Latest news with #anti-Democrat
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Musk was Trump's tweeter-in-chief. Now he's using X against him
Elon Musk's X profile is like a window into his psyche: an inescapable stream of consciousness where impulsive tweets reveal his unfiltered thoughts and shifting moods. Musk harnessed his social media platform to propel Donald Trump to the White House, feeding anti-Democrat content and election conspiracy theories to his followers. Now Musk is turning that same platform – home to nearly 600 million monthly users – against him. After posting earlier in the week that Trump's signature budget policy was a 'disgusting abomination' that will 'drive America into debt slavery', the billionaire is openly taunting Trump on X, even calling for his impeachment. An analysis of Musk's tweets by The Independent shows that Musk has undergone a dramatic shift in both the tone and volume of his posts since his initial support of Trump in mid-2024 to when he began distancing himself from his governmental duties earlier this year – weeks before the White House announced his Washington tenure had finished. And now the platform has chronicled the rise and fall of the world's most powerful bromance. Musk began tweeting incessantly after he publicly endorsed Trump in July last year following the first attempt on the president's life in Butler, Pennsylvania. Then, once Musk was tapped in November to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, he emerged as Trump's tweeter-in-chief. Despite his new White House commitments, not to mention running six companies – including SpaceX, Tesla, and X itself – Musk appeared more glued to his keyboard than ever, using the platform as his primary news source, and place to share his views and stir up controversy. The first 50 days of the Trump administration arguably marked Musk's most fervent display of support for the president, both in terms of tweet content and frequency. On February 7, he mused that, 'I love @realDonaldTrump as much as a straight man can love another man.' Take President's Day, February 17, his most prolific 24-hour posting spell to date. Musk posted 262 times, according to The Independent's analysis, with messages ranging from single emojis to lengthy missives attacking Democrats. All told, the posting spree equated to one message every five-and-a-half minutes, with no breaks. Musk had a busy Q1 — between January 20 and March 10, he posted 6,778 times – averaging more than 135 X posts per day. And he stayed on message, tweeting about his government-slashing force DOGE more than any other topic in that period, quickly followed by 'Trump' and 'president.' Social media analytics firms like Social Blade were forced to stop tracking tweets after X said these businesses had to pay for an Enterprise subscription, at $42,000 to $210,000 a month. The resulting gap has made transparency on X murkier than ever; and is also why The Independent could only analyze Musk's posts until mid-March. In early spring, Musk's public pledges of MAGA allegiance and trollish squibs began to slow down, and the subjects of his posts moved from Trump administration duties to his own commercial interests. Buyers of his electric vehicles protested against his shift to right-wing politics and efforts to dismantle federal departments, with Tesla's stock price plummeting, and a Rome dealership set ablaze. In April, Musk announced plans to significantly reduce his involvement with DOGE, opting to work remotely and allocate more time to Tesla. A month later, Musk's X daily posts at points reached single figures. In hindsight, it might be considered the calm before the storm. By the end of May, Musk came off the platform to deliver a gut punch to the Trump administration. He told NBC News that Trump's showpiece tax bill 'undermines' the work done by DOGE, without directly mentioning the president. Musk landed a heavy blow on Tuesday, blasting the president's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' as an 'outrageous, pork-filled, disgusting abomination.' But it was after a press conference with the German Chancellor where Trump said he was 'disappointed' with Musk's comments, that Musk went on his most destructive X rampage yet — calling Trump ungrateful, calling for his impeachment and saying he's linked to Jeffrey Epstein. And these claims get read and spread by a wide audience: his Thursday post declaring 'Trump would have lost the election' if it weren't for his support garnered nearly 15 million views in a single day. This is more than just a playground spat between the two rich powerful men, because Musk's ownership of X allows him to reach a vast audience, some of whom are skeptical of mainstream media, and control a narrative — and his posts have been known to set off market reactions, media cycles, and political waves. Those who have stuck with X, whether they are one of Musk's 220 million followers or not, have been inundated with his musings and attacks morning, noon, and night. Musk is believed to selectively issue suspensions and use algorithms to throttle foes that are critical of both him and his ventures. According to the tech news site Platformer, the self-styled 'free speech absolutist' directed a team of 80 engineers to amplify his own tweets over others, ensuring they reach vast audiences (he allegedly did the same for Trump in November). Musk has subsequently blurred the line between platform owner, political provocateur and propagandist. How will he next use X to punish the social media-reliant, legacy media-averse president?
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pope Leo's brother shares clip calling Pelosi a ‘drunk c***' and scolds Dems for having ‘Trump derangement syndrome'
Pope Leo XIV's eldest brother shared a raft of pro-Donald Trump, anti-Democrat content on social media, including reposting a clip that branded former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a 'drunk c***.' Just weeks before Leo, 69, emerged from the conclave as the first American to lead the Roman Catholic church, his brother Louis Prevost appeared to share several posts on Facebook in support of the Trump administration, while rebuking his Democrat friends. In an April post, the elder Prevost shared a clip of then-California Representative Pelosi from 1996 expressing concerns about the trade deficit between the U.S. and China. 'These f***ing liberals crying about tariffs is just unreal. Do they not know that there is a thing called video?' the caption of the Facebook post, which Prevost did not write, read. This development comes after the new pontiff, born Robert Prevost, 69, was already criticized by the MAGA movement for apparently opposing Trump's America First agenda. 'Just listen to what this drunk c*** has to say. In the mid 90's,' it added. In another Facebook post on April 18, Prevost shared a video of a mock support group for those suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, a faux illness which Republicans have described as the 'acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal persons that is in reaction' to the president's policies. 'For my upset, crying, and left-leaning friends and others suffering from TDS, this service seems right for you,' Prevost wrote. In March, Prevost wrote: 'Maybe it's time to seriously consider isolationism and let Europe go their own way into complete socialism and ultimately communism.' In other Facebook posts shared after Trump returned to office, Prevost voiced support for Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency while commenting on gender issues and Russia's war with Ukraine. Prior to former President Joe Biden stepping off the Democratic ticket last summer over concerns about his mental acuity, Prevost reshared a post, reading: 'Please pray for the 33% who approve of Biden, that they be healed of their mental affliction.' Prevost told Newsmax in an interview over the weekend that his brother's new role will force him to change some of his behavior. 'I've had to modify my activities and what I do, what I say, what I write in public spaces or say in public spaces. I've seen a couple already,' the Pope's brother said. 'I don't want to get him in trouble or raise any grief or cause problems.' The elder Prevost also confirmed that he has had political discussions with his brother in the past. 'When he was bishop or cardinal, we'd occasionally have discussions. He knows where I stand, I know where he stands, and now as Pope, there are going to be some differences there.' Pope Leo, Louis, and their brother John Prevost grew up in the Chicago suburb of Dolton, Illinois. While stating that the new pontiff had always sought peace, Louis Prevost told the New York Times that he was a conservative who disagreed with his brother on certain topics. He also told the newspaper about what sort of pope he thought Leo might be. 'I think he's going to be similar to [Pope] Francis, but maybe not quite as liberal-minded, you know, flexing the church rules quite so much,' Prevost said. 'I think he'd be a little more conservative.' John Prevost also made the headlines last week when he revealed that the pope was a Chicago White Sox fan, to the dismay of the Chicago Cubs supporters.
The Independent
12-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Pope Leo's brother shares clip calling Pelosi a ‘drunk c***' and scolds Dems for having ‘Trump derangement syndrome'
Pope Leo XIV 's eldest brother shared a raft of pro- Donald Trump, anti-Democrat content on social media, including reposting a clip that branded former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a 'drunk c***.' Just weeks before Leo, 69, emerged from the conclave as the first American to lead the Roman Catholic church, his brother Louis Prevost appeared to share several posts on Facebook in support of the Trump administration, while rebuking his Democrat friends. In an April post, the elder Prevost shared a clip of then-California Representative Pelosi from 1996 expressing concerns about the trade deficit between the U.S. and China. 'These f***ing liberals crying about tariffs is just unreal. Do they not know that there is a thing called video?' the caption of the Facebook post, which Prevost did not write, read. This development comes after the new pontiff, born Robert Prevost, 69, was already criticized by the MAGA movement for apparently oppos ing Trump's America First agenda. 'Just listen to what this drunk c*** has to say. In the mid 90's,' it added. In another Facebook post on April 18, Prevost shared a video of a mock support group for those suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, a faux illness which Republicans have described as the 'acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal persons that is in reaction' to the president's policies. 'For my upset, crying, and left-leaning friends and others suffering from TDS, this service seems right for you,' Prevost wrote. In March, Prevost wrote: 'Maybe it's time to seriously consider isolationism and let Europe go their own way into complete socialism and ultimately communism.' In other Facebook posts shared after Trump returned to office, Prevost voiced support for Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency while commenting on gender issues and Russia's war with Ukraine. Prior to former President Joe Biden stepping off the Democratic ticket last summer over concerns about his mental acuity, Prevost reshared a post, reading: 'Please pray for the 33% who approve of Biden, that they be healed of their mental affliction.' Prevost told Newsmax in an interview over the weekend that his brother's new role will force him to change some of his behavior. 'I've had to modify my activities and what I do, what I say, what I write in public spaces or say in public spaces. I've seen a couple already,' the Pope's brother said. 'I don't want to get him in trouble or raise any grief or cause problems.' The elder Prevost also confirmed that he has had political discussions with his brother in the past. 'When he was bishop or cardinal, we'd occasionally have discussions. He knows where I stand, I know where he stands, and now as Pope, there are going to be some differences there.' Pope Leo, Louis, and their brother John Prevost grew up in the Chicago suburb of Dolton, Illinois. While stating that the new pontiff had always sought peace, Louis Prevost told the New York Times that he was a conservative who disagreed with his brother on certain topics. He also told the newspaper about what sort of pope he thought Leo might be. 'I think he's going to be similar to [Pope] Francis, but maybe not quite as liberal-minded, you know, flexing the church rules quite so much,' Prevost said. 'I think he'd be a little more conservative.' John Prevost also made the headlines last week when he revealed that the pope was a Chicago White Sox fan, to the dismay of the Chicago Cubs supporters.
The Independent
17-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump has a deep grudge against Zelensky – but he's now taken it further than ever before
What could possess Donald Trump to victim-shame Ukraine 's president and endorse the actions of an indicted war criminal by backing Vladimir Putin? Personal hatred of Volodymyr Zelensky? A near-demented obsession with personal sleight? A radical strategic vision that's upended world affairs? Something worse? Probably. Soon after the massacre in Sumy, where two Iskander missiles slammed into the provincial Ukrainian capital killing 35 people, including two children, Trump sloughed off the atrocity by claiming it had been a Russian mistake. Shocking, but not surprising, as Trump has consistently taken the Russian side at every opportunity this year. Before most of the bodies could be collected from the city morgue, though, he had gone on the offensive by doubling down on his efforts to pin Ukraine 's suffering on its president. 'When you start a war, you got to know you can win,' he said of Ukraine's leader. Zelensky was not president when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014. He was elected by a landslide in 2019. Russia launched its attempt to kill him, capture Kyiv, and colonise Ukraine in February 2022. He didn't start the war with Russia – and wasn't president when Ukraine enshrined the goal of Nato membership in its 2018 constitution. Zelensky did, however, earn Trump's anger by being a disloyal recipient of America's largesse, mostly financial aid, for failing to open an investigation into Hunter Biden's business deals in Ukraine in July 2019. Joe Biden was the likely Democrat candidate in the election of 2020. Back then, Trump was impeached by Congress over his alleged threat to withhold $400m in US military aid to Ukraine unless Zelensky helped with the campaign against Biden and other anti-Democrat operations. Trump was cleared by the Senate but the damage had been done. He bears a deep grudge against Zelensky. But Trump was already a Russian strategic partner. His relationship with Moscow goes back to 1987 when he made his first trip to the capital of the Soviet Union to scout for investment opportunities. He didn't ever do any deals in Russia. But Russian bankers have backed some of his enterprises since. Trump has always been sloppy with state secrets since his first term in office. His top intelligence staff have risked easy penetration by foreign spies because they've been using their personal phones for top-secret communications. So it is reasonable to assume that America's adversaries, like Russia, have deep knowledge and understanding of every aspect of the 47th president's life – and have done so for decades. He supports Russian G7/8 membership. He refused to put tariffs on Moscow this month. He has adopted every one of Russia's initial negotiating principles as his own when it comes to Ukraine, and said he thought that the country may anyway 'be Russian one day'. He wants to get back into doing business with Russia too. But he went further into the realms of bully-backing with his statement on Monday that 'you don't start a war against someone 20 times your size and then hope that people give you missiles'. Again, Zelensky didn't start the war. The US, the UK, Russia and Ukraine signed a memorandum in Budapest guaranteeing Kyiv security after Ukraine gave up its nuclear missiles in 1994. France and China backed the Budapest memo with their own document. Ukraine, a Western democracy with ambitions to join the European Union, is a sovereign nation that Putin has said he wants to bring back into the post-Soviet Russian empire. Putin has also said he has designs on the Baltic states, Moldova, and Romania. Support for Ukraine is a necessary condition of Europe's defence. America's network of allies in Nato and beyond has been the weft of Washington's tapestry of alliances that has made it a global superpower. To Trump, though, it's getting in the way of turning the world into spheres of influence in which the US, Russia, and China carve up the planet. That's also, by the way, Putin's vision. 'I believe, sadly, [that] Russian narratives are prevailing in the US,' said Zelensky in an interview with CBS at the weekend. 'How is it possible to witness our losses and our suffering, to understand what the Russians are doing, and to still believe that they are not the aggressors, that they did not start this war? This speaks to the enormous influence of Russia's information policy on America, on US politics and US politicians.' That may cost him dearly. When Trump ranted at Zelensky in March during the Ukrainian president's official visit to the Oval Office, Trump reiterated how deeply loyal he felt to Putin because the Russian president had been accused of backing his candidacy in 2016. 'Let me tell ya, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me – we went through a phoney witch hunt when they used him and Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia,' Trump raged, as he got increasingly incoherent during the attack. 'That was a phoney Hunter Biden, Joe Biden scam. Hillary Clinton, shifty Adam Schiff, it was a Democrat scam. And [Putin] had to go through that. And he did go through it. We didn't end up in a war. And he went through it.' This gobbledygook makes little sense. It does, however, reveal the depth of his feelings for Putin who, at least since 2016, he has seen as sharing a trench with The Donald in the wider campaign to undermine the American oligarch. Trump soon suspended military aid and then intelligence sharing with Kyiv after the Oval Office row, which coincided with Putin's campaign to free the Kursk region captured by Ukraine in Russia last year. Trump has turned America's system of alliances with the West upside down and inside out. His evisceration of America's security establishment with ideological purges, attacks on the US judiciary, Federal bureaucracy, the education system and the constitution itself have been combined with a wholesale trashing of Washington's soft power and humanitarian operations. This all serves the interests of the Kremlin. It's Making Moscow Great Again. A former KGB chief, Putin has reinforced his relationship with Trump by stroking his vanity. He's relentless in his cultivation of the US president. In his most recent effort, he sent a portrait of the US president painted in Russia to the White House in the care of Steve Witkoff, Trump's chief Ukraine negotiator. Witkoff said his boss thought the painting was 'beautiful'. The bad news is that Trump's narcissism is Russia's greatest strategic asset.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump has a deep grudge against Zelensky - but he's now taken it further than ever before
What could possess Donald Trump to victim shame Ukraine's president and endorse the actions of an indicted war criminal by backing Vladimir Putin? Personal hatred of Volodymyr Zelensky? A near-demented obsession with personal sleight? A radical strategic vision that's upended world affairs? Something worse? Probably. Soon after the massacre in Sumy, where two Iskander missiles slammed into the provincial Ukrainian capital killing 35 people, including two children, Trump sloughed off the atrocity by claiming it had been a Russian mistake. Shocking, but not surprising, as Trump has consistently taken the Russian side at every opportunity this year. Before most of the bodies could be collected from the city morgue, though, he had gone on the offensive by doubling down on his efforts to pin Ukraine's suffering on its president. 'When you start a war, you got to know you can win,' he said of Ukraine's leader. Zelensky was not president when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014. He was elected by a landslide in 2019. Russia launched its attempt to kill him, capture Kyiv, and colonise Ukraine in February 2022. He didn't start the war with Russia – and wasn't president when Ukraine enshrined the goal of Nato membership in its 2018 constitution. Zelensky did, however, earn Trump's anger by being a disloyal recipient of America's largesse, mostly financial aid, for failing to open an investigation into Hunter Biden's business deals in Ukraine in July 2019. Joe Biden was the likely Democrat candidate in the election of 2020. Back then, Trump was impeached by congress over his alleged threat to withhold $400m in US military aid to Ukraine unless Zelensky helped with the Biden campaign, and other anti-Democrat operations. Trump was cleared by the senate but the damage had been done. He bears a deep grudge against Zelensky. But Trump was already a Russian strategic partner. His relationship with Moscow goes back to 1987 when he made his first trip to the capital of the Soviet Union to scout for investment opportunities. He didn't ever do any deals in Russia. But Russian bankers have backed some of his enterprises since. Trump has always been sloppy with state secrets since his first term in office. His own top intelligence staff have risked easy penetration by foreign spies because they've been using their personal phones for top secret communications. So it is reasonable to assume that America's adversaries, like Russia, have deep knowledge and understanding of every aspect of the 47th president's life – and have done for decades. His support for Russian G7/8 membership, his refusal to put tariffs on Moscow this month, he has adopted every one of Russia's initial negotiating principles as his own when it comes to Ukraine and said that he thought that the country may anyway 'be Russian one day'. He wants to get back into doing business with Russia too. But he goes further into the realms of bully-backing with his statement on Monday that 'you don't start a war against someone 20 times your size and then hope that people give you missiles'. Again, Zelensky didn't start the war. The US, UK, Russia and Ukraine did sign a memorandum in Budapest guaranteeing Kyiv security after Ukraine gave up its nuclear missiles in 1994. France and China backed the Budapest memo with their own document. Ukraine, a western democracy with ambitions to join the European Union, is a sovereign nation that Putin has said he wants to bring back into the post-Soviet Russian empire. Putin has also said he has designs on the Baltic states, Moldova and Romania. Support for Ukraine is a necessary condition of Europe's defence. America's network of allies in Nato and beyond have been the weft of Washington's tapestry of alliances that have made it a global super power. To Trump, though, it's getting in the way of turning the world into spheres of influence in which the US, Russia, and China carve up the planet. That's also, by the way, Putin's vision. 'I believe, sadly, (that) Russian narratives are prevailing in the US," said Zelensky at the weekend in an interview with CBS. 'How is it possible to witness our losses and our suffering, to understand what the Russians are doing, and to still believe that they are not the aggressors, that they did not start this war? This speaks to the enormous influence of Russia's information policy on America, on US politics and US politicians.' That may cost him dearly. When Trump ranted at Zelensky in March during the Ukrainian president's official visit to the Oval Office, Trump reiterated how deeply loyal he felt to Putin because the Russian president had been accused of backing his candidacy in 2016. 'Let me tell ya, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me – we went through a phony witch hunt when they used him and Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia,' Trump raged, as he got increasingly incoherent during the White House attack on Zelensky. 'That was a phony Hunter Biden, Joe Biden scam. Hillary Clinton, shifty Adam Schiff, it was a Democrat scam. And [Putin] had to go through that. And he did go through it. We didn't end up in a war. And he went through it.' This gobbledygook makes little sense. It does, however, reveal the depth of his feelings for Putin who, at least since 2016, he has seen as sharing a trench with The Donald in the wider campaign to undermine the American oligarch. Trump soon suspended military aid and then intelligence sharing with Kyiv after the Oval Office row, which coincided with Putin's campaign to free the Kursk region captured by Ukraine in Russia last year. Trump has turned America's system of alliances with the west upside down and inside out. His evisceration of America's security establishment with ideological purges, attacks on the US judiciary, federal bureaucracy, education system and the Constitution itself have been combined with a wholesale trashing of Washington's soft power and humanitarian operations. This all serves the interests of the Kremlin. It's Making Moscow Great Again. A former KGB chief, Putin has reinforced his relationship with Trump by stroking his vanity. He's relentless in his cultivation of the US president. In his most recent effort he sent a portrait of the US president painted in Russia to the White House in the care of Steve Witkoff, Trump's chief Ukraine negotiator. Witkoff said his boss thought he painting was 'beautiful'. The bad news is that Trump's narcissism is Russia's greatest strategic asset.
