Elon Musk Gave Millions to Trump After Publicly Blowing Up Their Bromance
Last year Musk went all-in on Trump, MAGA, and the Republican Party, engaging in an unprecedented spending blitz designed to see the former reality TV star returned to the White House. Musk was successful in that gambit, but the relationship between him and his gold-haired 'buddy' has since soured. After briefly leading the Department of Government Efficiency (a quasi-agency designed to shrink the federal government), Musk began having problems with Trump over provisions in his spending bill that threatened the EV industry (and, you know, Musk's Tesla). At the end of May, Musk formally left the administration in a swirl of controversy, while also sporting a mysterious black eye (he claimed his son, X, had socked him in the face).
Politico notes that Musk's contributions to Trump and the GOP took place not long after the blowup between him and the president, when Musk accused Trump of being in the Jeffrey Epstein files. The outlet writes:
The contributions came weeks into Musk's public feud with Trump, as the tech billionaire was slamming Republicans for voting for the megabill that he argued would blow up the deficit. Still, the SpaceX CEO donated $5 million each to the Congressional Leadership Fund, the Senate Leadership Fund and MAGA Inc. on June 27, according to the groups' filings with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday. Those are the top super PACs supporting the House and Senate Republicans and the Trump political operation.
If the point of the contributions was to try to make amends with Trump and the Republicans, it doesn't appear to have worked. Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill sailed through Congress, and none of the provisions that proved problematic to Musk's businesses were taken out.
Since then, Elon's influence in the government has notably waned. This week, Politico reported that the administration was conducting a 'de-Muskification' at the General Services Administration, where DOGE had formerly holed up. One person close to the organization claimed that DOGE had 'lost all remaining influence' at the agency, which is responsible for supporting basic infrastructure (like office spaces and communications) at federal agencies throughout the government.
Musk has since launched his America Party—a supposed third party—as revenge against the President and the GOP lawmakers who passed the One Big Beautiful Bill. Theoretically, were the party to ever take off, it could cause serious electoral problems for many Republicans by siphoning off votes from their political races. However, 'America' isn't much of anything yet, having not yet filed any of the proper paperwork necessary for it to be incorporated.
It also doesn't seem like many people are interested in joining the America Party, should it ever materialize. Indeed, a recent poll showed that only 14 percent of surveyed participants had any interest in joining a political party created by Musk. The poll, conducted by Yahoo/YouGov survey, found that while nearly 40 percent of Americans are interested in the creation of a third party, 55 percent said they had no interest in such a party founded by the Tesla CEO.
Meanwhile, Musk's businesses have also been flailing. Musk recently announced that Tesla—whose sales have recently plummeted all over the world—would start a robotaxi business, claiming that a driverless service would soon be launched. Tesla subsequently launched a ride-hailing service in California, but, instead of robotaxis, the cars are just normal Teslas driven by humans.
Musk's behavior over the past year only seems to strengthen the argument that the billionaire class is a grossly inefficient, stupid, and wasteful segment of people, many of whom seem to feel that gobs of money can solve any problem. Elon has definitively proven this assumption to be false, since he reportedly spent close to $300 million on Trump's campaign last year and, now, less than twelve months later, can't be said to have gained much except the burning hatred of tens of millions of Americans. I'd call that a pretty bad deal.
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CNN
a few seconds ago
- CNN
Trump says he wants strong testing to keep transgender athletes out of women's sports at 2028 Olympics
President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order to establish a White House task force to coordinate the federal government's preparations for the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, using the occasion to rail against transgender athletes' participation in women's sports. The task force is a mirror image of a similar group overseeing the federal preparations for next year's World Cup in the United States. The group is meant to centralize all the various planning operations that will need to work in sync to make a massive event like the Olympics go smoothly. But even while touting the unifying spirit of the Olympics, Trump delved deep into the culture wars around sports that he said were a key part of his 2024 presidential campaign. A few minutes into the event, Trump thanked Gene Sykes – the president and chairman of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee – for the group's pledge to follow a Trump administration order by banning transgender women athletes in an update to the organization's athlete safety policy. The change was a part of a 27-page document released last month that made reference to the committee's compliance with Trump's 'Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports' executive order, which was issued in February. 'The United States will not let men steal trophies from women at the 2028 Olympics. So, we appreciate the fairness and everything else that you've shown,' Trump said to Sykes. Later, Trump was asked by a reporter if he would direct Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute any transgender athletes participating in women's sports, referring especially to the women's boxing competition. At the Paris Olympics last year, Algerian boxer Imane Khelif won the gold medal amid scrutiny over her gender after a previous governing body – the International Boxing Association – disqualified her and another Taiwanese boxer from competition after alleging they failed an eligibility test. Khelif has repeatedly said that she is not transgender and Olympic officials said repeatedly through the Games that she is, and always has been, a woman. Still, that has not stopped Trump and other critics from repeatedly referring to her as a man and using her gold medal victory as a talking point in stump speeches. The president demurred over the idea of prosecuting any transgender athlete who takes part in women's competitions, saying he expects 'a very strong form of testing.' 'As far as charges, I'd have to ask the attorney general about that. I don't know, but there will be a very, very strong form of testing, and if the test doesn't come out appropriately, they won't be in the Olympics,' he said. The testing will be put in place by the world governing bodies of each sport. Some of those governing bodies, such as World Athletics, have already announced plans for one-time genetic testing of athletes looking to compete in female competitions. World Boxing announced plans for genetic testing, specifically mentioning Khelif in their announcement – something for which they later apologized. Trump said he thought the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee would have cracked down on transgender athletes participating in women's sports even without his influence. 'They probably would have because it just seems to be an issue that most people feel should be,' Trump said. The president added that he feels very strongly about the issue and made it a central message of his campaign, saying his presidential run was based 'partially on that.' While Trump was complimentary of Casey Wasserman, the chair of the Los Angeles Organizing Committee for the 2028 Olympic Games, slammed the California Democratic politicians who will also be working to ensure the event goes smoothly. He name-checked Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, attacking the governor for his approach to wildfires in the state and how California uses its water – and Bass over the approval process for building permits after wildfires devastated parts of the city earlier this year. The president promised to use the National Guard and military to provide security at the Olympics, if necessary. It's not unusual for massive security reinforcements to provide security for the Games; in Paris, police from all parts of Europe were present on the streets of the City of Lights as part of the security operation. 'This is going to be so safe, and – if we have to – because obviously you have a mayor that is not very competent,' Trump said. The president himself is the chairman of the task force and Vice President JD Vance will serve as vice chair. The Olympic Games are a point of pride for Trump and he has reveled in the fact that the quadrennial event, along with next year's World Cup and this year's Ryder Cup, will take place in the US during his second term in office. He promised to mobilize 'the entire federal government to ensure the games are safe, seamless and historically successful. It's going to be amazing. I think it's going to be amazing. America is a nation of champions, and in July 2028 we'll show the world what America does best, and that's when we're winning like we have never won before.'
CNN
a few seconds ago
- CNN
Witkoff heads to Russia as Trump's sanctions threat looms
President Donald Trump's trusted foreign envoy Steve Witkoff is due in Moscow on Wednesday after the Kremlin requested a meeting with him in a last-ditch effort to avoid the punishing new sanctions Trump has threatened to impose this week, people familiar with the matter said. He's set to meet Russian officials — including potential talks with President Vladimir Putin — amid Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine. Whether Putin can convince Witkoff — and, by extension, Trump — that he is interested in ending the war is an open question. Trump has cast doubt on Putin's willingness to stop the fighting and appears wary of being strung along by a leader he now openly distrusts. Putin, meanwhile, has maintained his maximalist ambitions for the conflict, including capturing the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson and insisting Ukraine limit the size of its military. Trump said a day ahead of Witkoff's meeting he would wait until the talks conclude to decide whether to impose the new sanctions. 'We have a meeting with Russia tomorrow. We're going to see what happens,' he said at the White House. 'We'll make that determination at that time.' When Witkoff lands in Moscow, the environment will be far different than the last time he sat down with Putin in April — with Trump's frustration toward his Russian counterpart mounting in recent months. Since the April meeting, Russia has resisted US-led efforts to broker a peace in Ukraine, ramping up an onslaught of missiles and drones that have targeted Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv. A day ahead of Witkoff's visit, Trump spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss potential sanctions on Moscow, according to people familiar with the conversation. In a readout of the meeting posted on social media, Zelensky said those sanctions could 'change a lot' when it comes to the Russian economy. Zelensky also said they discussed the increase of American weapons support to Ukraine, paid for by NATO allies, a policy Trump green-lit last month. The US president has grown increasingly impatient at Russia's resistance to his peace efforts, calling the air attacks 'disgusting' and accusing Putin of peddling 'bullsh*t' in their tense phone conversations. He has set a Friday deadline for Russia to either agree to a peace deal or suffer new sanctions, including on its own economy and on purchasers of its energy products. Trump truncated his original 50-day timeline after seeing little movement from Russia. Yet he has also cast doubt that any new sanctions will prove effective after Moscow found ways to skirt the heaps of western measures applied since the war began. 'There'll be sanctions, but they seem to be pretty good at avoiding sanctions,' Trump said Sunday. 'You know, they're wily characters, and they're pretty good at avoiding sanctions. So we'll see what happens.' Trump also announced late last week that he was ordering the repositioning of two US nuclear submarines in an effort to be 'prepared' – a response to inflammatory remarks by Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's former president and current deputy chairman of its security council. But even Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after those comments that Medvedev was not a relevant player and explained that his remarks were unlikely to 'be a factor one way or another.' Some Europeans officials viewed Trump's announcement as a possible effort to highlight US nuclear capabilities in preparation for Witkoff's visit, two sources told CNN. It remains unclear if the US actually repositioned any of its nuclear submarines. Trump has threatened two distinct types of measures should Moscow not reach Friday's deadline for peace. He has said he'll apply new sanctions on Russian imports to the US, which would have minimal impact given the near-stoppage in trade between the two countries since the start of the war. Trump has also promised 'secondary tariffs' on countries that import Russian energy — which would include China and India, the country's largest energy customers. That could potentially do more to cut off funding for Russia's war machine. 'Is August 8 an actual deadline or part of Trump's approach, which often involves manufacturing leverage points, and then determining how to use them?' said one US official. 'It is not real until Trump decides it is, which is based on a number of unidentified variables.' There have been active efforts to draw up those possible secondary sanctions in recent weeks, US officials said, adding that they believe that Trump's frustration with Putin is so intense that he might green light those measures. But Trump is also likely to back down if Russia makes a substantive offer, sources said. 'These are gut feelings for him,' said one source close to the White House. 'It depends how he can sell it to his base.' The US and its western allies have taken numerous steps to try stifling Moscow's energy revenues, including applying a price cap on Russian crude. But so far, it hasn't caused Putin to change course. And Russia has been able to evade some of the measures on its energy products by using a 'shadow fleet' of tankers, whose ownership is hidden, to sell to China and India. Trump said that could change if the price of Russian oil drops significantly. 'Putin will stop killing people if you get energy down another $10 a barrel. He's going to have no choice because his economy stinks,' the president said in a Tuesday telephone interview on CNBC. Russia's economy has seen recent signs of weakness, including rampant inflation and higher food costs, as the weight of the three-and-a-half year war begins to take more of an effect. Trump has already said he'll apply a substantial tariff hike on India for its Russian energy purchases as he simultaneously works to extract concessions from New Delhi on a trade deal. 'They're fueling the war machine, and if they're going to do that, then I'm not going to be happy,' Trump told CNBC. India has argued its Russian energy purchases have stabilized the global oil market. It's less clear how intent Trump is on applying new measures on China for its Russian energy purchases. He remains on the hunt for a comprehensive trade agreement with Beijing, and US officials have described making significant progress in recent talks with their Chinese counterparts. Still, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent directly told his Chinese counterparts during trade talks in Stockholm last month that they should be ready for sanctions if they continue to buy Russian oil. Putin and China's President Xi Jinping have also deepened their relationship in recent years, and Chinese support for Russia's war efforts extends well beyond energy purchases. China has provided Russia with components for its weapons and drones used to attack Ukraine. Putin and Xi are expected to meet in Beijing at the start of September around a commemoration ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. In recent months, Witkoff played a less active role in the Ukraine war talks due to Russia's refusal to take substantial steps to drive an end to the conflict. During that time, Trump and Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg maintained regular communications with the Ukrainians, with Kellogg visiting Kyiv last month. Trump also began to change his tone on Ukraine, saying it needs the ability to defend itself. But with Witkoff visiting Russia again for the first time in months, there is a renewed spotlight on his role. Earlier this year, there were concerns among US officials and Russia experts about the real estate developer's diplomatic inexperience, particularly after he went into multiple early meetings with Putin without a US translator by his side. After his last meeting with Putin, Witkoff predicted the Russian leader 'sees the opportunity for the first time in decades' to recalibrate the US-Russia relationship — though months later the war is ongoing and US-Russia relations have not improved. Still, even as talks with Russia took a backseat in recent months, Witkoff stayed engaged on Gaza talks and Iran talks, maintaining an active role in Trump's inner circle.
New York Times
a few seconds ago
- New York Times
Up on the Roof, Trump Surveys the Home He's Making His Own
President Trump was on the roof. As a confused group of reporters assembled below him on Tuesday morning, Mr. Trump strolled around on top of the White House, stopping somewhere above the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room — now only occasionally a venue for taking questions — to tell his audience that he was 'taking a little walk' in service of his latest home improvement project: a large ballroom. 'It's just another way to spend my money for the country,' Mr. Trump shouted. He was getting a bird's-eye view of where the $200 million White House ballroom he has proposed building would go, according to the White House. The president ignored follow-up questions — one reporter shouted 'WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?' after the president appeared to be making a circular gesture with his arms and hands and saying 'something beautiful.' Mr. Trump did not answer before continuing a 20-minute walkabout that included standing on the roof near the Oval Office to survey the newly paved Rose Garden. What looked like a casual stroll was actually a heavily secured appearance: The area around the building was locked down and Secret Service agents, including members of the agency's counter-sniper team, accompanied Mr. Trump on his walk. The construction of a ballroom is not the most pressing issue facing Mr. Trump or his fellow Republicans, but it's a pretty good distraction. (Several conservative lawmakers are spending their August recesses either avoiding constituents in their districts or getting screamed at over the economically damaging details of domestic policy legislation that Mr. Trump pressured Republicans to ram through Congress.) It appears that Mr. Trump's respite from the tumult — some of which he has wrought — is to ensconce himself in a White House that is rapidly changing from the taxpayer-funded people's house to one that resembles one of the Louis XIV-inspired properties in his portfolio. On social media, Mr. Trump has referred to these as ''fun' projects I do while thinking about the World Economy, the United States, China, Russia, and lots of other Countries, places, and events.' In that vein, Mr. Trump, a creature of habit, has occupied himself by festooning the Oval Office with golden embellishments, urns, baskets and coasters embossed with his last name. He has planted large American flags on the lawn. During Mr. Trump's first term, he spent quite a bit of time at the Trump International Hotel, holding court for family members, prominent conservatives and journalists. But now, with the hotel closed, he appears to be using the White House for a similar purpose. Mr. Trump remains a homebody with a deep distrust of situations he does not control. Lately, he has turned his attention away from holding rallies or public events to gin up political support and toward the altering of a White House complex he has in turns complimented as grand and maligned as outdated. Visitors are still allowed on tours, and there is no mistaking who lives upstairs. He has overseen the paving over of the Rose Garden, a historic presidential venue that Melania Trump, the first lady, had once revamped with the help of historians, architects and designers. At her direction, they replanted roses, removed several problematic crab apple trees that had bedeviled designers since the Reagan administration and installed a limestone walkway. In 2020, Mrs. Trump also oversaw the installation of the first piece of art from an Asian American artist to be included in the White House collection. That statue is no longer in the Rose Garden. A White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to not disclose internal plans, said that the piece was being polished. But the official did not know when or if it would be returned to the newly paved garden. On Tuesday, the East Wing did not respond to a request for comment about whether the first lady supported the changes to a project that took a year and a half to design and revamp, and just days to partially pave over. Other questions, including one about what would become of a suite of East Wing offices that appear to be in the way of the proposed ballroom, were forwarded to the West Wing. The residence, too, has long been Mr. Trump's domain. When he first moved into the White House in 2017, he overruled the décor choices of Mrs. Trump in favor of several gilded pieces in a permanent White House collection. And most recently, there is the ballroom, the rendering of which has a distinct resemblance to the event space at Mr. Trump's Mar-a-Lago club, his gilded fortress in Palm Beach. The Mar-a-Lago ballroom has long been a space for fund-raisers, dinners and weddings, and its patio is where Mr. Trump enjoys a round of applause before taking his seat at dinner. The people who assemble there have paid for the privilege of an event where Mr. Trump appears as either the de facto maître d' or the centerpiece the party revolves around. In the Trump White House, people who have given money to the president's cryptocurrency business have been invited for dinner. Questions about who is funding the ballroom, however, are mostly unanswered. White House officials said the president and 'other patriot donors' would pay for the renovations, but declined to give details. Noah Bookbinder, the president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, said the donor funding plan was 'highly unusual.' 'There is certainly a risk that donors to this project, which Donald Trump has made clear is important to him, could see it as a way to curry favor with the administration,' he said. During his walkabout on Tuesday, Mr. Trump seemed to say he would be paying for the 90,000-square-foot project, which is almost twice the size of the White House residence. 'Anything I do is financed by me; in other words, contributed,' Mr. Trump told reporters. 'Just like my salary is contributed. But nobody ever mentions that.' And now, a quick fact check: Mr. Trump's first-term White House announced that he partially donated his salary to agencies, including the Department of Education. But his donations declined over the course of his first term, and he reported no charitable giving in 2020, according to his tax returns. The White House did not respond to a request for comment about how he planned to donate his salary this year. Maggie Haberman and Doug Mills contributed reporting.
