Trump v. Musk: Another Diversion

Look at it like this:

The house is burning down and suddenly we are concerned about the color of the hose.

Elon has shown himself to be erratic. Trump, too.

So one might think that the two have had a falling out.

Or might one think that perhaps this is nothing more than one of the multitudinous diversions that we have been subjected to since January 20 — or actually, before that.

Consider, for example, that Trump was going to end the Ukraine-Russia War within 24 hours because it was, in his words, “a very easy negotiation.” More than 3,300 hours have passed.

An hour before this is being written, Kharkiv mayor Igor Terekhov reported his city was undergoing “the most powerful attack” — by Russia — “since the start of the full-scale war.”

Did Donald Trump negotiate on this day, June 7?

No, he attended the mixed-martial arts UFC 316 event in New Jersey.

Pay no attention to the destroyed apartment house.

There seems to be some glee among those on the left that there is public acrimony between Musk and Trump. It is almost as though the scales have fallen from Musk’s eyes and he is seeing

Trump for what he really is.

But that’s not the case at all.

Musk has been appropriately decried for his brutal, seemingly haphazard cuts to federal departments. While it has been well calculated that the monies that DOGE was going to “save” the US government went from $2 trillion to $1 trillion to $150 billion, what we can’t lose sight of is that some 284,000 people have lost their jobs as a result of Musk’s activities. These are real people with real bills and real obligations who did nothing wrong. (The so-called “waste, fraud and abuse” that Musk and his Team Trump enablers talked repeatedly about seem not to have been manifest in any tangible evidence that has been shown to the public.)

Musk has had his apparent falling out with Trump because the House-passed budget bill doesn’t go far enough in cutting spending — and you know those cuts aren’t going to be to anything that will have a negative effect on Musk and his friends, but instead on the people who can least afford to experience them.

How anyone can be pleased with the falling out in light of that is beyond reason.

Isn’t it possible that there can be some minor adjustments to the bill in the Senate that will be attributed to Trump that will then be lauded by Musk as being fiscal responsibility in action from the master dealmaker?

All will be forgiven, even if all will not be forgotten.

Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine continues. The situation between Israel and Hamas rages. People have been put in important positions that don’t know how to do their jobs (e.g., Hegseth using Signal; Bondi not understanding habeas corpus; Richardson not knowing there is a hurricane season).

There are the inexplicable tariffs that are costing the American public a lot of money. (Funny thing: Trump claims to be all about “bringing back manufacturing.” In the most recent jobs report from the Labor Department, while things overall were positive, there was a loss of 8,000 manufacturing jobs. Just wait until the steel and aluminum tariffs really bite. During the first Trump Administration tariffs were applied to these materials and it has been calculated that 75,000 manufacturing jobs were lost in the US versus 1,000 saved. It should be noted that in 2018 the steel tariffs were 25% and 10% for aluminum. Now they’re both 50%. Presumably those unemployment numbers will do nothing but rise.)

Trump v. Musk is a sideshow that we are distracted by only to our peril.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.