By Olukorede Yishau
I REMEMBER a common practice at The Nation the day Democrats kicked the Republicans out of control of the United States Senate and House of Representatives. In those days, it was a standard practice to compile a list of winners and losers anytime a major election was held.
The list always went beyond the candidates; it accommodated godfathers and any other person with significant roles in the electioneering process. It was something I participated in a lot with Dr Emmanuel Oladesu, who is now the newspaper’s Deputy Editor.
If I had been asked to compile the list, Elon Musk is one personality I would have included as one of the losers. He was not on the ballot but openly threw his financial might behind the Republican Party, especially in his adopted state of Texas. He gave billions of dollars to support Republican candidates seeking to be legislators.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott also received generous donations from him in his fourth bid at the leadership of the cowboy state. Gina Hinojosa is the first Democrat to become governor in Texas since 1990. Her victory is not the only one Texas is savouring to Musk’s detriment. It is also celebrating the emergence of under-forty James Talarico as senator of the cowboy state.
These victories strike deeply at the heart of the business mogul. For several years, Republicans have treated Texas as one of their most dependable political possessions and the thought of a Democrat winning a statewide election there appeared wishful.
Despite Musk’s billions, Abbott, Ken Paxton, Texas outgoing Attorney-General who wanted to be a senator, and numerous other candidates he sponsored failed to win their elections. According to The Texas Tribune, the contest became the most expensive Senate race on record, with Republican advertising expenditure exceeding $280 million in Texas.
Across America, reports put campaign expenditure at an estimated $11.9 billion, compared with 2022 midterms $8.9 billion. The figures, according to OpenSecrets, underline how expensive American democracy has become. Political action committees, wealthy donors, candidates and outside organisations poured resources into advertising, mobilisation and attempts to influence voters.
Yet the election offered an interesting lesson about the limitations of money. Despite Republicans spending approximately $360 million with Musk’s generous contributions, Democrats still achieved sweeping victories.
Republicans’ failure has turned the torchlight on Musk and it is just starting. Musk’s businesses, including X, formerly Twitter, are largely based in Texas, where Abbott gave him a leeway to develop, including building many controversial data centres across the state.
Texas had not always been home to Musk. California was where his businesses had their headquarters and because he loves living where his businesses are, he also lived in California. But, being a Democrat-controlled state, California was always on Musk’s neck. He didn’t have things his way so he decided to move to Texas, where Abbott gave him more than enough room to thrive.
He moved to Texas a billionaire and he later became a trillionaire, the world’s first in dollars. However, the fall in his stocks have made him lose the trillionaire status.
Hinojosa, who is taking over Texas from Abbott, told CNN a few days ago that she was not against working with Musk, but sounded a warning: It must be on our own terms. With Abbott, it was a different ballgame.
The Tesla owner, who originally came from South Africa, is likely to face severe scrutiny, the type that made him flee California.
His data centres, which Abbott allowed and supported with easy access to land even when citizens complained about environmental concerns, are set to face difficult times.
More and more people are complaining about them and the Democrats have vowed to ensure due diligence is done.
Hundreds of federal workers are sure happy about Musk’s fate because of his role in their sack. When Trump came into power, he gave Musk a major say in his government and he headed a body, whose role was to cut alleged wastage in government.
Another group likely cheering Musk’s fate must be immigrants, who believe the richest man in the world is in support of the harsh immigration policies that have left them in various states of emotional suppression.
My final take: Unlike President Donald Trump, Musk has kept a dignified silence since the deadly blow. Will he run away from Texas and find haven elsewhere? It is too early to say, but what is not in doubt is that he lost, big time, in the November midterm election and it is unclear if he will ever recover from the damage.
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Unlike President Donald Trump, Musk has kept a dignified silence since the deadly blow. Will he run away from Texas and find haven elsewhere? It is too early to say, but what is not in doubt is that he lost, big time, in the November midterm election.
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Behind Closed Doors
Why do some men find it easy to turn their wives into punching bags? Does corporal punishment bring about good behaviours in a woman? What are a woman’s primary responsibilities? Is it the woman’s responsibility to keep the home whole even when the man of the house has lost touch with reality and running amok?
Must a wife be loyal to her husband no matter what happens? Is there sense in asking a wife to hand over her money to her husband to make him feel like the head of the home? Whose role is it to get toddlers to be quiet when they cry in public space?
Some of these posers are at the heart of Tanitoluwa Adeniba’s book, ‘The House Was Never Quiet’.
The book has a subtitle: ‘Domestic Violence And What We Hide Behind Closed Doors’. The subtitle gives us a clearer insight into this remarkable work about the violence in millions of our homes, the violence that we, almost all the time, prefer to explain away in ways that are, at best, defeatist.
Adeniba, a US-based family researcher, examines all the facets of this disaster that our society has been unable to tame. In the book, she shows us what causes it, what sustains it and how, if we are serious, it can be drastically reduced, if not eliminated.
While not disputing the fact that some men have fallen victims of domestic violence, she emphasises that women bear the brunt of this monster that we fear to properly address. She discusses the fact that mothers are in the middle of it all and the men they call husbands, the fathers of their children, are the culprits.
Using true life stories of the several women she interviewed, whose identities are protected for their safety, Adeniba humanises her narration. We see how women, who have been repeatedly told ‘I’ll kill you one day’ by men who claimed to have loved them, usually end up dying months after this declaration was made, but ignored by the victims.
The book calls out culture and its role in empowering abusers and making the abused choose silence. She tells us that many cultures downplay domestic violence by giving it colouration that makes it look like something less evil. Some of these cultures see it as discipline and others dress it as the patriarch administering corrective measures. She does not spare the religious groups for their roles in pushing for the sanctity of marriage even in the face of domestic violence.
The author tells us that abuse does not always leave bruises or raised voices. It takes the form of control powered by fear and defines what is allowed, what is not allowed and what freedom the party on the receiving end enjoys.
This type of abuse, the author shows, is not often considered abuse and women do not call it violence. Her research shows that more women deal with this situation, which are brushed aside as marital issues. But, she calls it what it is: emotional and psychological abuse.
Adeniba touches on how leaving the abusers are difficult for women because of the fear of starting all over again, because of lack of money to start again and because of how our society sees women who dare to leave.
Adeniba’s book advocates that domestic violence requires more than policy and enforcement to be curbed. Confronting the beliefs and norms sustaining abuse, she strongly argues, is germane to taming this evil. She also seeks environments where survivors are safe to speak, seek help, and rebuild their lives.
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