The Elon Musk Thread

[firestar464]

Elon Musk says Starlink was approved in Saudi Arabia

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/13/elon-mu ... rabia.html

[weatheriscool]

Musk pulls plug on GOP spending: 'I’ve done enough

https://www.rawstory.com/elon-musk-2672170854/

A Wall Street Journal report claimed Musk, who is the world's richest person, no longer sees the need to keep donating money to the party. He's gave millions during President Donald Trump's election campaign, as well as financially supporting races since.

“In terms of political spending, I’m going to do a lot less in the future,” he said in a video interview at the Qatar Economic Forum. “I think I’ve done enough.”

“If I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it,” he added. “I do not currently see a reason.”

[firestar464]

[firestar464]

X is back after an apparent widespread outage

https://www.theverge.com/news/674129/x- ... enter-fire

[caltrek]

‘Disappointed’ Musk Trashes Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’
by Julia Ornedo
May 28, 2025

Introduction:

(The Daily Beast) Elon Musk expressed disappointment with the cornerstone of President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda in the latest sign of a widening rift between the former first buddies.

In a teaser for a forthcoming sit-down with CBS News’ Sunday Morning, Musk broke with Trump on the One Big Beautiful Bill, which passed the House last week after surviving a Republican civil war that prompted the president to step in.

“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” Musk said, contradicting White House talking points.

Read more here: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politic ... 0&ei=91

[firestar464]

DeSantis slams Congress for not acting on DOGE cuts: ‘Betrayal of the voters’

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watc ... doge-cuts/

lmao

[firestar464]

bye lol

[weatheriscool]

Elon Musk Took Ketamine Daily, Sometimes Mixing It With Other Drugs, Explosive NYT Report Finds

Source: Mediaite.com

Elon Musk was using ketamine so frequently last year that he complained it was damaging his bladder, according to a bombshell New York Times investigation that details his escalating drug use as he became one of President Donald Trump’s closest political allies. The report, based on private messages and interviews with more than a dozen people close to Musk, claims his consumption went far beyond what had previously been disclosed – at times involving daily ketamine occasionally mixed with Ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms at both private and public gatherings.

While Musk has publicly spoken about his mental health — describing “great highs, terrible lows and unrelenting stress” —he’s also refused the use of traditional antidepressants. He has said he was prescribed ketamine for depression, taking it “about every two weeks.” But the Times reports that those familiar with his habits described a pattern that blurred the line between treatment and excess. He reportedly travelled with a medication box containing around 20 pills, including some marked like the stimulant Adderall.

The Times also reports Musk received advance warning of employee drug tests at SpaceX, despite the company’s obligations as a federal contractor to maintain a drug-free workplace. The White House did not respond to questions about whether Musk, who held significant influence during the Trump transition, was ever tested himself.

As the report dropped Friday, Musk was preparing his formal exit from the administration to refocus on his businesses. But the Times notes that concerns had been mounting about his increasingly erratic behavior – including a salute-like gesture at a Trump rally – and his growing entanglements in personal legal disputes and romantic drama.

Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/elo ... drugs-nyt/

[wjfox]

WTF dude.

[firestar464]

Dozens of Tesla vehicles sit in Michigan parking lot. Employees explain why.

https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/do ... rking-lot/

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

[Cyber_Rebel]

Very weird timeline where me and Bannon are in total agreement. Perhaps it'll spiral so much that any longstanding damage to America is mitigated by self-destructive tendencies.

[firestar464]

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06/06 ... =url-share

The Republican Party’s single biggest donor, Elon Musk, is saying that he may leave the party. Musk launched a poll on X Thursday asking if there should be a new political party representing centrists, and it came back with 80 percent saying yes. “The people have spoken. A new political party is needed in America to represent the 80% in the middle!” he wrote, calling it The America Party in a subsequent post.

[weatheriscool]

[caltrek]

The Trump-Musk Wrestling Match Is Far from Over
by Inae Oh
June 7, 2025

Complete article:

(Mother Jones) After a public wrestling match that featured ugly insults and Jeffrey Epstein accusations, President Donald Trump and Elon Musk appear to have dialed down their fury in time for the weekend.

But tensions still simmer. Late Friday, Musk, one of the Republican Party’s biggest donors, once again backed the idea of a new political party to represent what he described as the “80 percent in the middle.” He also continued to post a string of attacks against the president’s sweeping tax and spending bill, signaling that the billionaire had no intention of dropping the very criticism that prompted the feud to break out in public this week. Meanwhile, Trump on Friday was still defending himself from Musk’s explosive allegation that the president is named in the Jeffrey Epstein files.
The social media activity on both sides signalled that the fighting was far from over. What happens next is anyone’s guess. But like any high-profile divorce that takes a vicious turn, I imagine that the parties involved are using this relative quiet to weigh more nuclear options, including the cancellation of Musk’s government contracts. Trump suggested so himself. “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” the president posted on Truth Social. “I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it.” If carried out, my colleague Jeremy Schulman argues, the move would likely be illegal and a direct threat to democracy.

Trump clearly has the upper hand in this nasty spectacle. But even with Musk as MAGA-pariah, DOGE is clocking in critical wins that many warn will have profound consequences for everyday Americans and their most sensitive personal information: The Supreme Court on Friday allowed Musk’s team to gain access to Social Security information. A separate order issued on Friday also protected DOGE from having to answer freedom of information requests.

So, the current score between Trump v. Musk? America loses, again.

Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2 ... -tax-bill

caltrek's comment: Musk's threat to back a third party reminds me of Ross Perot's run for the presidency in the 1990s. In Perot's case, he put himself forward as the candidate of such a party but balked at supporting a third party beyond serving his immediate presidential ambitions. Musk is threatening to do the opposite but may end up concluding that Perot was right in being shy about establishing a party that might slip out of his control. There is also the problem of siphoning votes away from the established party that is most aligned, however imperfectly, with one's own interest.

[caltrek]

Elon Musk's Legacy Is Cruelty and Death
by David Douglas
June 7, 2025

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) Elon Musk is leaving the White House — and leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. But of all the actions Musk and President Trump set in motion, nothing will hurt more people around the world than their dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

By making disease-stemming drugs, clean water, and food available to millions, USAID has probably saved more lives worldwide than any entity in history.

Since 2000, USAID’s programs have prevented the deaths of 58 million people from tuberculosis, 25 million from HIV/AIDS, and over 11 million from malaria. It’s given 70 million people access to safe drinking water and, working in concert with global vaccine initiatives, helped to nearly eradicate polio.

As the main funder of global health interventions, USAID served as a bulwark against diseases that don’t halt at national borders. Its programs identified emerging epidemics and minimized the spread of drug-resistant diseases that threaten Americans as well.

Although it’s commonly assumed to be much higher, foreign aid is just 1 percent of federal spending, so cutting it won’t begin to balance the budget. So instead Trump and Musk attacked USAID by slandering it, calling it a “criminal agency” (Musk) that’s “run by a bunch of radical lunatics” (Trump).

Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/elon-musk-usaid

[caltrek]

Andrew Yang Is Ready to Team Up with Elon Musk
by Catherine Kim
June 7, 2025

Introduction:

(Politico) Andrew Yang has reached out to Elon Musk with a sales pitch: Let’s build a third party together.

The former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate has been pushing his independent Forward Party for several years — and he sprang into action after Musk’s feud with President Donald Trump erupted and Muskpolled X users on whether they wanted a new political party.

In an interview with POLITICO Magazine, Yang said he hasn’t heard back from Musk yet, but he’s optimistic. Yang also acknowledged he doesn’t agree with Musk about everything, but said that his Forward Party should appeal to those across the political spectrum. And don’t forget that Musk had endorsed Yang’s previous presidential bid.

Enormous hurdles exist to breaking through in America’s two-party system. But Yang argued the American public is ready for a change, particularly if the effort gets help from the richest man in the world — who also happens to control a massive social media platform.

“Elon has built world-class companies from nothing more than an idea multiple times, and in this instance, you have the vast majority of Americans who are hungry for a new approach,” Yang said. “I’m happy to spell it out for Elon or anyone else who wants to head down this road: A third party can succeed very quickly.”

Read more here: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politic ... b&ei=33

[weatheriscool]

[firestar464]

More on that by AFP:

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/articl ... 249_7.html#