Dem
47
GOP
53
We had an item yesterday about Elon Musk's departure from the Trump administration, and how the South African is trying to salvage his influence and his reputation on the way out. Neither effort is going well, as is indicated by additional news from the past few days.
Let's start with influence. There appears to be something of a purge of Muskovites underway (at least, some of the prominent ones). By virtue of his interest in SpaceX, Musk took a great interest in the question of who would run NASA. And Donald Trump granted that patronage to his billionaire benefactor, nominating Musk's pick, Jared Isaacman. However, over the weekend, the President yanked the nomination. The explanation was that the White House had taken a closer look, and was unhappy about Isaacman's "past associations." Hmmmm... hard to imagine what "past associations" those might be.
Similarly, Musk isn't the only prominent DOGEy to be leaving his post. Steve Davis, who has worked for Musk for years, and who was responsible for day-to-day operations at DOGE, is quitting, as is James Burnham, DOGE's top attorney. Also headed out the door is... Katie Miller, wife of Stephen, who is going to work for Musk full-time. And for those who like their political news with a dash of salaciousness, we'll pass along the Internet rumor that Miller is now in a romantic relationship with Musk, possibly with her husband's approval, possibly not. There does not seem to be any real foundation for this rumor, other than idle speculation. Well, that and people who have noticed that Musk's black eye was his right one, and that Stephen Miller is... left-handed.
Meanwhile, Musk's reputation continues to take a beating. At this point, many readers will have seen The New York Times article that accuses the billionaire of abusing drugs, particularly Ketamine and Adderall. This was an open not-so-secret, but once the paper of record reports it, it's out there for all to see.
Much more damning, The Times (that's the British one, not the New York one) was the first to report on an ongoing study by Brooke Nichols, who teaches in the Department of Public Health at Boston University. She has crunched the numbers and says that Musk's USAID cuts have already led to the deaths of 300,000 people, the great majority of them children. That works out to about one death every 3 minutes since Donald Trump returned to the White House, and there's no reason to think that pace will slow. It is also horrifying (which is the word that Nichols herself uses).
To try to heighten awareness of the harm that Musk and Trump have done here, Nichols has created an online tracker that shows the total deaths (210,629 children, 100,940 adults as of 2:30 a.m. PT), and also breaks the deaths down by cause (for example, Nichols estimates that 59,762 children have died of malnutrition already, and that 167,923 will die by the end of the year). The Times (the New York one) picked up on the news, and ran an item yesterday headlined: "Elon Musk's Legacy Is Disease, Starvation and Death."
Even if one is not an adherent, it is hard not to recall Mark 10:25: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." One can only hope this callous behavior becomes, and remains, an anchor around the necks of both Musk and Trump, perhaps even into the next plane of existence. (Z)