Emperor of Mars: The Official Elon Musk Thread

[SGR]

'The Daily Show' accepts Musk's terms for interview with Stewart: 'We'd be delighted'

This should be entertaining (if Elon doesn't puss out). 

[SGR]

[Lexi Darling]

Of course he doesn't list the white supremacy as one of the bad things about the nazis. And conveniently doesn't mention the reason for the genocides they committed.

Concerning!

[Buck_Mulligan]

They are now being called Nazimobiles...

NEARLY 300 GATHER TO PROTEST ELON MUSK AT TESLA DEALERSHIP: Nearly 300 protesters gathered outside the Tesla dealership in Owings Mills on Saturday, waving homemade signs as drivers slowly passed by beeping their horns in a show of support. Demonstrators gathered outside Tesla stores across the U.S. on Saturday to protest the automaker's billionaire CEO, Elon Musk, and his push to slash government spending on behalf of President Donald Trump. Eileen Holliday/The Baltimore Banner.

[Buck_Mulligan]

Tesla February sales in EU continue to decline down 43% YTD, Germany 70% YTD.

https://electrek.co/2025/03/05/tesla-tsla-sales-crash-continues-in-europe-with-germany-down-70/

[Buck_Mulligan]

More bad news for Elon...Feb Chinese sales down 49%. BYD China BEV sales up 93%, Xpeng up 570%
The numbers are bit confusing because they don't always compare like with like, but I think I've adjusted them correctly. BEV to BEV, excluding NEV (hybrid). The headline says BYD up 160% but that includes NEV.

Tesla shares down 30% since December high.

https://cleantechnica.com/2025/03/05/tesla-sales-in-china-tumble-49-in-february/

https://cleantechnica.com/2025/03/04/byd-new-energy-vehicle-sales-jump-161/

[Trollheart]

Someone went by in a Tesla yesterday. I gave them the finger in my mind, then realised that was pretty stupid: it's not their fault. They probably bought the car long before all this started, and of course you can't assume every person who buys one of his cars is aligned with his views. Still, I'd be happy to see his company go out of business.

[Buck_Mulligan]

February Tesla sales in OZ down 72%

Canadian authorities are said to be looking into a claim for rebates by a Tesla branch just before incentives were terminated.
At face value the claim implies that the branch sold about 4,000 vehicles in one weekend. Oops!

[Lisnaholic]

Is Trump reining in Musk after a cabinet showdown with secretaries?  https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpwd1722yr2o

In a heated debate, Trump supported the Cabinet leaders at the expense of Musk. I wonder how secure Musk's future is going to be? I have a feeling that once Trump has used Musk to do so much unpopular cutting back of Federal agencies, Trump may cut him lose. Here's my analogy for SGR: to Trump's way of thinking, the Federal agencies are like a dirty bum, which Trump has wiped clean with Elon Musk. But although toilet paper serves a useful purpose, nobody wants to keep it around after they're done with it.

If my theory is correct, we'll be seeing these headlines in quick succession:

Musk Relieved of All Responsibilities He Never Had.

Trump says he "hardly knew" Musk

Trump "never met" Musk: blames AI for photos of them together

Musk - "probably Antifa plant" to discredit Trump admin

[Psy-Fi]

[Buck_Mulligan]

WaPo...

Anger at Elon Musk turns violent with molotov cocktails and gunfire at Tesla lots
More than a dozen violent or destructive acts have been directed at Tesla facilities since President Donald Trump's inauguration, according to court documents, surveillance photographs, police records and local media reports reviewed by The Washington Post. As Elon Musk has rocketed to prominence as Trump's best-known supporter, his electric vehicle company has faltered. Its stock has fallen by more than 35 percent since the inauguration on Jan. 20

[jimmy jazz]

https://x.com/SethAbramson/status/1898468089970201085?t=GXPyKR_chMkpEtsqiA08Qg&s=19

Lol.

[SGR]

Is Trump reining in Musk after a cabinet showdown with secretaries?  https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpwd1722yr2o

In a heated debate, Trump supported the Cabinet leaders at the expense of Musk. I wonder how secure Musk's future is going to be? I have a feeling that once Trump has used Musk to do so much unpopular cutting back of Federal agencies, Trump may cut him lose. Here's my analogy for SGR: to Trump's way of thinking, the Federal agencies are like a dirty bum, which Trump has wiped clean with Elon Musk. But although toilet paper serves a useful purpose, nobody wants to keep it around after they're done with it.

If my theory is correct, we'll be seeing these headlines in quick succession:

Musk Relieved of All Responsibilities He Never Had.

Trump says he "hardly knew" Musk

Trump "never met" Musk: blames AI for photos of them together

Musk - "probably Antifa plant" to discredit Trump admin

I wouldn't put too much stock into this little spat between Musk and Rubio (and/or other secretaries) myself. At least not in terms of it being a reliable or strong indicator that there is some fundamental dysfunction/division that will either only grow or get worse between Musk/Cabinet secretaries. Even within Trump's cabinet alone (without Musk), there are a fair number of people who have quite different ideas about government and how things should be done. RFK Jr, Gabbard, Bessent, Burgum, etc. Rubio himself I think comes from more of the neoconservative lineage of the GOP - downstream from Reagan (who he invoked every chance he had in the 2016 primaries) - the Paul Ryans, the John Boehners, etc. I'm surprised something like this didn't spring up earlier, to be honest. Musk has inevitably been an additional wrench thrown into the works that the Cabinet secretaries need to get done. Personality/ego clashes like this, at this level of governance seem due, and it's probably a good thing Rubio did it. Being the first is never easy, but now that Rubio has done it, that should be a confidence booster for other cabinet secretaries when they too feel they need to draw a line somewhere, especially because Trump has seemingly given them (and Rubio) his support in the matter.

Ultimately though, reading the article, it sounds like Trump wants the same goals to be achieved regardless, he's just deciding who gets priority in pulling away the government trough - and if the government trough doesn't get pulled, the next man up (Elon) will pull it regardless - in reality, maybe that buys the secretaries more say in who and what gets cut, but ultimately, the message seems to be "You better not show up with nothing to cut":

Speaking in the Oval Office after the meeting, Trump said cabinet members should decide who to cut, but if they didn't, Musk would do the job.

"I had a meeting, and I said I want the cabinet members to go first", Trump said. "And if they can cut it's better, if they don't cut, then Elon will do the cutting."

I'm sure you know this, but DOGE is planned to be in place until (if memory serves) mid 2026. I'm guessing you're suggesting that Elon/DOGE will be discarded (sacraficed at the altar of political convenience) before that. I'd say it's possible, but only if the the popularity/approval of DOGE and the cuts tank before then. You mention 'unpopular cutting of Federal agencies', but right now, the measures still seem to be overall popular with a combined 56% of Republican/Democrat voters saying Elon/DOGE's influence over gov't spending should be 'some' or 'a lot':



Numbers obviously could change - and if Elon/DOGE start going after & cutting people's entitlements, then I'd agree with you - they may ultimately need to be cut and discarded prematurely.

Knowing a bit about Elon's childhood, I have a somewhat unsubstantiated idea that Elon and Trump have a weird symbiotic relationship - the tip off was how much personal time Elon was spending at Mar-A-Lago after the election and interacting with Trump and his family (almost like he felt he belonged) - and I think this relationship is more emotional for Elon and more practical for Trump - but Elon had a neglectful childhood, specifically with his father. I think Elon sees Trump as a father figure he never really had - someone (who is right around his father's age) who has a grand platform to tell everyone how proud he is of Elon, and how smart and how great Elon is. Of course, it's just a theory, but a large driver of this for Elon could simply be that he really desires (because he never had it) that approval and 'attaboy' from an older father figure, which Trump is more than happy to provide as Elon helps advance his political goals.

[tristan_geoff]

saw graffiti the other day saying "Musk has your SSN"

the fact that there isn't greater backlash or chatter over this is deeply concerning

[Lisnaholic]

^ Yep, tristan ! To me, that lack of outrage illustrates the success of Bannon's "flood the zone" approach*: there's just too much for US citizens to be outraged about.
(* And shout-out again to Lexi for his correct prediction that Project 2025 would be implemented in a second Trump term.)
__________________________

Of course we're both guessing about the future, SGR, so Musk's political fortunes could go either way.

Thanks for the detailed info about Cabinets past and present - though I'm not so happy at your use of a term like "pulling away the government trough" as if you've bought into the propaganda that Federal workers are getting fat on a diet of waste, fraud and tax-payer dollars. Are there any stats about waste and fraud ? The cuts I hear about (park rangers, FAA, NOAA, etc.) will surely have the effect of making ordinary US lives less pleasant/safe, cranking up unemployment and perhaps triggering an economic recession - all those side effects suggesting that they weren't waste or fraud after all, but were valuable supports to the quality of life in the USA. Actually, the process of cutting away useful, even essential services, then trying to reinstate them has been the only waste of govt funds that I've heard about recently.

I'm also not entirely happy about your reading of those popularity statistics:

You mention 'unpopular cutting of Federal agencies', but right now, the measures still seem to be overall popular with a combined 56% of Republican/Democrat voters saying Elon/DOGE's influence over gov't spending should be 'some' or 'a lot':

If we read from the top, enthusiastic, "a lot" line of the table, the 56 there is actually 56 votes out of 200, which is really 28%
For the sake of my argument, it suits me to leave aside the fudgey "some/not much" lines and focus on:-
The bottom, "none" line of the table, which shows 60 votes out of 200, or  30%
So my take away from those stats is that the legally non-existent DOGE and the unelected Musk are already not particularly popular, even though the full impact of their cuts has barely begun to hit America.

( And also, thanks for the insight into those Trump/Musk childhoods; I'll leave you to imagine how much sympathy I have for those poor little rich boys. )