Been reading WUTP on and off for many years now, perhaps since high school. Level of reporting is so crazy thorough and I just upgraded to paid. Thank you Gabe for your work.
Very interesting and informative. Where Musk is concerned I think his extreme wealth is one thing that Trump doesn’t want to let go of. So the bromance may not be so easily tossed by Trump. Seeing the courts slam this administration is great to see and up until January 20 it would be enough to have calmed me, but I don’t trust anyone or anything coming from Trump et al. I see big trouble coming with chaos already in the mix from now on.
When I am not terrified by the implications of the Trump-Musk partnership, I am fascinated by the dynamics. I appreciate, as always, the historical perspective.
I do think Trump will push back at the judicial rulings as a test of the Supreme Court.
Yes ... and no! Trump seems to have a man-crush on Musk, from some of the public posts he's made. He associates Musk's money with supernatural qualities ... which he does not possess.
You are right that for Musk it's all about the money for Musk. And his business interests.
Will Musk step aside when his decisions in the federal government start impacting those interests? Tesla sales globally are dropping like a rock. (He seems to have forgotten that liberals and progressives are his primary audience.) Will Trump end the bromance when those same decisions take down the stock market and crater his approval rating? Or when he gets jealous of the attention Musk is getting? I had to laugh at a recent Time cover with Elon behind the resolute desk.
Oh god, I spit my coffee out laughing when you said Trump has a “ man crush” on Musk. I do believe that. I stand corrected. I think Lindsay Graham has a HUGE crush on Trump. If this wasn’t preceding a chilling constitutional crisis in terms of the proliferation of executive orders, I would be laughing,
. However, when journalists like Brett Stevens proposes in his conversations with Gail Collins in the NYT he is not pro Trump and then goes on to defend his Trumps actions I want to puke. Political affiliations “ trump” so much,, sometimes even family relationships and very often religious consciousness, particularly conservatives even in the face of the downfall of our republic.
The third leg of the triangle is Peter Thiel, who has been keeping himself in the shadows. I’d really like to know more about what he is up to while Trump and Musk provide distraction. It is said that he completely controls Vance. But Vance has mostly been staying very quiet too.
The National Archives hasn’t covered itself in glory recently. I see that there was a task force to deal with document security during changes in administrations but it looks like the problem is that no one seems to know who’s on first.
The scariest thing in your article is that it always is the integrity of the armed forces that maintains democracy.
It is not the courts (or name calling) that will keep Trump in check, it is widespread bipartisan public opprobrium or, put another way, a widespread bipartisan call for some standards of evaluation for what is being done.
Government employees have increased in number. They have been a favored work force largely spared during economic downturns. (One panicked employee noted how s/he was unscathed even when many friends lost jobs during Covid.) There is not a general sense that efficiency has increased with ballooning numbers. The buyout offer looks like a dream come true. Yet the media focuses on the federal work force as victims instead of doing some serious journalistic work about which successful programs will be affected to the detriment of the public.
How about changing the narrative as Mark Cuban suggests below....I could not paste a snapshot of his reply to me....
"I realize it would never even get put up for a vote. But, you send the message that you aren't against reviewing every nickel spent. You are against misleading narratives.
And by putting it on social media, even though they are already on gov websites like USAspending.gov, this connects to all" by Mark Cuban
I am interested, given what you wrote about impeachment, that you may think that Trump's two impeachments (withholding funds from Ukraine unless Zelensky dug up dirt about the Biden family along with insighting an insurrection after losing an election) were procedures that were "more of a partisan tool than effective accountability mechanism." Thank you for considering this.
The real question is what will happen when the President refuses to respond to judicial orders? The same thing that happens when an ordinary citizen refuses to obey judicial orders????
Musk said "I love Trump as much as a straight man can love another man." Will the bromance last? I guess we will find out. The only thing certain is that some Hawaiian hack in black will challenge Trump's common sense executive actions.
Been reading WUTP on and off for many years now, perhaps since high school. Level of reporting is so crazy thorough and I just upgraded to paid. Thank you Gabe for your work.
Thank you so much for your support!!
Very interesting and informative. Where Musk is concerned I think his extreme wealth is one thing that Trump doesn’t want to let go of. So the bromance may not be so easily tossed by Trump. Seeing the courts slam this administration is great to see and up until January 20 it would be enough to have calmed me, but I don’t trust anyone or anything coming from Trump et al. I see big trouble coming with chaos already in the mix from now on.
When I am not terrified by the implications of the Trump-Musk partnership, I am fascinated by the dynamics. I appreciate, as always, the historical perspective.
I do think Trump will push back at the judicial rulings as a test of the Supreme Court.
Fascinated by the relationship? It’s about money, that’s it. …..
Yes ... and no! Trump seems to have a man-crush on Musk, from some of the public posts he's made. He associates Musk's money with supernatural qualities ... which he does not possess.
You are right that for Musk it's all about the money for Musk. And his business interests.
Will Musk step aside when his decisions in the federal government start impacting those interests? Tesla sales globally are dropping like a rock. (He seems to have forgotten that liberals and progressives are his primary audience.) Will Trump end the bromance when those same decisions take down the stock market and crater his approval rating? Or when he gets jealous of the attention Musk is getting? I had to laugh at a recent Time cover with Elon behind the resolute desk.
Oh god, I spit my coffee out laughing when you said Trump has a “ man crush” on Musk. I do believe that. I stand corrected. I think Lindsay Graham has a HUGE crush on Trump. If this wasn’t preceding a chilling constitutional crisis in terms of the proliferation of executive orders, I would be laughing,
. However, when journalists like Brett Stevens proposes in his conversations with Gail Collins in the NYT he is not pro Trump and then goes on to defend his Trumps actions I want to puke. Political affiliations “ trump” so much,, sometimes even family relationships and very often religious consciousness, particularly conservatives even in the face of the downfall of our republic.
The third leg of the triangle is Peter Thiel, who has been keeping himself in the shadows. I’d really like to know more about what he is up to while Trump and Musk provide distraction. It is said that he completely controls Vance. But Vance has mostly been staying very quiet too.
The National Archives hasn’t covered itself in glory recently. I see that there was a task force to deal with document security during changes in administrations but it looks like the problem is that no one seems to know who’s on first.
The scariest thing in your article is that it always is the integrity of the armed forces that maintains democracy.
It is not the courts (or name calling) that will keep Trump in check, it is widespread bipartisan public opprobrium or, put another way, a widespread bipartisan call for some standards of evaluation for what is being done.
Government employees have increased in number. They have been a favored work force largely spared during economic downturns. (One panicked employee noted how s/he was unscathed even when many friends lost jobs during Covid.) There is not a general sense that efficiency has increased with ballooning numbers. The buyout offer looks like a dream come true. Yet the media focuses on the federal work force as victims instead of doing some serious journalistic work about which successful programs will be affected to the detriment of the public.
Thank you so much for your history lessons!
A question I've wondered since the beginning of their "bromance"! The honeymoon ends eventually!
Musk owns him or he’d already be gone.
How about changing the narrative as Mark Cuban suggests below....I could not paste a snapshot of his reply to me....
"I realize it would never even get put up for a vote. But, you send the message that you aren't against reviewing every nickel spent. You are against misleading narratives.
And by putting it on social media, even though they are already on gov websites like USAspending.gov, this connects to all" by Mark Cuban
Gabe,
I am interested, given what you wrote about impeachment, that you may think that Trump's two impeachments (withholding funds from Ukraine unless Zelensky dug up dirt about the Biden family along with insighting an insurrection after losing an election) were procedures that were "more of a partisan tool than effective accountability mechanism." Thank you for considering this.
Rebecca
Great report
Love this:
"They started out as subordinates and eventually grew beyond their britches"
Well said.
Thank you Gabe for the history lesson. Very interesting.
Thank you for your columns. This is a sad sad time in our history. I learn from you!
The real question is what will happen when the President refuses to respond to judicial orders? The same thing that happens when an ordinary citizen refuses to obey judicial orders????
Musk said "I love Trump as much as a straight man can love another man." Will the bromance last? I guess we will find out. The only thing certain is that some Hawaiian hack in black will challenge Trump's common sense executive actions.