Old Man Trump Repeatedly Fumbles in Weird Speech Praising Elon Musk
Hours after reports emerged Friday that Elon Musk had been under the influence of heavy drugs during his time advising the president, Musk and Donald Trump stumbled and fumbled their way through a White House press conference recognizing the end of the tech billionaire's special government employee status.
The wildly unusual joint conference featured Musk's black eye, a giant gold key that Trump said he only gives to 'very special people,' cringe-worthy regurgitations by Musk of Trump's take on his Pulitzer Board defamation suit, and claims that Musk's unpopular and controversial time in the White House was not quite over.
But as Trump continued to praise Musk and his time atop the Department of Government Efficiency, the president's verbal gaffes became more apparent. He claimed that DOGE had uncovered $42 million in wasteful spending, referring to expenditures related to Uganda, which Trump pronounced as 'oo-ganda.' The 78-year-old also mentioned he would have Musk's DOGE cuts 'cauterized by Congress,' though he quickly corrected himself by saying they would be 'affirmed by Congress,' instead.
Trump's on-camera slippage has gotten worse in recent weeks: Earlier this month, Trump dozed off while in a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. That is despite the fact that the president received a clean bill of health in a medical report released in April that described Trump as being in 'excellent health,' including neurological functioning.
Musk, meanwhile, refused to acknowledge emerging reports of his alleged drug use. But the news of White House drug use under Trump's helm is nothing new: In fact, if the reports prove true, it would be little more than a return to form. Last year, a report by the Department of Defense inspector general indicated that the West Wing operated more like a pill mill than the nation's highest office. Common pills included modafinil, Adderall, fentanyl, morphine, and ketamine, according to the Pentagon report. But other, unlisted drugs—like Xanax—were equally easy to come by from the White House Medical Unit, according to anonymous sources that spoke to Rolling Stone.
While other presidents were known to take a mix of drug cocktails to fight off back pain (like JFK) or bad moods (like Nixon), no previous administrations matched the level of debauchery of Trump's, whose in-office pharmacists unquestioningly handed out highly addictive substances to staffers who needed pick-me-ups or energy boosts—no doctor's exam, referral, or prescription required.
'It was kind of like the Wild West. Things were pretty loose. Whatever someone needs, we were going to fill this,' another source told Rolling Stone in March 2024.
Meanwhile, pharmacists described an atmosphere of fear within the West Wing, claiming they would be 'fired' if they spoke out or would receive negative work assignments if they didn't hand pills over to staffers.
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