Can South Korea's new president unify an unhappy country?
With the election of Lee Jae-myung as president of South Korea, a period of political turmoil there may be over - for now at least.
But Lee, leader of the centre-left Democratic Party, faces many challenges, including a political system in disarray, the threat of tariffs and a looming demographic disaster. Denis Staunton reports on the political situation in South Korea on today's Inside Politics podcast with Hugh Linehan.
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Irish Times
17 hours ago
- Irish Times
‘Nobody on the right or left is gonna buy a Tesla' - the Trump spat threat to Musk's business empire
What began as Elon Musk's embrace of right-wing populism has become a defining – and potentially harmful – chapter in his business career. By endorsing Donald Trump's MAGA movement and far-right parties in Europe, Musk alienated a big portion of his original customer base, eroding Tesla's brand , sales and market share around the globe. Then came this week's rupture: a personal and public break-up with Trump that prompted threats of retaliation from a man with control over the world's most powerful government. By simultaneously burning bridges with both his customers and now the political movement he funded and amplified for months, Musk now faces a rare convergence of threats: collapsing brand loyalty, shaky revenues, and mounting legal and regulatory risk. Tesla's sales are already stumbling under the weight of partisan baggage. SpaceX, long seen as a strategic national asset, is facing new scrutiny as political winds shift. And the green shoots at X – Musk's $44 billion 'free speech' experiment – that were fuelled by Musk's proximity to the White House and the ad dollars that followed, may soon disappear. READ MORE 'Elon isn't functioning to the benefit of his shareholders,' said Ross Gerber, the chief executive officer of Tesla shareholder Gerber Kawasaki, which has been reducing its Tesla holdings over the last few years. Speaking on Bloomberg Television on Thursday while the meltdown was still going on, Gerber said Musk's behaviour is leading to the 'dismantling of the Musk empire in real time.' With enemies on both flanks, Musk finds himself at the centre of a storm fuelled by consumer revolt and political hostility. [ Donald Trump 'not interested' in talking to Elon Musk Opens in new window ] [ Trump-Musk bromance descends into a jaw-dropping feud Opens in new window ] 'Nobody on the right is gonna buy a Tesla, nobody on the left is gonna buy a Tesla. Elon is a man without a country,' said Steve Bannon, an outside adviser to Trump who has long been critical of Musk, in an interview. Bannon says he is 'in continual conversations at the most senior levels' of the Trump administration to push them to revoke Musk's security clearance and use the Defense Production Act to seize SpaceX and Starlink on grounds they are vital to US national security. Even if Trump does not take such extreme measures, there is no shortage of retaliatory options for the White House. The president could try to wield the power of agencies like the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration to inflict real harm – or even just incessant regulatory morass – on to all of Musk's businesses and the source of his wealth. In just one day, the Musk-Trump spat shaved $34 billion from his personal net worth, the second-largest loss ever in the history of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index of the 500 wealthiest people on the planet. The only bigger wealth hit: his own wipeout in November 2021. Tesla lost $153 billion of market value on Thursday, with shares reversing course on Friday after Musk began to simmer down. Musk has faced deep stretches of pain before. There are flanks of sceptics who have, over the years, called for his impending demise only to be proven wrong by the world's richest man and his cult following of fans and funders willing to throw ever-growing sums of money at his ambitions. [ Elon Musk has damaged himself and shows no signs of stopping Opens in new window ] Most famously, Tesla flirted with bankruptcy only to reverse course and become the biggest electric vehicle seller in the world. Musk's $44 billion purchase of X was widely panned as the company's debt languished on banks' books, only to see those fortunes reversed after Trump's election. 'Musk has a habit of teetering on the edge of destruction and pulling himself back just in the nick of time,' said Nancy Tengler, whose firm holds 3.5 per cent of its growth portfolio Tesla stock, in a Friday interview on Bloomberg Television. Tengler, chief executive and chief investment officer of Laffer Tengler Investments, said her firm has been adding Tesla shares in recent months but now has a 'full position.' 'He needs to dial down the rhetoric and the drama and get back to the business,' she says, as investors own Tesla stock for growth, not for 'the histrionics.' To pull off a rebound this time around, Musk is going to have to convince people to start buying his electric vehicles at a faster clip and reverse the painful sales slide in the US, Europe and around the world. He is also going to have to attract riders to his new robotaxi service in Austin as the company makes a gigantic bet on artificial intelligence, robotics and self-driving cars. Musk has lobbied lawmakers to help clear a path for driverless vehicles, something Trump initially endorsed. It is now unclear if the Trump-Musk fallout complicates the regulatory environment for autonomous vehicles and potentially slows the path forward for Tesla's robotaxi network. 'The disagreement will not help Tesla demand but could potentially (temporarily) alienate multiple sides of the political spectrum,' said Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas in a research note entitled 'Well That Escalated Quickly...' Jonas said emotions are 'running high' and that he is sticking to his long-term $410 price target on Tesla's share price but is bracing for near-term volatility and is 'prepared for the stock to give up more.' Other tests in the coming weeks may include a $5 billion debt offering of the billionaire's AI company, xAI Corp, as well as funding rounds for xAI and SpaceX. Musk recently closed a $650 million late-stage raise for his neurotechnology company Neuralink from big investors including Sequoia Capital, ARK Investment Management and Founders Fund. From a legal and regulatory perspective, there is even more at stake for Musk if the Trump administration turns on the billionaire and claws back contracts like the president threatened on Thursday. SpaceX, one of the world's most valuable start-ups with a market value of $350 billion, has received more than $22 billion in unclassified contracts from the Defense Department and Nasa since 2000, according to data from Bloomberg Government. It launches critical national security satellites for the Pentagon and the US is depending on the Musk-led company to develop a spacecraft to put American astronauts on the moon in as little as two years. Musk's vow to decommission its all-important Dragon spacecraft, which ferries cargo and people to the International Space Station for the US, sent shock waves throughout the industry. Following through with the threat, which Musk later walked back, would sever a vital part of the US space program. 'It is untenable to have a CEO of a prime defence and aerospace contractor threaten to shut down services the government has contracted with them to perform,' said Lori Garver, a former Nasa deputy administrator under former president Barack Obama. Garver says Nasa needs SpaceX, but that SpaceX's business model also depends, in part, on the US government. 'Elon has already walked back decommissioning Dragon, because they do require now, as a big part of their business plan, government contracts. But they provide a service for those contracts. So it's a symbiotic relationship,' Garver said. On a more day-to-day basis, government agencies could try to inflict pain on Musk's businesses by delaying everything from space launches to satellite service to robotaxi expansion. Investigations into publicly traded Tesla or the finances of his companies could include the SEC, as well as antitrust probes and Federal Trade Commission interest around social media moderation, data use or AI. So far, Musk and Trump may be trying to at least press pause on the public spectacle. White House officials say Trump plans to focus his attention on inflation and the economy rather than speak to Musk, and insinuated without evidence that the billionaire was agitating for a call with the president. (In a pair of posts on his social media platform Friday morning, Trump intensified his push for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lower rates.) As for pulling Musk's government contracts, Trump has not yet pursued any steps to follow through with his threats, one of these people said. He is, however, thinking of getting rid of his Tesla. – Bloomberg
Irish Times
a day ago
- Irish Times
‘Wearing thin': Trump-Musk bromance descends into a jaw-dropping feud that is funny, dismal and nauseating
Things unravel fast. The arrangement was for chancellor Merz and the German party to spend the night across from the White House in Blair House after their Thursday visit to the Oval Office. The football enthusiasts in the visiting contingent may have intended unwinding with the highlights of the fabulous France-Spain game. But like everyone else in Washington, DC, the German visitors undoubtedly spent their late afternoon and Thursday evening glued to their screens as the once-heated connection between president Donald Trump and Elon Musk degenerated into a jaw-dropping social media feud that is funny and nauseating and dismal all at once. By nightfall, the richest man in the world had made the unsubstantiated claim, on the social media platform he owns, that president Trump is 'in the Epstein files'. He had reposted decades-old footage of Trump in the company of the late and now-reviled Epstein, whose FBI files remain a source of fascination to a strand of the Maga support base. READ MORE Musk's barrage of posts criticising the Trump budget Bill began during chancellor Merz's sit-down in the Oval Office and continued over the course of a day when his personal wealth fell by an estimated $34 billion, even as shares in Tesla slumped. Once freed from his diplomatic duties, during which Trump admired Mr Merz's facility with German and looked less than thrilled to receive a framed birth certificate of Freidrich Trump, the German grandfather of whom he never speaks, the president was free to attack Musk on his own social media account. Piqued, he noted that the 'easiest way' to save money in the budget is to 'terminate Elon's governmental subsidies and contracts'. He also went public with an observation that had become clear over the past six weeks as Musk's prominence within the administration steadily faded. 'Elon was 'wearing thin'. I took away his EV mandate that forced everyone to buy electric cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do) and he just went CRAZY!' As ever, the drama once again sent the 47th presidency rocketing into the realm of not just a rolling television soap opera, but the darkest parody of the landmark American political dramas. With president Trump, the old line of history repeating itself doesn't fully apply: the tragedy and farce seem to occur simultaneously. Over the course of their Oval Office press spray, chancellor Merz, restrained and impressive, made several serious and sombre points about the Ukraine and Russia war but it was unclear if Trump permitted the clarity and gravity to penetrate. For much of the time, the German visitor sat silent while Trump riffed on his relationship with Musk, which was, on live television, experiencing the same return-to-Earth's-orbit fate as one of the billionaire's SpaceX rockets. By teatime, Steve Bannon, a long-time vitriolic critic of Musk, had called for his deportation. Meanwhile, the Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill tasked with meeting Trump's expectation that the budget Bill pass the Senate vote and be on his desk for his preferred deadline of July 4th, Independence Day, took stock of the spectacular feud. 'I have a rule. I never get between a dog and a fire hydrant,' the Louisiana senator John Kennedy told a reporter. Kennedy is one of several senators who want to see the Bill amended before it goes to a vote. The Republicans can afford just three defections if it is to get through the Senate. It is already clear that two senators, Kentucky's Rand Paul and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, represent a hard No to the Bill. 'The math doesn't add up,' Paul posted earlier this week. 'I'm not supporting a Bill that increases debt by $5 trillion.' Kentucky congressman Thomas Massie sounded gleeful when he was asked who he would choose in the playground fight between Trump and Musk. 'I choose math. The math always wins over the words. I trust the math over the guy who lands the rocket backwards, over the politician's maths. I think the patient is on life support and if the Senate thinks they are going to rehabilitate it and rewrite it, I think they are endangering this patient. Because people over here are looking for more reasons to be against it.' Now, with Trump's estranged 'genius' and the world's richest man seeking to sabotage the Bill with venom, it looks more fragile than ever. Even during the height of their public union, when they engaged in a public mutual seduction, with Trump attracted to Musk's limitless wealth and Musk dazzled by Trump's mass public appeal and the peerless power that comes with the presidency, it was clear to everyone that it would be short lived. But as recently as February, Musk was moved to post: 'I love Donald Trump as much as a straight man can love another man.' Perhaps he is just a rank sentimentalist at heart. But this week Musk discovered the limitations and the cold commercialism of the presidential love reciprocated. On Monday, even as reports of his rampant narcotics use circulated, Musk suffered the indignity of a going-away present of an outsized golden key which, Trump clarified, he gives to 'very special people'. It created the impression that there is a thousand identical keys crammed into a cupboard near the Oval Office. The billionaire was sporting a black eye, which he claimed he acquired while horsing around with his young son. Musk said he invited young X to 'punch me in the face' and the youngster – perhaps aware of his deteriorating future fortune – didn't hesitate in socking one to the old man. For the past four days, Musk found himself gone from the White House, his magic lanyard and access returned with nothing but a ceremonial key which opens no doors. And for all of the callous indifference to the vulnerable and impoverished Musk displayed as he set about implementing the federal cuts in his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, he may have believed that at some level Trump valued his work. The Bill proposal represents not just an additional burden to America's national debt; it is a personal snub to the man-hours Musk has put in since January. For a man with boundless intellectual vanity, to be made to feel a fool represents the worst insult. And there was a cold truth, too, to Trump's rationale as to why Musk has suddenly gone rogue on him. 'I think he misses the place. He's not the first. People leave my administration and then at some point they miss it so badly. Some of them embrace it and some of them actually become hostile.' The feud does not bode well for the administration. For the Democrats came the welcome novelty of watching the other crowd infighting. But the bitter and reckless war of words will ask deeper questions of the many Republicans who championed Musk during the days when he was the president's favourite courtier. And the critical decision over the big, beautiful Bill still looms. 'When 15 million people lose their health care and plunge into personal crisis,' Connecticut Democrat senator Chris Murphy wrote on Thursday evening, 'none of them are going to give a shit about a made-for-clicks twitter fight between two billionaires arguing about who gets the bigger share of the corruption spoils.' In happier days, Trump made a shrewd observation about Musk. 'He's a true patriot,' he praised. 'And I don't even know if he is a Republican.' He may be about to find out.
Irish Times
a day ago
- Irish Times
Epsom Derby is the original, but sadly it is not the best any more
The Epsom Derby is the original. But sad to say it's not the best any more. When it comes to mile-and-a-half Derby races on grass, the most commercially relevant of them all is already done and dusted for this year. Last Sunday's Tokyo Yushun, the Japanese Derby, was won by Croix Du Nord. A champion two-year-old, Croix Du Nord won what is unquestionably Japanese racing's most coveted prize. 【🇯🇵 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) (G1), Tokyo, 2400m, 3yo No Geldings, approx US$ 4.61m】 Winner: Croix du Nord(JPN) J: Yuichi Kitamura T: Takashi Saito Sire: Kitasan Black Dam: Rising Cross — JRA World Racing (@JRA_WorldRacing) Post-race euphoria underlined the prevailing sentiment of this being the pinnacle of the sport in what is perhaps the strongest and most vibrant racing nation of all. The same kind of comments will be dutifully trotted out after Saturday's Derby at Epsom. They'll sound rote in comparison. The Epsom Derby is trading on past glories. The currency of Federico Tesio's line about the thoroughbred existing because of the Epsom winning post has faded in the face of modern commercial bloodstock realities. In stark, bottom-line terms, winning the Derby has become a double-edged sword. Its prestige is rooted in tradition, but where's the future in that? READ MORE As Saturday is the 246th Derby there's probably little surprise about it looking a bit tired. The crowd for the Tokyo classic was capped at 80,000. About 25,000 will be in Epsom, far removed from historic tales of London decamping to the Hill for the day. The Tokyo Yushun was worth almost €4 million in prize money, more than double its English counterpart. But it is the discrepancy between the two Derby prizes in terms of their primary purposes that is stark. Champions still win at Epsom. City Of Troy a year ago was the best of his generation. A decade ago, Golden Horn proved himself an outstanding racehorse. But in the identification of potential top stallions, Blue Riband glory at Epsom is all but a black mark. Proven mile-and-a-half ability is prized in Japan's racing and breeding industries. The class to carry speed over a distance is the ultimate. The 2023 world champion Equinox is a prime example. Croix Du Nord is all but priceless now, his status as an elite stallion prospect assured. The commercial imperative around tomorrow's winner will be very different. Almost inevitably the first instinct for those involved in any Epsom Derby winner is to prove the horse is just as good, if not better, at a shorter trip. A mile-and-a-half has become associated with stamina and that's a financial mood killer in the breeding shed. Adam Kirby riding Adayar home in 2021 to win the Derby at Epsom. Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty The 2021 Derby winner Adayar was so commercially dubious in Europe he was immediately packed off to stud in Japan. It was a well-trodden route in the past when Japan's industry was growing. Now the Japanese are mostly fine with their own produce. Serpentine the year before ended up gelded, the first Derby winner in a century to face such a fate. Anthony Van Dyck (2019) wound up being fatally injured in the Melbourne Cup. Last year, Darley moved its 2018 hero Masar to a National Hunt stud in Ireland. The vastly less lucrative business of serving jumps mares is also what Wings Of Eagles (2017), Harzand (2016) and Golden Horn are now doing. In the stallion business, middle-distance talent too often turns into sales-ring poison. The last Epsom Derby hero to prove himself a proper top-notch stallion on the flat is Camelot (2012). The instinct for many is to blame Coolmore Stud's commercial instincts for such a situation. The Irish-based operation does exert a massive hold on the global bloodstock game. But it ignores how John Magnier's support for the Derby has been crucial over the last two decades. Without it, the race's relevance would be on an even slippier slope than it is. That Coolmore's prepotent sire Galileo was a proper mile-and-half racehorse in his day seems to have gone over a lot of heads. So, too, does the impact of so much breeding for what often turns out to be cheap speed. The nature of the programme that made Europe the focal point for turf racing worldwide has been undermined. Looking back at Golden Horn's post-Epsom racing career, his trainer John Gosden said recently: 'Of course what do we all do now; we have to go straight to the Eclipse to prove they're not mile-and-a-half horses. And yet the Japanese, they don't mind. Deep Impact ran over two miles. What is this speed, speed, speed with us? We're getting worse than the Americans.' Deep Impact, Japan's most famous racehorse, won the Tokyo Yushun 20 years ago on route to Triple Crown glory. It included Japan's St Leger over almost two miles. In 2020 his son Contrail did the same. It underlines how skewed middle-distance priorities are here; perhaps also how it's no coincidence about the best in Japan increasingly being the best in the world. It's 20 years, too, since the French Derby was dropped in distance to reflect modern European breeding realities. Last Sunday, hours after Croix Du Nord, Aidan O'Brien won it with Camille Pissarro. He said afterwards: 'It's a very important race, and it makes him a very important horse.' Chantilly is a long way from Tokyo. But the prevailing Derby sentiment was similar. A similar narrative will be dutifully spun about tomorrow's Derby. But those words will sound hollow. Short-sighted attitudes to middle distance breeding are having their long-term impact. The odds are the mile and a half Derby winner that will be instrumental in developing a sport's flourishing future is tucked up in his box 10,000 kms away from Epsom. Somethin g for the Weekend It will be the biggest Derby field since 2003 which reflects how open it looks. DAMYSUS (3.30) was at the back of a slowly run Dante and did well to finish second to Pride Of Arras. He looked inexperienced at York, but was the last one off the bridle. Reported progress since can see him in the mix. Gavin Cromwell sends FIERY LUCY (3.10) for Listed contest in Musselburgh on Saturday and the three-year-old can progress for her comeback run at Leopardstown to beat last year's winner, Jabaara.
