Lawrence: And on day 134, Musk turned against Trump
Democrats can now call the Donald Trump-Republican budget bill a "disgusting abomination" and they'd be quoting Elon Musk every time they do it, says MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell. Now that the budget bill is in the Senate, Lawrence explains that Republican senators are now able to stop the bill or risk Musk funding an opponent in their reelection campaign to the Senate next year.
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From banning X to funding Dems: All the ways Musk and Trump could hurt each other as they go nuclear
An alliance between the two most powerful men in the world seemed destined to blow up into a volatile feud yet somehow held ... until it didn't. Within a few hours on Thursday, the public spat between Donald Trump and Elon Musk exploded into debates over the president's impeachment, calls to launch primary challengers against Republican allies in Congress, and Musk's accusation that the president is implicated in a sexual abuse scandal. But how they choose to escalate from here could have far-reaching impacts — and not just for the fate of a massive bill that sparked their breakup. Trump and Musk command the world's attention, own competing social media platforms, and are each in a position to wield the power of the presidency and spend, and lose, billions of dollars against one another. Trump has already suggested yanking government contracts for Musk's companies Tesla and SpaceX, which are due to receive at least $3 billion in contracts from 17 agencies. 'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. On his War Room podcast, Trump ally Steve Bannon urged Trump to retaliate against the world's wealthiest man by, among other things, using the Defense Production Act to take control of SpaceX. 'The U.S. government should seize it,' Bannon said Thursday. Musk ended his 130-day 'special government employee' term in the Trump administration last week after serving as an 'adviser' to the president for the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which Musk unleashed across the federal government to make drastic cuts to spending and the workforce. But Trump left the door open for Musk to return. That 130-day term can be renewed next year. Trump could sever that arrangement at any time. Bannon also called on Trump to strip Musk's top-secret clearances, which he is granted in conjunction with his work on SpaceX and NASA. With more than 220 million followers on a social media platform under his control, Musk can use that audience and ability to shift media narratives against the president to advance his agenda. Trump, whose entire campaign was built on retribution, possesses executive authority to shut X down, according to experts. Trump could declare X a national security risk, 'which would permit him to ban the platform outright,' claims Devan Leos with AI platform Undetectable AI. The president could invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act on national security grounds to prevent X from operating, which would likely trigger a high-profile legal battle. 'Musk now faces a difficult choice. He can ban Trump from X in retaliation, but that would almost certainly trigger an executive response from the White House,' according to Leos. The president, meanwhile, owns more than 100 million shares, or roughly 53 per cent, of Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of social media platform Truth Social. His stake in the company is worth billions of dollars. Musk was born in South Africa before he emigrated to Canada and later the United States. Last year, The Washington Post reported that the billionaire worked in the country illegally before gaining citizenship. Bannon called on the president to deport him. 'Elon Musk is illegal. He's got to go too,' Bannon said on his War Room podcast. Trump also could wield the power of his office to initiate other investigations under a Department of Justice controlled by his fierce ally Attorney General Pam Bondi, including into allegations of his drug use at the campaign trail and within the administration. The world's wealthiest person spent tens of millions of dollars supporting Trump's 2024 campaign. On Thursday, he took credit for his victory. But this year, his multimillion-dollar effort to support a conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate blew up in his face, with his DOGE efforts tanking his — and Tesla's — appeal. Still, Republican candidates fear being his target. Musk and his allies have threatened to fund primary challenges against any GOP member of Congress who supports legislation he doesn't. 'Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80 percent in the middle?' Musk asked on Thursday. Democrats agree with Musk that Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' is a disaster but aren't necessarily welcoming him to the party after the right-wing billionaire torched government agencies and helped but Trump back in office. 'We should ultimately be trying to convince him that the Democratic Party has more of the values that he agrees with,' California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, whose district represents Silicon Valley, told Politico. 'A commitment to science funding, a commitment to clean technology, a commitment to seeing international students like him.' Liam Kerr, co-founder of the centrist WelcomeFest meeting underway in Washington during the Trump-Musk feud, told the outlet that 'of course' Democrats should be open to Musk. 'You don't want anyone wildly distorting your politics, which he has a unique capability to do. But it's a zero-sum game,' Kerr told Politico. 'Anything that he does that moves more toward Democrats hurts Republicans.' It took just four hours for a feud playing out on two different social media platforms for Musk to drop what he called a 'bomb' against the president. 'Time to drop the really big bomb,' he wrote on X. '[Trump] is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.' That loaded accusation — Musk's suggestion that Trump was involving the sex offender's trafficking scheme — appeared to be the tipping point in their feud. Musk, who just days ago seemed to have no problem associating with a man he is now alleging is implicated in Epstein's crimes, could launch a humiliation campaign against the president for an audience that has been largely disappointed with the Trump administration's approach to the Epstein case. Far-right influencers have turned on top federal law enforcement officials over the case, accusing Trump of continuing what they believe is a 'deep state' conspiracy theory covering up powerful people. Musk could leverage that hostility. Musk hired a small army of young loyalists and old allies for his government-wide operation to not only eliminate jobs and spending but extract reams of data from millions of Americans. DOGE's unprecedented access to Americans' data 'is alarming, made worse by the complete absence of meaningful oversight,' according to Ben Zipperer, a senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute. 'That unrestrained access to data will likely worsen the problem of identity theft in the United States, which could cost working families tens of billions of dollars annually.' A report from Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren's office also uncovered more than 100 instances that Musk allegedly abused his role as a 'special government employee' overseeing DOGE to benefit his private interests. Musk violated 'norms at an astonishing pace,' amounting to 'scandalous behavior regardless of whether it subjects him to criminal prosecution.' The report accuses Musk of using the government to promote his businesses, including turning the White House lawn into a Tesla showroom, and allegedly discovered roughly two dozen instances where the government 'entered or explored new lucrative contracts' with the billionaire while halting enforcement actions against his companies.
Yahoo
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"He should be deported": Bannon warns Trump to "get ahead" of Elon before he can "steal" 2028 race
Former White House aide Steve Bannon is proposing a dramatic escalation in the intra-MAGA feud that burst into public view on Thursday. Bannon, still a close ally and informal adviser to President Donald Trump, called on the president to kick his adviser-turned-rival Elon Musk out of the country. 'They should initiate a formal investigation of his immigration status, because I am of the strong belief that he is an illegal alien, and he should be deported from the country immediately,' Bannon told the New York Times on Thursday. Bannon also told the Times that the Trump administration should suspend Musk's security clearance, pending an investigation into the Tesla CEO's alleged heavy drug use and his reported effort to obtain a classified China briefing from the Pentagon. Speaking on his War Room podcast on Thursday, Bannon elaborated that Trump had to 'get ahead' of Musk, because otherwise the billionaire would work with Democrats to impeach the president, 'steal' the 2028 election from him and put him in prison. Bannon has often made the case that Trump should and will run for an unconstitutional third term in office. 'As sure as the turning of the Earth, if those progressives rub up on him and say, 'Hey, they're never going to buy the Teslas' – they rub up on him, he'll write a $500 million check for Hakeem Jeffries,' Bannon said on War Room. Bannon also suggested that the federal government should temporarily seize Musk's businesses. Bannon has long-running animosity toward Musk. In a February interview, he called the South African tech mogul a 'parasitic illegal immigrant.' Watch Bannon's remarks here:
Yahoo
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House Democrats' bill would combat LGBTQ elder abuse
Legislation introduced Friday, during Pride Month, by more than a dozen House Democrats would help combat abuse against elderly LGBTQ Americans. The Elder Pride Protection Act would establish a task force within the Department of Justice to study the 'increased incidence of elder abuse' against LGBTQ seniors and develop best practice solutions to be implemented by state and local law enforcement, according to a copy of the bill, shared first with The Hill. 'No one, especially our vulnerable seniors, should ever be mistreated because of who they are or who they love,' said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), who introduced the bill Friday alongside Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), who recently launched a bid to replace retiring Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) in the Senate next year. In November, Gottheimer announced he would run for governor of New Jersey. Craig, who is gay and one of 13 openly LGBTQ members of Congress, said the measure would help shield seniors from abuse and discrimination 'as we continue the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights.' 'LGBTQ+ seniors led the fight for so many of the rights LGBTQ+ Minnesotans enjoy today, and now it's our turn to fight for them,' she said in a statement. LGBTQ older adults are at heightened risk for adverse health and social outcomes compared to their cisgender and heterosexual peers, according to the Center for Health Care Strategies, a New Jersey nonprofit. SAGE, an advocacy group for LGBTQ elders that has endorsed Gottheimer and Craig's bill, has said LGBTQ seniors are more vulnerable to abuse and neglect. Comprehensive data on elder abuse is lacking, though the Justice Department estimates that more than 10 percent of Americans age 65 and older experience some form of elder abuse each year. In limited data, LGBTQ seniors, who are at higher risk of isolation, report elevated rates of abuse, according to SAGE. 'These are challenging times, and now more than ever, LGBTQ+ elders deserve to age without fear of elder abuse,' said Aaron Tax, SAGE's managing director of government affairs and policy advocacy. The bill, which has 14 Democratic co-sponsors, stands little chance of passing the GOP-controlled House. Republicans and President Trump have denounced initiatives that prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), claiming they stoke divisions and promote 'woke ideology.' A National Center on Elder Abuse webpage previously dedicated to 'advancing justice for LGBTQ elders' appears to have been deleted this year in the administration's purge of government websites following Trump's executive orders targeting DEI and 'gender ideology.' Updated at 10:32 a.m. EDT Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
