I’m also old enough to remember this from way back in ancient Feb, 2025…
And now here we are, it finally happened, the first digital nuclear war on June 5th.
So who should you support?
That is what makes it truly fascinating because this is a game where you find yourself cheering for both teams to lose.
So what actually happened?
Elon has been very openly hostile to the bill for the past week and has been pushing hard against it. When I say “The Bill”, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to work out which bill I mean (Side note: Elon is living proof that that you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to be an actual rocket scientist)
The trigger moment was during the meeting with the German Chancellor on June 5th, Trump expresses his huge disappointment with Elon.
That then Triggers Elon to responsd and so from there it all escalates …
Elon does not stop there, he keeps going …
It escalates even further …
With the threatened loss of government contracts, Tesla stock plummets …
Elon then threatens to do this …
ELON: Also replies “Yes” to tweet saying Trump should be impeached.
Steve Bannon also chips in:
So in essence, Elon Musk is calling for Donald Trump to be impeached. Donald Trump is calling for Elon Musk to be deported.
Elon’s problem is that he is bipolar and impulsive. Trump’s skill is that he is advantageous and completely without a conscious. Trump sold an imaginary vision to Elon, which he ate up. And now, Elon’s on the other side of that bipolar episode, and he is realizing that he’s been dealing with a used car salesman this entire time.
It all suddenly went quiet, and here is why, via Seth, a guy who knows a great deal more than most do about Elon …
- I have to think Trump knows he could deport Musk—in which case Musk most definitely knows it. And losing access to America is the biggest loss either man could face here. Trump flashed that card and Musk cowered like a cornered animal. Very striking change.
- The reality is this, unlike so many of those caught up in the ICE/Gestapo raids, Elon actually is deportable. Turns out he lied on his citizenship application about starting a company while here on a student visa. He never enrolled at Stanford, and wouldn’t have been allowed to work off-campus anyway.
If Trump makes his Big Move— revokes Elon’s citizenship and starts the process of deporting him—we could, within an hour or two of that, get accusations by Musk against Trump of serious criminal conduct. For all we know, possibly involving the 2024 presidential election.
So what now?
Both can now see that they would destroy each other if it continued – Trump can take his businesses and deport him, and Musk knows where all the bodies are buried … and yet clearly by June 6 no truce has been negotiated …
Meanwhile, here are some reactions for those caught in both the cult of Elon and also the cult of Trump …
Meanwhile, I guess we are not going to be getting the Epstein files.
So to wrap this opening up, this is where we really are as of yesterday…
This perhaps really sums up their relationship …
Oh and as a reminder …
OK, a bit more of an insight into Musk.
A Little bit of recent Musk History
What is the real reason for Musk being tossed to one side?
The “official” reason is that his term had ended.
Via the WashPo we learn the real reason …
In mid-April, Musk and Bessent had gone into the Oval Office to make their respective cases about their preferences for acting IRS commissioner. Trump decided to support Bessent’s choice. That disagreement was first reported by the New York Times.
After Bessent and Musk exited the Oval Office and began walking down the hallway, the two men started to exchange insults, Bannon said he was told, adding that Bessent brought up Musk’s claims that he would uncover more than $1 trillion in wasteful and fraudulent government spending, which Musk had not succeeded at doing.
“Scott said, ‘You’re a fraud. You’re a total fraud,’” Bannon said in an interview.
Musk then rammed his shoulder into Bessent’s rib cage “like a rugby player,” Bannon said, and Bessent hit him back. Multiple people stepped in to break up the scrum as the two men reached the national security adviser’s office, and Musk was shuffled out of the West Wing.
Is Musk out and done, does Trump really have the upper hand?
The mainstream media would have you believe that Trump has all the cards.
Pause that thought because there are a few key points to consider (Via Seth) …
- MONEY. Elon has 100x the financial resources Trump has. He’s the largest donor in the history of the party Trump leads by a factor of ten; Trump can’t (and wouldn’t even if he could) replace the loss of Musk as a GOP donor. Trump is also _far_ greedier than Musk; $1 to Musk is like $100 to Trump.
- POLITICS. Musk can end the GOP—and has already expressed a desire to do so with his announcement of The America Party (which would draw largely from the right). He has never been a loyal MAGA, and his friends say he wants to be a political leader. If he does pursue TAP, MAGA ends as a powerhouse.
- BUREAUCRACY. Trump is fully checked out from the presidency; this administration is being run by advisers (mostly Miller and Vought) and a few crackpot Cabinet officials (Kennedy, Hegseth). Meanwhile, Musk has God Mode access to all data in all departments via his DOGE agents in every department.
- STRATEGY. Fueled by drugs and arrogance, Musk is minimally risk-averse. He simply doesn’t care about most things (with exceptions; see below). He has long-term aims (Mars, immortality) he often ignores in the day-to-day. Trump is on a timeline: he needs to declare martial law before the midterms.
- COMMS. Trump has the second-largest bully pulpit on Earth—after Musk’s. The fact is, Musk reaches more people more quickly more often and with more lasting impact. Trump’s ramblings are so expected they don’t hit the way Elon’s deranged posts do. Elon sets the news cycle more than many realize.
- SKELETONS. Both men have them; Trump’s are worse. Trump _is_ a serial rapist; his intimates know this. He _is_ committing impeachable offenses daily; his intimates know this. There probably _were_ at least _some_ shenanigans last year; his intimates know this. Musk’s weaknesses are already out.
- CONTRACTS. Musk can decimate Trump’s personal wealth (via his memecoin) _and_ his political wealth (removing the largest GOP donor in history by a factor of ten). Trump can end Musk’s contracts. So? That’s $38B in contracts over the _history_ of Musk’s career. But Musk is worth $330B _himself_.
- NUCLEAR ATTACKS. Trump’s trump card is deporting Musk—but the law is likely not on his side, it’d be wildly unpopular, and I think that even as much as he and Bannon would like to go there, they ultimately wouldn’t. It’d reveal their whole immigration policy as a _farce_. So it’s an empty threat.
- AGE. Trump is old, tired, toward the end of his career, struggling mentally, and facing a midterm election in which _everyone_ expects his presidency to basically end (certainly his legislative agenda). Musk is 25 years younger and will be a power player worldwide for decades and decades to come.
- AUDACITY. We think of Trump as audacious; he is. But there’s a reason Musk is the one who started this feud publicly, Musk is the one who went personal first, Musk is the one whose next communique the world is waiting on. He’s crazier and less sober… and that unpredictability is an advantage.
- CAPACITY. This one is big. _Can_ Trump pull the government from its contracts with Musk? Actually probably not. It would likely be illegal, lead to litigation and—to boot—harm government processes in a way Trump would be blamed for. _Can_ Musk bolt the GOP with his fans, hobbling it? Yes. _Now_.
- RHETORIC. Yes, Trump can declare _utterly stupid plans for vengeance_ he _can’t possibly make good on_. If you think SpaceX will/can be nationalized, grow up. If you think Musk is about to be arrested, grow up. Can Trump get Musk investigated? Yes. But feds have been investigating him for years.
- CLANDESTINE OPS. As a private citizen and richest man alive, Musk can do things secretly we can’t imagine. Trump has little cash, is in government, and all eyes are on him. If someone in the feud is going to do an utterly crazy secret thing that requires cash and we can’t foresee, it’ll be Musk.
- FOREIGN ALLIES. No one argues a President of the United States has less clout than the World’s Richest Man, but in _certain_ spheres that’s true. With Starlink, Musk controls internet access all over the world. Leaders want to do business with him, and know he’ll be around far longer than Trump.
- CONCLUSION. No one’s saying the scales aren’t closely balanced. But it’s silly to think the edge isn’t Musk’s in almost all respects. Trump can talk a bigger game, threaten bigger punishments, and on paper seems a scarier opponent—but under the hood that’s simply not what the nuts and bolts say.
OK, let’s leave it at that and see what else has happened in the last 7 days.
As always, it has been a continuous torrent of “utter lunacy blended with raw stupidity” is the new normal.
Ignoring the Blatant Grifting
- As long as congress is subservient and he’s ignoring the Supreme Cult, who’s gonna stop him?
- I am living with the hope that all his assets will be forfeited and all his rules and laws reversed and ignored. Kind of like he ignores ours now.
This is where Lindell has been this past week …
- Ah yes, “the devil ate my homework” excuse. Don’t you just hate when someone deletes all the evidence that never existed?. I think Satan now has a strong defamation case against Lindell.
- I’m honestly shocked that he doesn’t have a prominent place in this administration. He sounds no different from any of the other candidates.
June 6th
In a June 5th meeting Trump assumes the German Chancellor he is hosting is a Nazi and so tell him that June 6th was not a pleasant day for you …
- Yes, he really thinks the current leader of a free and prosperous Germany is a fan of.. checks notes – Adolf Hitler, and so yes, he really is putting his stupidity on public display once again.
- Something like this should be a highlight of the week, but with everything else happening it hardly warrants a mention.
Joe Heller beautifully expresses how we really should feel about the date…
Multiple layers of Lunacy and utter incompetence
Unemployment is rising … rapidly …
- Source here.
- Where are the “This is what I voted for” people now?
- Opening sentence in the article … “The acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency told employees on Monday that he did not know the United States has a hurricane season“
- Is there anyone in this admin who isn’t either deranged, a sycophant, or just terminally stupid? (Most appear to be all three)
- FYI … The NYT article is here. (Paywalled)
- What this now reveals is that Idiocracy undersold it
Get ready to duck emergency medical interventions and die as a sacrifice for dear leader …
- Tell me you hate women without telling me you hate women.
- GOP: Women have babies, lots of babies! We’ll take care of you—until having a baby might kill you, then you’re on your own.
Incompetent Xenophobia – Trump cited the Boulder attack as a reason for this new travel ban, but he was Egyptian, and Egypt is… not on the list.
You know how it plays out when some try to defend the indefensible …
- Markwayne is the dumbest motherfucker alive. I just can’t get over that they keep having him on these shows. If the point is to get zero coherent answers and finish zero proper sentences, then they are nailing it.
As for the threats to defund CA … yea about that … clearly DJT has not thought it through, but hey, “thinking” is not his thing …
But keep telling us how they care about the debt and efficiency. This colossal waste will stand as a historic monument to his malignant narcissism …
LA Update
So this has been happening …
The three letter agencies may have the letters, but they are now something else …
Good reminder for a bit more context as a reply to CBP …
Trump lit the match, poured the gasoline, and now wants to use the blaze he is creating as pretext to burn it all down.
ICE Gestapo updates
The “crime” they are targeting is “Being Brown”, hence stuff like this happens …
They even raided a kids birthday party, then claimed it was a gang meeting …
Straight-up evil of the Trump administration – The Abrego Garcia case
Some really do have integrity and can see what a farce it all is …
… but of course the stupidity still continues …
Thankfully some do get it and are willing to standup for him …
Gaza Update
- This is the disgusting abomination. The US is now fully endorsing the genocide of the Palestinians.
Christian Nationalists
The nuttier right-wing religious fanatics within the MAGA cult are as always doing their thing, and so here are a few samples from the past week …
- Last week, anti-LGBTQ Christian nationalist Floyd Brown was fired from his position as vice president at the Kennedy Center and so this week he’s blaming it on Satan: “We were making real progress, not only in the natural but in the spiritual, and so Satan counterattacked.“ – (when in doubt, whip out the satan card to coverup your own actions)
- So what lunacy has Pastor Joel Webbon come up with this past week? – He says that “nobody is poor in America unless you choose to be.” (Easily debunked: For example, Bankruptcy because you can’t pay absurdly expensive medical bills is not a “choice”)
- Oh, and let’s not forget that this past week Joel Webbon is now approvingly quoting fascist dictators: “For my enemies, the Law.”
- MAGA pastor Kelvin Cobaris says his congregants thank him for supporting Trump, whom he praises for having “dismounted the LGBTQ flag” from federal buildings: “God used Donald Trump to declare morality!” – (Because the sexual predator and convicted felon is of course well-known for his high moral standards)
- Christian nationalist Andrew Isker thinks that “in order to restore the original constitutional order and the rights therein, it requires a unitary executive” and “I would like to dissolve Congress and the judiciary and vest all power into a sovereign ruler named Donald J. Trump.” (He wants a Dictator, in this instance, a stupid and incompetent one)
- Christian nationalist William Cook claims that the moment any liberal announces they are running for office, “they are engaging in election fraud, because they cannot disclose their true identity and intentions, or no sane individual would vote for them.” (Yes, they really are this delusional)
OK, so where do these guys stand on the fight between Elon and their beloved Orange Messiah (The chosen one)? … need you really ask?
- Some have decided it is all Elon’s fault for siding with Satan – Pastor Shane Vaughn says that Elon Musk is following the “the script of Satan” in his attacks on President Donald Trump.
- Some have decided that Satan is yanking both their chains – Todd Coconato prays that God will “deescalate this situation of division” between Trump and Musk: “We know the devil is behind the scenes, laughing.” (I’d love to ask him to explain exactly how Satan orchestrated it all)
- Some has decided it is not Satan at all and is just Musk being a dick – Jim Garlow is pleading with Musk “for the sake of your children and my grandchildren, to learn how to work out differences – or live with them – privately.” (I’m not exactly sure a plea to the interests of his children will resonate with Musk)
Even More Political Cartoons from the past week
As always, there are many excellent cartoons.
Actions really do have Consequences for CNN’s Tapper
I used to think Tapper was one of the good guys. Yes, Biden was old, but despite his age and declining health, he was STILL mentally sharp and focused. AND he perfectly delivered the goods to American lives. Which is more than anyone can say about the current POTUS and the cesspool he’s created. Tapper’s hit job of a book is indeed having consequences for him …
- Biden’s real success is that he was savvy enough to surround himself with smart people who wanted to make the country a better place.
- Meanwhile, Tapper’s book will most probably not do all that well, Like Trump, MAGA tend not to read.
The book is having real-world consequences …
- Seth goes on the advise: Trump needed someone associated—rightly or wrongly—with the left to do a national apology tour claiming all of U.S. media knew, and hid, that Joe Biden was non compos mentis. Never mind that there is _zero evidence of that_ in the book, and that that was just something Tapper created for his tour. the point is that Tapper—with an assist from CNN and all the outlets that glowingly reviewed a book that _didn’t include the evidence it claimed it did_—normalized, mainstreamed, and centered a far-right conspiracy theory that _of course_ the fascists taking over America will now advance further. The Tapper book includes zero evidence—zero evidence—Joe Biden experienced anything other than occasional exhaustion from overwork and the fogginess that comes with that, along with one or two scattered brain farts not inconsistent with a political career full of them for decades. But Tapper knew that story wouldn’t sell books, so he said there was a conspiracy, and a cover-up, and a scandal worse than Watergate, and accomplices, and came up with a fun line about Trump’s Big Lie being about winning the presidency and Biden’s Big Lie about being POTUS. And all that led us directly here.
This below is where he should really have been focusing, and the fact that he is instead hawking a book instead of doing his damn job tells you all you need to know about the state of things…
When you are in a hole stop digging – Winner of the week
But …
- I can’t help but wonder if Mr Schiff is also on the Epstein list.
Finally
- You don’t need to think too hard about the above to work out who is the Alien, and who is the Predator.
- Apologies to those that are color blind, you might not get the above.