Incompetent is the wrong word. They showed excellent strategy and cunningness when derailing Bernie Sanders's campaigns. They have repeatedly shown excellence in strategy when outsiders threatened them. I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop when it comes to Mamdani's campaign. What trick will the Democrats pull out of their bag to derail him?

Or they expect the other side to fold like a wet towel since that is all that they have seen since forever?

The army and national guard had started preparing during the Obama years.

[1]:https://youtu.be/JEjU-X57Wrc?t=5815

It seems sometimes that they have mapped out how things are going to play out years in advance and are ready. After all what is the American government but just a group of fellow countrymen with all the data and resources?

Define the rest of the country?

If you refer to rural areas, thats 1/7 of the population and ~10% of GDP. They can be tossed aside like they are in other avenues.

Musk and Gates have very different philosophies.

Gates seems more calm and collected having gone through the trauma of almost losing his empire.

Musk is a loose cannon having never suffered the consequences of his actions (ie. early Gates and Jobs) and so he sometimes gets things right but will eventually crash and burn having not had the fortune of failing and maturing early on in his career(he is now past the midpoint of his career with not enough buffer to recover).

They are both dangerous in their own ways.