If you are given to watching White House press conferences, you saw two real doozies on Tuesday, back to back. Which was worse is something for critics and pundits to ponder. On the one hand, you had Donald Trump, seated next to a visibly uptight Marco Rubio, who kept claiming that “there’s nothing to buy, we’re gonna take it,” meaning Gaza. Trump said a lot of other things, too, about how the Palestinians would never be allowed to return. That leaves it up in the air where they will go, because neighboring lands have said they cannot take in any more refugees. Oh well, Donald will think of something. He’s a stable genius and all.
While meeting with the King of Jordan and a visibly uncomfortable Rubio today, Trump now changes his position from yesterday and says the US is not going to buy Gaza, we are just going to take it: “We’re gonna take it, we’re gonna hold it, we’re gonna cherish it.” pic.twitter.com/5MgH7YHMoW
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) February 11, 2025
As off the walls as that was, it’s nothing compared to Musk’s appearance later on in the Oval Office. The Wall Street Journal distills down a truly crazy episode, where Musk looked and sounded “high AF” per Ron Filipkowski.
Musk, wearing a black “Make America Great Again” hat, described federal workers as an “unelected, fourth, unconstitutional branch of government” that he said has “more power than any elected representative.”
“It does not match the will of people,” he said. “So it’s just something we’ve got to fix, and they’ve also got to address the deficit.”
Trump signed an executive order Tuesday giving DOGE more authority to reduce the size of the federal workforce. The order directs agencies to restrict hiring to essential positions, with some exceptions.
Musk was joined in the Oval Office by one of his sons, who sat on his father’s shoulders for part of the impromptu news conference. The roughly 30-minute event was one of Musk’s lengthiest public discussions about DOGE’s work.
“It’s not optional for us to reduce the federal expenses,” Musk said. “It’s essential. It’s essential for America to remain solvent as a country.”
Musk compared the scrutiny he is facing to a “daily proctology exam.” He said the public could make its own judgments about his potential conflicts of interest. Trump added that if the White House thought there was a lack of transparency or a conflict for Musk, then “we would not let him do that segment or look in that area.”
Asked about the Trump administration’s false assertion that the federal government sent $50 million worth of condoms to Gaza, the billionaire acknowledged that he might at times promote erroneous information. “Some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected,” Musk said. “Nobody is going to bat 1,000.”
Interesting deflection. The issue here is not being wrong about some minor point, the issue is making up wild things out of whole cloth. But Musk feels that telling the truth is too constraining, evidently, and maybe that’s where his “proctology exam” comment came up. Musk is not the beleagured one, rather anybody who expects any level of accountability from him soon finds themselves under siege. For instance, Musk demanded the firing of a Wall Street Journal reporter just for publishing news of a staffer’s racist tweets. And Musk is a free speech absolutist, as you may recall.
Musk is out to get everybody who doesn’t fall in line with his vision of government and how to run it — as an unelected official. Woe betide anybody who disagrees with him.
— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) February 12, 2025
The new normal, friends. Maybe this will become a regular thing in the Trump administration, the Oval Office Explanations From Elon — kind of like FDR’s fireside chats, doncha think? If America comes out the other end of this in one piece, it will be a miracle.
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If Elon doesn’t want a daily proctology exam then he should be going around SHOWING HIS ASS every day! In sports there’s an old adage that winners want the ball. The thing is, having means success or failure for your team falls on you. Because you CHOSE to take control of the ball! Sometimes people fail to deliver. But calling for the ball and then blowing the critical play isn’t everyone else’s fault. If you want the fucking spotlight you have to be prepared to deal with it showing you in a BAD light. We just had a Super Bowl where a first time ballot Hall of Fame quarterback had as bad a game as any in his professional career. And his offensive line, as well as his receivers failed him and “bigly”. The line didn’t do jack to protect him, give him time or prove the could open holes for Chiefs running backs. Receivers including another first ballot Hall of Famer Travis Kelce, Mahome’s “go to guy” in the biggest situations dropped some easy passes early on.
Mahomes could have pointe the finger all sorts of directions. Yet he made enough mistakes of his own, including reverting to earlier in his career and taking chances instead of taking what little the defense gave him (a chance to make quick passes for five or six yards by ‘checking down’) and took all the blame on himself. THAT is what a leader, a star does. People who play quarterback often get more credit than they deserve. In this case Mahomes is getting more blame than warranted but he’s looking at the long-term for the franchise he plays for. Ripping on others and playing “poor little me – I’m getting too much blame” he sat there and took the blame for the loss on his own shoulders.
I for one admire when I see people, whether athletes or politicians catching more blame than warranted recognizing that THEY wanted the spotlight, the “ball” and when things don’t go well accepting the blame. Instead of whining like Musk (and Trump) about lack of worship. Make big promises and you goddam well better deliver or face the music. If you’re a true leader you don’t sit there and whine that the music isn’t singing your praises. You admit there need to be changes and set about writing a new song that IS good music!
The unelected fourth branch of government is Musk.
Under Biden we had a reprieve from the daily Twilight Zone episodes, but we’re back into them again and they’re stranger than ever. The irony of Musk attacking unelected public employees for imposing their own public policies — while he does exactly that — is lost on him. Meanwhile, Rubio, who does have a functioning brain, has the expression of guy who thought he was being hired to navigate the treacherous seas of international diplomacy, and realizes now he’ll be the guy cleaning up the wet spills on aisle 6. How long will he last?