the pendulum swings back and forth. i don't see that changing

Has America already become an authoritarian state where this sort of thing really happens?? I don't know, I haven't seen that sort of thing happen yet.

Similarly, Musk can potentially launch a campaign to sway the public to move for Trump to be impeached due to his felony convictions.

A battle between the two might be the shakeup the current empire needs.

Trump may be more powerful than Musk by some metrics, on a time-limited basis (unless he manages to change the term limits), but Musk is more powerful in many ways as well. Musk's wealth is greater than that of many entire countries.