, in the “interests of public safety” would follow the lead of some other European states, and ban the Burka in the UK. Instantaneously, reform offered a statement denying that the party had any intention or policy which concerned such an issue, and later, the party chairman himself, Zia Yusuf, weighed in, on again, you guessed it, X! Yusuf stated “(I had) no idea about the question, nor that it wasn’t policy. Busy with other stuff. I do think it is dumb for a party to ask the PM whether they would do something that the party itself wouldn’t do.” I wince. I understood the clarification, but publicly calling a decision of one of your MP’s “dumb” is perhaps not the best PR move, especially if you are trying to present your new and emerging party as a united front. Well, it became clear that this was not the intention of Yusuf, who a few hours later presented a rather short and underwhelming resignation of his position, again, via X. Not a press statement, not a conference, and little clarification was offered as to why this decision was being made. Apart from, of course, that working towards getting Reform elected was a “waste” of his time, a statement made in direct contradiction to his previous sentence, in which he had highlighted how much the party had grown under his leadership. I would refute his argument entirely-Reform have been performing remarkably well, consistently polling higher than both major parties and showing themselves to be a consistent opposition in elections. If anyone was thinking of entering the political arena right now, seeking election, Reform would certainly be a fruitful avenue to pursue. So this statement doesn’t quite hold up to reality, unless of course, he believes there to be something under the surface which disqualifies their electability, or ability to succeed in government. Dubious indeed. Is there a tension brewing beneath the surface within Reform, soon to be revealed to the public in a Trump/Musk-esque manner? We do have a habit of following in the political footsteps of our American brothers…

These two cases do highlight for me, an emerging problem or debate, surrounding how we process political infighting and grievances. I have been, as much as I hate to use the term an “influencer” for a number of years, and through that time have bore witness to politics, and political debates being moved from official chambers and channels, to social media. Gone are the days of moderated debates, respectful discussions, and above all else-discretion, so matters are handled, or at least are attempted to be handled privately and with dignity. This doesn’t mean there was never infighting, of course there was, but it was far more reserved in nature, possessing more passive aggression than full frontal name calling. Now, if you have a problem with someone in your party, or a matter of policy, you need not send a letter to the individual concerned, or organize a moderated debate to resolve the issue. Instead, you take the grievance to social media, to battle it out in the court of public opinion. There is a debate to be had about whether this shift is positive, or not. It does open doors; it makes politics, guts and all, more accessible to all. We are able to witness in gory details, the battles which come hand in hand with political life, at the tap of a screen, and know exactly what is going right-or wrong, whenever an MP or senator takes to X. However, one cannot help that the formality of politics, the dignity that statesmen and women used to conduct themselves with, or at least attempted to, is quickly being lost-and this, in my eyes, is not a good thing. Perhaps it is the catholic in me that dictates my resistance towards this progression. Alas, I cannot help but sigh when I see another MP get in a spat online, that once would’ve been handled in a more dignified manner-could this not have been an email?

Despite many parties hailing this as the “fall of reform”, this little bump in the road is hardly going to stop their momentum. This level of informality has been present within the party since it’s very conception, it is a hallmark of a number of populist movements, it is what makes them so appealing to many people. This setback is something they can, and will bounce back from, and no way is that more evident than from the results of the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by election. Despite Labour claiming the seat from the SNP, a good result considering the recent dissatisfaction by many of the current government, they are by no means the only victor in this election. For finishing in third place was no other than reform, with their best ever parliamentary election result in Scotland so far, beating out the tories for the right-wing vote. It is yet another setback for the Conservative Party, who time and time again are being swamped and replaced by the Reform Party. I can already envision the sweat beading on the heads of the executives at Tory HQ.

What is the cause of the Conservative Party hurt? The answer to this question was evidenced by Robert Jenrick’s viral moment. Once tory leader hopeful and now a shadow cabinet minister, Robert Jenrick posted to social media a clip of him running after and confronting individuals “bumping” the tube. The intention of the video was to show the prevalence of such crimes, outline why they are unacceptable and also discuss the hefty sum TFL loses as a result. As a Londoner, I wonder, whether Robert Jenrick, if he truly is so passionate about preventing robbery, should devise a strategy to reduce the exorbitant tube fairs. Because let me tell you, every single time I tap my card to those gates, I know my bank account has taken an almighty hit. As I sit on that cramped, smelly, hot carriage that hasn’t been renovated or updated since God knows when, I close my eyes and dream of my travels to Singapore, where the metro is beautifully pristine, always on time and extremely, extremely cheap. I myself would never bump the tube, criminality is not my brand, but I can in some way, understand why people do. Not that I do think about it much, my country is facing bigger issues, like a cost of living crisis, starving children and an ever growing homeless population. People are struggling to live, and yet there is Robert Jenrick, running around like something out of a Little Britain Skit, getting his knickers in a twist over people avoiding a five pound fair for a ten minute journey. This bizarre video does not paint Jenrick in a good light, he comes across more like the kid in class that reminds the teacher they’d set a test that day, than a respectable politician (especially considering that he himself does not have a shining record when it comes to financial dealings). It is this very scenario that encapsulates the achilles heel of the conservative party; at the moment, they have no idea who they are, or what they stand for, so they are desperately scrambling for hills to die on-and failing.

The tory party was once seen as the party of common sense. They were serious, straight laced, offering a sensible and practical approach to politics and policy. My earliest memories were of David Cameron’s premiership, and granted I was very young and very deeply uneducated on politics at the time, but when he resigned I felt as if the world was changing-and scarily so. Because I saw him as a leader. I was a layman-I had no knowledge of anything, what he stood for, what he had achieved (or not)-there was a lot of questions and doubts I could’ve had. But I knew one thing, and that was, he was a leader-and I could place my trust in him to do so. I know that I was certainly not alone. Each leader, until Truss, had a distinctive personality and approach to politics and demonstrated these through their policies and time in office accordingly. And whilst I may not agree with anything they stood for, at least they stood for something.

Now, especially with the rise of reform, it seems the Tory party have hit their adolescent identity crisis phase, and hit it hard. Are they far right? Center right? Establishment? Anti-Establishment? I don’t know, and they don’t seem to know either. And so in this state of confusion, the party ran head first into causes and policy positions they think will gain the public’s favor again. So this requires a look through the X trending algorithm, selecting a trending hot topic or culture war battle, and making a party stance. Not actually delving into real-world problems, (many of which they caused). Not actually sticking by their original convictions, to this I am speaking to many of the past centrist politicians which have now found themselves on the right in order to gain votes and support (as a centrist myself I am sending you the mother of all side eyes). The thought process at current is; Maybe if we pick this trending topic from X, that only the few chronically online actually care about, we’ll get the votes. It doesn’t matter if we actually believe in it or not…

So then what we end up with, is a prospective LEADER of the conservative party, running around tube stations with a camera crew, humiliating himself over an issue that I, in all honesty, do not believe he truly cares about. And I know I am definitely not the only person who feels this way. I can’t help but wonder, at what point will the Tory party wake up, remember who they are and actually locate their backbone, to firmament themselves in solid convictions-which they believe. No wonder why no one trusts them; they don’t even trust themselves.

Politics this week has been a mess, but then again, when is it not? What has become clear as day, however, is that social media is having an increasing and vital role to play in our political arena. It is shaping the way we communicate with our colleagues, with our party members, how we gain and how we lose votes. I no longer have to go to a viewing gallery in the house of commons, or any other respective parliament across the worlds if I want to see politicians fighting. All I need is to go on X-I’ll find a bounty of arguments there.