by Daniel Barge
Elon Musk is now officially at war with Donald Trump. Everybody knows the back story.
Musk threw around $3oo million dollars and his own social media clout and following to give a tired and aging Trump campaign a new sheen in 2024 that probably proved decisive in getting him across the line while also winning the House for the GOP.
Musk then tried his DOGE thing, which turned out to be a damp squib, and then took a hit to his main Tesla business, which mainly caters to woke liberals, and then, after becoming a rival media focus to Trump, he was ousted by Donald after a dirty tricks campaign that "leaked" details of Musk leaking urine due to his heavy use of ketamine.
Musk threw around $3oo million dollars and his own social media clout and following to give a tired and aging Trump campaign a new sheen in 2024 that probably proved decisive in getting him across the line while also winning the House for the GOP.
Musk then tried his DOGE thing, which turned out to be a damp squib, and then took a hit to his main Tesla business, which mainly caters to woke liberals, and then, after becoming a rival media focus to Trump, he was ousted by Donald after a dirty tricks campaign that "leaked" details of Musk leaking urine due to his heavy use of ketamine.
Musk, meanwhile, after picking up his golden key to the Whitehouse at what was supposed to be an amicable parting, savaged Trump's main piece of legislation and then reminded everyone that Trump was Epstein's best friend for ten years and a frequent flyer on the Lolita Express, and was, as a consequence, sitting on the Epstein files.
The latest news is that Trump is now threatening to use the full force of the state to attack Musk's business, much of which is dependent on government contracts and subsidies; while Musk is threatening to start a new party and to rally that part of the GOP that is still anti-Trump and/or deeply sceptical of the debt-boosting nature of Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill."
It is hard to see how this ends. Both of them have each other by the balls, so to speak, and can hurt the other badly, but who is in a stronger position?
The truth is that Trump's position is the more fragile. Musk has a near half-a-trillion-dollar "fuck you" fund, which is about the size of the fund the Russians had when they decided to say "fuck you" to the West and invade Ukraine. Sure, his fortune can rapidly shrink under an economic assault from the Trump administration, but if he digs his heels in like Putin did over the Ukraine, he can stay in the fight for two, three, maybe four years, even longer.
The truth is that Trump's position is the more fragile. Musk has a near half-a-trillion-dollar "fuck you" fund, which is about the size of the fund the Russians had when they decided to say "fuck you" to the West and invade Ukraine. Sure, his fortune can rapidly shrink under an economic assault from the Trump administration, but if he digs his heels in like Putin did over the Ukraine, he can stay in the fight for two, three, maybe four years, even longer.
That is more than long enough to bring Trump down. Trump's economic policies have already loaded a recession into the pipeline and this, added to a lot of other factors, is guaranteed to produce Democratic gains in the midterms next year.
What is more, everybody knows or at least fully expects the GOP to suffer a defeat. This, combined with Trump's age, means that the rats in the GOP will already be making their back-of-the-envelope calculations, which means that even though Trump still has another year-and-a-half before his wings are finally clipped, the behind-the-scenes jockeying has already begun and Republican politicians are already envisaging a post-Trump world, although they would sooner spit out all their teeth and admit that now.
What is more, everybody knows or at least fully expects the GOP to suffer a defeat. This, combined with Trump's age, means that the rats in the GOP will already be making their back-of-the-envelope calculations, which means that even though Trump still has another year-and-a-half before his wings are finally clipped, the behind-the-scenes jockeying has already begun and Republican politicians are already envisaging a post-Trump world, although they would sooner spit out all their teeth and admit that now.
Any moves by the administration to hamstring Musk's businesses will also quickly get mired in legal challenges and the votes won't be there to override any of this. Then once the midterms happen, Trump will quickly become an intensely beleaguered figure, facing impeachments over his blatant corruption and profiteering, all manner of legal challenges, and increasingly negative rulings by the Supreme Court, including even those judges he himself appointed.
The serious lame-ducking of Trump by late 2026 was already baked into the cake, but there was still enough road for Trump to still at least threaten a revival, but the split with Musk adds a whole new dimension because it could even make Trump quack and hobble a lot sooner. With Musk now outside the tent pissing in, is Trump already in lame duck territory? My guess is that this is the real tipping point on a Trump who has greatly overleveraged himself on his diminishing political and personal assets.
This split is already so damaging to Trump that some "entities" that have an extremely strong vested interest in Trump's continued rule may be considering their options. If anything suddenly happens to Musk, we will know the reason why.
This split is already so damaging to Trump that some "entities" that have an extremely strong vested interest in Trump's continued rule may be considering their options. If anything suddenly happens to Musk, we will know the reason why.
Disinterested party?
No comments:
Post a Comment
All Comments MUST include a name (either real or sock). Also don't give us an easy excuse to ignore your brilliant comment by using "shitposty" language.