It's like a genie curse how a man so clearly desperate to be liked has ended up hated by absolutely everyone https://t.co/yRnVAvCHmO
— Fentanyl Tsar ?????? (@canderaid) June 6, 2025
We have a new definition for “defining deviancy down” https://t.co/ymJSK188K2
— Michael A. Cohen (NOT TRUMP’S FORMER FIXER) (@speechboy71) June 5, 2025
Senator Professor Warren brings some receipts, via Rolling Stone — “Elon Musk’s Reign of Corruption Chronicled in Elizabeth Warren Report”:
As Elon Musk departs the Trump White House — at least officially — a new Senate report examines how the world’s richest man leveraged his access to the levers of federal power to boost his myriad personal businesses, including his electric vehicle company Tesla, aerospace contractor SpaceX, social media platform X, and brain-chip firm Neuralink.
Musk is leaving his post as a “special government employee” — a status that limited his stint in the executive branch to 130 days. As Donald Trump made clear in a press conference, where he gave Musk a “key” to the White House, the billionaire’s influence will live on, as will his crusade against his own regulators.
Issued by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the report is titled “Special Interests Over the Public Interest: Elon Musk’s 130 Days in the Trump Administration” and features a list of 130 actions by Musk, his companies, and family members that “raise questions about corruption, ethics, and conflicts of interest.”
Musk, of course, was Trump’s biggest benefactor in the 2024 campaign, spending nearly $300 million to put Trump and Republican candidates into office. He then camped out at Mar-a-Lago during the presidential transition and moved to Washington with the 47th president. At times appearing to be the nation’s true chief executive, Musk commanded the forces of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and sent critical agencies like USAID (the U.S. Agency for International Development) through the “woodchipper,” likely condemning millions of vulnerable people across the globe to death by preventable diseases…
The Warren report divides its list into 15 categories, which Rolling Stone can exclusively preview below:1. White House Promotion …
2. Lucrative Contracts …
3. Stymied Investigations…
4. Hobbled Oversight…
5. Policy Perks…
6. Special Access…
7. A Personal Deep State…
8. “Personal Parochial Interests”…
9. Intimidation Campaign…
10. “Weaponizing” Federal Power…
11. “Influence-Peddling in Congress”…
12. Piggyback Deals…
13. All in the Family…
14. Judicial Meddling…
15. “Maximum Transparency” — Denied…
PDF of the full report at the link.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Joni Ernst must be thanking her lucky stars
Baud
When Elon goes low, Donald Trump does high.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Gee, if only there were a separate but equal branch of government to look into and stop such abuses of power…
RepubAnon
@Baud: perhaps “when Elon gets high, Trump goes lower?”
Old School
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
A senator did look into it, but stopping it is still an issue.
Aziz, light!
I’ll wager a food cart pad thai with extra bean sprouts that none of Musk’s government contracts will be cancelled, none of the oversight he flushed will be restored, he will not be deported, and he will scale back his threats. I’m also confident that “investors” will move Tesla stock back to where it was without respect to the company’s earnings. DOD and NASA can’t live without SpaceX, so that won’t be touched.
Lacuna Synecdoche
via Anne Laurie @ Top:
Jeepers. Third in a two-way poll.
That’s gotta be discouraging.
cain
@Lacuna Synecdoche:
I’m sure catturd2 is worth a lot percentage wise.
rk
If Trump had even a fraction of a brain he could destroy Musk. I’m sure the Doge boys broke numerous laws, so he should have his minions look into that. Then go after Elon’s illegal drug use and finally go over his naturalization process with a fine tooth comb. The last step should be to haul him off to El Salvador in the middle of the night. No money can save Elon from government abuse of power. Just look at all the rich guys who fell out of windows in Putin’s Russia.
But since this is Trump, I expect him to start calling Elon a nice guy any minute now.
Parfigliano
Nice turd polishing job by the CNN “reporter”
cain
@rk:
That would be one hell of a leopard eating faces moment if Musk was deported/exiled. (I thought he was not a citizen?) I’m sure if that happened he can join the million man Afrikaans migration to the U.S.
Josie
My answer to any Republican hating on Musk is to take another look at the man who decided he was great, hired him, and gave him carte blanche to rampage through the halls of the federal government.
Suzanne
I’m so grateful to Senator Professor Warren for her work. Love her.
Timill
@cain: Per wiki, naturalized in 2002
“Born to a wealthy family in Pretoria, South Africa, Musk emigrated in 1989 to Canada. He received bachelor’s degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997 before moving to California, United States, to pursue business ventures. In 1995, Musk co-founded the software company Zip2. Following its sale in 1999, he co-founded X.com, an online payment company that later merged to form PayPal, which was acquired by eBay in 2002. That year, Musk also became a American citizen.”
Suzanne
@Timill: I remember reading that Bannon (and others, probably) believe there was some false pretense or lie in Elmo’s visa at one point, which they seem to think would invalidate his citizenship.
JoyceH
Post has an article about how the administration is trying to hire back a lot (a LOT) of the employees that DOGE fired. Turns out they really needed them.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@JoyceH:
This is classic Edolf. Anybody who’s followed the EV world knows this.
Last year he fired the entire Tesla Supercharger team only to bring a small portion of them back. And he’s done that repeatedly over the years.
trollhattan
June 14 events for California.
Marc
@Suzanne: There’s nothing mysterious about it. Musk was here on a student visa at University of Pennsylvania, did not graduate, then started Zip2 while allegedly attending grad school at Stanford (where he also did not get a degree). The only reason he has a degree from Penn was that the other PayPal founders essentially bought it for him.
Suzanne
@Marc: So…. would that invalidate his citizenship, or give a judge grounds to revoke it? That’s what I don’t understand. It would seem logical to me that violating the terms of one’s visa could result in loss of the visa, but I don’t know about consequences beyond that.
Marc
@trollhattan: June 14 events for California.
Oakland: 12:45 – 2:45pm at Wilma Chan Park, 810 Jackson St., next to Lake Merritt BART.
Marc
@Suzanne: He was apparently in violation of immigration laws several times before he got citizenship. The chances are good that he lied on both his visa and citizenship applications, which would be easy to verify if anyone cared. And, these days, that’s grounds to get deported for us normal humans.
Baud
Isn’t there a question on the immigration form that requires you to affirm that you’re not a Nazi?
Eyeroller
@Marc: Musk never got any kind of graduate degree. His student visa was to attend Stanford as an undergrad. That got him into Silicon Valley, but he never attended a single class. Then when it was realized whoopsie, maybe he’d better say he’d been a student, he mysteriously and magically got a degree from UPenn. I don’t think it was Wharton (even the undergrad) but I believe it’s allegedly in economics.
matt
I found this video about Ukraine’s flat-pack cardboard drones to be pretty interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ckYz616rEc
Marc
You should see the “stealth” flying wing surveillance drones I make out of Dollar Store foam core boards ;)
Suzanne
@Marc: The guys who do the Know Your Enemy podcast did a two-hour deep dive into Elmo, and they discussed this to an extent. They both loathe him and it was a fun listen. Recommended.
Jeffro
But second in Katie Miller’s heart!
(after herself)
Jeffro
MORE OF THIS, DEMS!
God I love Liz Warren!!
Anyway, this is EXACTLY the kind of thing Dems should be doing from now ’til the midterms: LIST THE CRIMES. NAME NAMES.
And after the midterms…’appoint’ a shadow Cabinet of our best and brightest to help heighten the contrast and focus the attacks.
Marc
@Eyeroller: I’m not surprised my version is a bit muddled, but the reality is that he he was already in intentional violation of immigration rules within a few months of arriving here. If he had answered truthfully on his citizenship papers, he should have been banned for life from entering the US.
sherparick
Slightly off topic, but with the same thread of “resistance,” today is the last day to comment on on the proposed Scheduled F, e.g. the plan to Trumpify the Federal Civil Service. You can go to this site to make comments. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/04/23/2025-06904/improving-performance-accountability-and-responsiveness-in-the-civil-service
Eyeroller
@Marc: He lied on his naturalization application when he swore he’d never overstayed (or I presume otherwise violated) a visa. He should be denaturalized, but he’s too rich.
Edit: I think there might have been ways to fix that, especially since he already had a lot of money and could have hired top lawyers, but it would have required leaving the country for at least a few and possibly several years. He didn’t want to do that.
Gretchen
@Suzanne: supposedly Musk came to the US on a student visa but never took classes and instead pursued business.
Matt McIrvin
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: “You can always put it back!” This is Musk’s MO: slash and burn everything, then when it starts to fail, put just enough back to keep the whole organization from tipping over. Wait for the survivors to call you a genius.
trollhattan
Well heck. End of an era for the metroplex. I cycle past the plant frequently and always like the aroma when they’re roasting. As to the workers, enjoy Turloch? Salida? Ugh.
It occupies 53 acres next to the American River and downtown. Wrangling over future land use will be interesting.
sixthdoctor
ABC reports Kilmar Abrego Garcia is being returned to the United States to face criminal charges.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/mistakenly-deported-kilmar-abrego-garcia-back-us-face/story?id=121333122
Chetan Murthy
@sixthdoctor: Oh wow. This is great news! Thank you so much for finding this.
Now let’s see if these charges are for real. Haha, I have my doubts. Or as Daniel Davies says (in his 1-minute MBA): “Fibbers’ forecasts are worthless”.
TEL
@sixthdoctor: Well I’ll happily take any good news at this point!
I’m wondering how successful Trump’s going to be at canceling government funding to California. Clearly unconstitutional, but that’s not stopping him trying anywhere else. Does it go to court, with the 9th circuit putting a stay on it so Trump’s shitty lawyers try to argue it in front of the Supreme Court a few months from now? I genuinely don’t know how targeting an entire state works.
Baud
@sixthdoctor:
Good. The national interest with his case is in due process.
Scout211
@sixthdoctor: From your link:
Huh? Seems sus. But of course it does.
But wait, there’s more.
They said the magic words! MS-13.
KrackenJack
@sherparick:
On the website it says: “Comments must be received on or before May 23, 2025.”
Spanky
@sixthdoctor: Oooh! Oooh! Pick me for the jury!
NaijaGal
@Marc: From a 2022 Daily Pennsylvanian (student newspaper) article, Musk did attend UPenn as an undergraduate and was an economics and physics major. His student visa lapsed at some point, which is where the immigration falsification issues come into play. His mother is Canadian (and maternal grandfather was a Canadian who deeply approved of apartheid and moved his family to South Africa to enjoy it). If he gets deported it will likely be to Canada where a wildly popular petition to strip him of Canadian citizenship failed because that’s not legal. He’d have to renounce his Canadian citizenship, I believe.
Matt McIrvin
@TEL: It can’t be a bill of attainder if it’s not a bill! We’re making new chapters of Schoolhouse Rock as we speak
cain
@sixthdoctor:
Criminal charges – right, so they want to continue to besmirch his good name so that they can send him back there. Don’t think this is that good – he should return and that’s it. But they are bringing him back so they can slap fed charges on him, convict him and then send him back.
Chetan Murthy
@Matt McIrvin: Since the courts are totes OK with him impounding arbitrary govt monies [contra some Act of Congress that forbids that precise thing], I suppose he can do it based on that “authority.”
Chetan Murthy
@cain: Oh come now, surely you agree that AG Pam Bondi would only act in good faith and prosecute only those suspects for whom she deems there’s probable cause they’ve committed the charged crimes, don’t you? don’t you? don’t you?
NaijaGal
@Aziz, light!: Sadly, I think you’re right. Unless Steve Bannon has more juice than I think he has (i.e., suddenly becomes a multi-billionaire and throws more money than Musk at Trump).
Rudi666
Musk was here on a student visa. He dropped out of grad school to pursue bushiness ventures. He violated his student visa, so he could have been deported back then.
different-church-lady
“Finally getting rid of the guy he put in charge of everything makes Trump a genius” has to go in the Brazen-Ass Shit Hall of Fame. They really really really believe the American public is dumber than a box of rocks that have been busted up by a bag of hammers, and they’re probably right.
Chetan Murthy
@different-church-lady: The news meda is ignoring the substantive issues and focusing on the hair-pulling. Atrios had an astute take: https://www.eschatonblog.com/2025/06/personalities.html
It’s only slightly interesting, b/c what really matters is the substantive damage they’re both doing to our Republic and our people.
BlueGuitarist
There are about 50 unite for veterans rallies today, including one in DC sponsored by AFL-CIO, featuring Dropkick Murphys, on now in the live-stream on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/live/BFXqb3IVf3s?si=qpfMvRHgF3yVFIRF
eta: looks like performance just ended, scroll back about 35 minutes for performance
June 14: No Kings protests nationwide.
NaijaGal
@Chetan Murthy: That’s why Elizabeth Warren’s efforts to document the corruption and damage are important and others should do the same for the duration of this administration. There will eventually be a day of reckoning.
The rebuilding will take a long time but it’s important to know who did what and how they did it to design a system that ensures it can’t happen again. The Trumpification rules for the federal workforce actually make it easier to purge Trumpers once he’s gone* from office.
*I know Republicans and the media are all acting like he’s going to live (and be president) forever.
Chetan Murthy
@NaijaGal: 100% agree with you. Elon vs. Trump is amusing, sure/sure. But Mr. Abrego Garcia and the many other immigrants (a good percentage of whom were completely legally here) who were kidnapped and sent to a foreign gulag — that’s what matters. Among many other things.
It is an -enormous- relief that Mr. Abrego Garcia is coming back. Sure, to stand trial, and I’m sure the govt is going to put their finger on the scale. But at least, some semblance of rule of law is happening.
Splitting Image
@Scout211:
Typical copaganda.
The correct phrasing would be:
Among those transported were several alleged members of the Salvadoran gang MS-13, sources familiar with the investigation said.
There is no dispute that they were transported. Whether or not they were members of a gang is what is open to question. The point of due process, which they skipped, is to determine whether or not those allegations are true. If the alleged gang members didn’t have their day in court, they are to be presumed innocent, and therefore not gang members. That is the way it is supposed to work.
TONYG
@rk: Donnie is a make-believe rich guy and a make-believe tough guy. He’s ultimately the pampered little boy that he was 70 years ago. A pathetic little man.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@TEL:
I guess all of that embarrassing sucking up by Newsom did absolutely nothing. What a shock!
Timill
@Splitting Image: I would say there’s plenty of doubt about all of it including the transportation…
Matt McIrvin
@different-church-lady: This went on through Trump’s whole first term: Trump kept declaring that nearly everyone he hired was an incompetent, disloyal psycho, while failing to introspect for a moment about why this seemingly kept happening to him.
artem1s
@Marc:
Most of his visa violations happened before 9/11 when oversight was a lot more lax. That all changed when it turned out most of the the hijackers were here on lapsed student visas. The universities where they were supposed to be studying lost track of them once they dropped out and stopped paying tuition.
FYI, here is a direct link to the PDF report. The article is paywalled.
https://www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/130_days_of_elon_musk_report.pdf
artem1s
@Jeffro:
A jackal posted a link to The Impact Project – don’t remember who.
That’s what I’ve been waiting to see – organized documentation and data gathering.
currawong
I’d be majorly surprised if all of the government systems accessed weren’t busily exporting data via a back door back to Musk controlled data centres