The United States of Elon Musk Inc.
The degree to which #DonaldTrump & #Elon Musk’s interests are intertwined is unprecedented— & ultimately unsustainable.
https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-donald-trump-doge-congress-takeover/
"Where do Elon Musk’s #business interests end & Donald Trump’s #political interests begin? Trick question—they’re one & the same.
How else do you explain the jarring sight of the #POTUS hawking #Teslas on the #WhiteHouse South Lawn?"
"I am the alpha in this relationship": What Musk's romantic history reveals about his hold on Trump
How #Elon love-bombed Trump's #MAGA cult
https://www.salon.com/2025/03/12/i-am-the-alpha-in-this-relationship-what-musks-romantic-history-reveals-about-his-hold-on/
"Musk's crashing brand reputation is just the free market in action, something #Republicans used to claim they supported. But... [ #Trump] talks about #Musk not like a valued colleague... Trump's plea resembles that of a lovesick woman angrily defending her worthless boyfriend"
Fire sale
A cartoon by RJ Matson
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/fire-sale
"RJ Matson is the editorial cartoonist at Roll Call, a newspaper covering Congress and Capitol Hill"
Elon Musk Made Secret Visit to U.S. Spy Agency
Meeting between #Musk & the National Security Agency’s leadership was ‘positive’ but comes after he called for its overhaul
https://archive.is/42Id5#selection-5689.0-5693.124
"meeting with leadership a week after saying the #intelligence and #cybersecurity outfit needed an overhaul.
The discussion with the #NSA, which hadn’t been previously disclosed, centered on staff reductions & operations"
members of congress day trading shitcoins like #SkiMaskDog - what could go wrong?
https://x.com/QuiverQuant/status/1900231371173273793
Elon Musk: The accidental sovereign?
#History shows us what happens when private industry becomes so deeply embedded in war that it starts shaping its outcomes.
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/elon-musk-the-accidental-sovereign
" #Musk is not the first businessman to dictate the course of #war. A century ago, the Krupp family of #Germany played the same role, supplying the steel, artillery, & tanks that fueled Prussia’s wars, rearmed #Germany after #WWI, & built #Hitler ’s war machine."
The facts behind the 19 programs President Donald Trump described as ‘waste’
https://www.politifact.com/article/2025/mar/12/the-facts-behind-the-19-programs-president-donald/
They fly into hurricanes for NOAA – and still got caught in Doge's purge
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj679kyj6geo
"this week, the #Trump administration could consider axing more than 1,000 additional staffers at # NOAA...
"People take for granted how accurate the #weather forecasts are," said Andy Hazelton, a NOAA #climate scientist who modelled #hurricane paths & was fired... "Forecasts are going to get worse because offices are understaffed"
Trump’s plans dealt another blow in court as federal judge orders fired probationary employees be rehired
Probationary employees in six government departments were fired in February.
‘God used Trump to save me’: Ex-TN senator gets pardon 15 days after entering prison."
"Yesterday, Trump pardoned former TN GOP state senator B Kelsey, 15 days into a 21-month sentence. Kelsey says he told DOJ he “did nothing wrong” & was a political pawn for charging CPAC head M Schlapp—yet for some reason he pleaded guilty to a campaign finance conspiracy."
-R Sollenberger
We need a new word for #corruption bc it's inadequate to define the #TrumpMusk regime.
#USPol
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/12/trump-pardon-tennessee-brian-kelsey-prison-campaign-doj.html
Trump Officials Are ‘Pretending’ a Judge Didn’t Bar His Anti-Diversity Orders
A judge blocked the administration from forcing organizations to accept anti-diversity contract terms. Trump officials haven’t let them know
The Australian Electoral Commission is planning on using Musk’s Starlink services as back up for transmitting voting results information in the upcoming federal election.
Ezra Klein is Wrong: Trump and Musk are Enacting an Administrative Coup that Does Not Require our Approval to Succeed
"We are drifting toward territory only occupied by developing countries with whom we have little to no cultural connection. Anne Appelbaum just told The Bulwark podcast, “We’re now in the realm of illegality.” I spent one year in Cairo studying the Egyptian government where my readings left my jaw agape at how methodically Hosni Mubarak had gutted the oppositional husk from every institution, company, and organization. They were all crafted to serve the president, his family, and his military through an intricate web of incentives, bribes, and threats such that any internal pressure that emerged was squashed like a gnat.
Only two institutions stop leaders like these, the military and the people. This century, mass protests aided by military defections have brought down autocrats in Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Libya, South Africa, Sudan, Yemen, Zimbabwe, and most recently in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. These are foreign to American political instincts. We have never needed to dig for this tool."
#coup #corruption https://brentgiannotta.substack.com/p/ezra-klein-is-wrong-trump-and-musk
Trump family in discussions to take an ownership stake in #Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange and the recipient of the largest #moneylaundering fine in American history - $4.3 billion - after they admitted (just last year!) to having laundered money for all kinds of terrorist groups, #ransomware gangs, and pedophile rings.
The CEO #CZ went to prison (only for 3 months - lol) for all that money laundering and he now wants a pardon.
Oh, BTW, #TrumpCoin trades on Binance. In fact Binance is the largest market for #TRUMP on most days.
I'm sure that's just a coincidence.
https://www.wsj.com/finance/currencies/trump-family-has-held-deal-talks-with-binance-following-crypto-exchanges-guilty-plea-05b029fa
Contentious Republican town halls are going viral
Across the country, constituents are grilling their Republican members of Congress — and the heated exchanges are going viral online.
https://www.theverge.com/news/628284/republican-town-hall-videos-doge-musk-trump-tiktok
Republicans Want to Make Hating Elon Musk a Crime
The MAGA wing of the Republican party wants to use the DOJ to bite back against Musk protesters.
https://gizmodo.com/republicans-want-to-make-hating-elon-musk-a-crime-2000575294
"A car is a golf cart that goes really fast." Yes, Musk was explaining to Trump WHAT A CAR IS!!
And is anyone concerned that the POTUS is making a car commercial for his "boss"? Actually advertising on his social media platform and on national TV that he is going to buy a Tesla so he can boost Tesla's plunging stock!
“…the corruption in the administration was out in the open yesterday. …Trump advertised Elon Musk’s cars at the White House…”
—Heather Cox Richardson, March 12, 2025
#trump #musk #whitehouse #corruption
Would Peter Dutton lie to taxpayers?
Only if his lips were moving.
When #DodgyDutton says he wants to slash #WorkFromHome he's not talking about himself.
