Dem
47
GOP
53
On Monday, we noted that Steve Bannon has declared war on Elon Musk, to the point of promising that "I will get Elon Musk kicked out by the time [Donald Trump] gets inaugurated." That seems a little over-bold, since there's no sign that Musk is going to be cast out of paradise in the next 4 days. However, it's a serious threat to Musk's power within the administration, nonetheless. As we pointed out in the previous piece, Musk's usefulness to Trump has largely come to an end, now that the campaign has been paid for. On top of that, Bannon not only speaks for much of the MAGA base, he also speaks for the billionaire Mercer family, who are key backers of Trump, financially and otherwise. In other words, from the vantage point of the President-elect, it's not "the base" versus "the money." It's more like "the base" and "big money" versus "bigger money." That could make it easier for Trump to ultimately choose in favor of Bannon, especially since Trump is reportedly already annoyed with Musk's pushy and arrogant behavior.
And that is not the end of the adverse news for Musk. Perhaps sensing that his days as a political power broker in the U.S. are coming to a (temporary?) end, the billionaire spent the weekend wading into the thick of U.K. politics. And, as it turns out, his understanding of British civics is even poorer than his understanding of American civics.
Given the South African's newfound penchant for hard-right politics, and his longstanding penchant for bomb-throwing, his extreme-but-unfounded opinions are hardly surprising. He insists that the U.K. is headed for a civil war, despite the fact that the nation is nearly 400 years removed from the last time that happened. Musk wants PM Keir Starmer thrown in prison because Starmer was Director of Public Prosecutions (roughly equivalent to Associate AG in the U.S.) during a time when a bunch of child sex abuse rings were exposed. Musk also closely aligned himself with far-right Brexiteer Nigel Farage through Saturday, but then turned on Farage on Sunday.
Musk barely understands the issues in play in the U.K. right now, and he understands potential "solutions" even less. He has advocated for the U.S. to invade Britain, and to "liberate" its former colonial master. That obviously won't be happening. At times when he was being more "reasonable," Musk has called for Charles III to dissolve parliament and to call for new elections. Needless to say, the king does not have that power, and has not had that power for multiple centuries. It is possible, of course, that all this bloviating is really theater for the benefit of the American public—who knows with Musk these days? In any event, he's become something of a laughingstock across the pond, which he—with his ego the size of Texas—really, really hates.
Meanwhile, back on the American side of the pond, Musk got some unhappy news yesterday, as the SEC filed a lawsuit against him. The billionaire is accused of securities fraud; the claim is that he dragged his feet when reporting his acquisition of a bunch of shares of eX-Twitter, allowing him to acquire even more shares at a reduced price before ultimately purchasing the whole company. The SEC wants him to cough up the $150 million they believe he gained through such chicanery, as well as penalties on top of that.
Needless to say, Musk could write a check for that amount and never miss it. However, he hates, hates, hates to lose and hates, hates, hates to accept blame for anything. So, he is undoubtedly going to fight, fight, fight. If Musk remains on good terms with the Trump administration, then he might be able to pull some strings and get this squashed once the former president is again in office. On the other hand, if Bannon wins the war, and Musk ends up as an outsider and an enemy, the Trump administration might just turn up the SEC heat. That's kinda how Team Trump rolls. (Z)