Dem
47
GOP
53
Let's be fair and balanced here. Elon Musk has done some iffy things (see above) but at least he cares about the people of Ukraine. However, he cares even more about the magnets used to power electric cars. These use rare earth elements with rare names like dysprosium, neodymium, samarium, and terbium. There are 17 rare earths but they are neither rare nor earths. They are found in low concentrations in many places (the low concentration makes it uneconomical to extract them), but in high concentrations in only a few places. Refining them in any concentration causes serious environmental damage. If you have forgotten this previously-not-so-important bit of high school chemistry, here is a short refresher course on rare earths.
Most rare earths now come from China, which doesn't care about the environmental impact of refining them. In a trade war, one pressure point China could apply is cutting off their exports. This would hit the electric car industry very hard. People who care about the fortunes of the electric car industry but who are wary of China are getting nervous. Fortunately, there is another country with large deposits of rare earths in high concentrations: Ukraine. If you see where this is going, you are smarter than the average bear.
Donald Trump, who doesn't know the difference between a piece of samarium and a samovar, is suddenly interested in making a deal with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy: rare earths for weapons. He has no doubt been urged on by someone who can tell erbium from terbium blindfolded. Trump has long said he wants to end the war in Ukraine. However, if making a deal to get valuable rare earths he could give to (some of) his supporters prolongs the war by enabling Ukraine to continue to resist the Russian invasion, well, business is business, and Trump just loves making deals and then bragging about how great they are.
Making such a deal will not make Trump's next meeting with his buddy Vladimir P. go smoother, but again, business comes first, especially if the side effects of the deal include undercutting and weakening China and helping selected supporters. A Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that all the deal would do is make Ukraine pay for the weapons it gets instead of getting them for free. Sounds like sour cerium to us. (V)