Musking the tabs ... or Trumping them ...
Jesse Watters: “The media said that Musk was the co-president… The media said Trump was doing favors for Elon Musk. Well, if you look at this big, beautiful bill, there’s no favors for Elon Musk in it at all”
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) June 5, 2025
pic.twitter.com/9Py3TM5Zkl
Ed: I'm not sure what started this feud. However, Musk had already advocated for an end to green subsidies that would have impacted his businesses, and I don't think a place at the trough is what motivated Musk. On the other hand, though ...
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Tesla on Thursday suffered its worst single-day drop in more than four years as President Trump threatened to kill government contracts for Elon Musk’s companies as the feud between them went nuclear.
Shares in the electric vehicle maker tanked $47.35, or 14%, to $284.70, wiping out $153 billion in market value.
Ed: Clearly, financial incentives and disincentives will be in play from this point forward.
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This is a war that Trump is destined to win. Doesn’t need Elon’s $$ anymore for his campaign; Trump is much more popular among R’s than Musk is; Congressional R’s are going to stick w/ Trump on BBB. https://t.co/DNzcFCYI9p
— Amy Walter (@amyewalter) June 5, 2025
Ed: I'm not sure anyone "wins" this war. Trump may need Musk a lot less now, but the same has always been true the other way around. Musk isn't going to run for office after this, so he can just go back to innovation and engineering, while crying all the way to the bank after this "loss." But Amy's right that Republicans will stick with Trump on the reconciliation bill, because Trump is essentially correct that he really can't get anything more with this vehicle in this Congress.
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Stephen K. Bannon, one of Elon Musk’s most vocal critics, said he was advising the president to cancel all of the tech billionaire’s contracts and launch several investigations into the world’s richest man.
“They should initiate a formal investigation of his immigration status, because I am of the strong belief that he is an illegal alien, and he should be deported from the country immediately,” Mr. Bannon, the former top aide to President Trump who is now an influential ally and informal adviser, said in an interview.
Ed: Come on, man. Musk became a naturalized US citizen in 2002. Stick to the issues and the facts.
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And let's not too quickly discard @elonmusk as our blood-ally. I believe both he and @realdonaldtrump are acting in good faith and in the best interests of the country. They have infinitely more in common than differences. Let's work through this. Please. https://t.co/YBc8Zfj6Wt
— David Limbaugh (@DavidLimbaugh) June 5, 2025
Ed: This is so obviously true that it's why people think this must be some sort of kayfabe. I'd guess that we're looking at a 24-48 hour temper tantrum, after which both men will cool their jets for a while and figure out how to work together again. Admittedly, though, at this point those prospects seem dimmer than a Johnny Depp-Amber Heard reconciliation.
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Let’s start with a basic fact: Musk was very unpopular, and was not doing much to help Trump politically. His favorability stood at just 40%, with 54% of Americans holding an unfavorable opinion, notably worse than Trump’s 46% job approval. GOP operatives have long been skeptical the quarter-billion dollars Musk spent on the 2024 election, and which Musk claimed on Thursday were the actual reason Trump won, actually did much to help Republicans reclaim the White House. (In fact, Republicans were ready to scapegoat Musk if Trump lost.)
“Musk did damage to Trump by doing politically unpopular things and by drawing attention off of Trump and making it so when voters think about Trump, they’re going to think about Elon,” said Evan Roth Smith, a Democratic pollster at Slingshot Strategies who studied the ways Musk created vulnerabilities for Trump. “The first few months of an administration can really define how voters feel about it, and Musk was so closely associated with the first weeks and months of this administration.”
So breaking up with Musk is an opportunity for Trump to cast off a toxic political appendage known for unpopular policies like attacking Social Security and enacting indiscriminate federal job cuts.
Ed: This comes from HuffPost and is some of the basis for the notion/hypothesis/conspiracy theory that this is all kayfabe -- and both men planned a ferocious breakup that would benefit the interests of both men. I'm not sold on the idea, but the irrational explosion today makes it difficult to come up with another rational explanation. Other than just a clash of egos, that is.
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DeSantis clearly trying to lure Elon Musk back into this arms. This really is a messy break up for Trump. pic.twitter.com/9RIFMAWo8K
— Tara Palmeri (@tarapalmeri) June 5, 2025
Ed: To paraphrase a line from the movie Better Off Dead: "Now, that's a waste of a perfectly good multi-billionaire." Don't be surprised if someone else plucks him out of the garbage truck.
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While @elonmusk is pondering his next move, here is @MarkHalperin's advice from someone who has been on the receiving end of Trump's fury.
— Next Up with Mark Halperin (@NextUpHalperin) June 5, 2025
How to navigate the chilly waters when Trump stops loving you and starts hating you.
Watch and subscribe:https://t.co/H3ijCS4RsP pic.twitter.com/g5UkXwb8CY
Ed: I dunno. Seems like it's the other way around here, but YMMV.
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I feel like what Elon doesn’t get is that the middle loves spending. It’s really just people on the right who keep pointing to a growing, terrifying problem. https://t.co/XzkK1romUe
— Karol Markowicz (@karol) June 5, 2025
Ed: Well, they USED to point to it. Now they're mainly focusing on fighting the radical extremists on culture issues, because that's what motivates voters. And those ARE important, but as long as voters insist on punishing fiscal reality, spending will never get cut in any significant degree. The solution isn't to engage in food fights over it but to educate people about the crisis.
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