Incidents can be contrived without any need for high intelligence.
Donald has been jonesing for Martial Law for a while, now. Protesters have been inconveniently peaceful (not to mention white).
Los Angeles has been close to becoming a center of protest for a couple of weeks at least. Having a Big Blowup with Elon was convenient to keeping people’s minds off Donald’s M.L. wishes. (And a lot of video of tanks being shipped to D.C. were ignored in favor of Don/Elon memes in recent days.)
A distraction does NOT require a high IQ or multilayered conspiracies to come into existence. Dumb people use them, too.
You’re kidding, right? A guy who routinely makes up insulting nicknames for others could NOT possibly ever expect to be insulted in turn???
Donald loves the drama of public feuds. Full stop.
Uh, yes, he would absolutely not expect it and absolutely would be infuriated by anyone who does. 100% he feels entitled to be completely immune from what he dishes out, and those who break that expectation have NO RIGHT to do so, ever.
“Fuck YOUR feelings. But MY feelings are sacred and must be treated like the delicate crystal they are all the time by all the people.”
It’s a huge reason we’re in this mess to begin with.
For someone who delights in insulting others, and referring to people he doesn’t like with childish, belittling nicknames, Trump has a paper-thin skin, and gets intensely angry when anyone dares to insult him in return. I’m pretty sure he’s still pissed at the guys from Spy Magazine for nicknaming him “the short-fingered vulgarian,” and that was nearly 40 years ago.
I’ve seen (in person) two psychotic episodes directly linked to drug use (LSD in both cases, plus super-potent cannabis in one).
I’ve used illegal substances, I have had bad trips, but I never went psychotic.
I’m also not a medical expert, but Musk is starting to sound very much like how an aquaintance of mine started thinking he was Jesus, and that another friend was Mary Magdalene.
In short: insane, but overconfident. It is as if he takes some cocaine with his ketamine.
I’d grant though that he may have been aware of the drug use in general making Elon act weird every so often, but not expecting these sorts of outbursts — from Trump’s POV nobody does things not in their own profitable interest so it’s like “why would he be daring me to actually hurt him?(*) He must have taken too much or the wrong kind of whatever he’s on.”
( * because of course nobody disagrees with Trump on principle, everyone is only looking to be nasty to him and needs to be put in their place )
One reason for uncertainty: Tesla revenue is about ten times more than SpaceX, or at least it was last year. And Musk needs to keep distancing himself from Trump to have hope of reviving Tesla sales.
I don’t think he could ever now distance himself from Trump sufficient to undo anything more than a small percentage of the damage. His name is poison with Tesla’s key market and always will be.
I think Tesla’s best hope is that Musk sells his stake and Tesla promotes itself as no longer having any association with him.
Nothing in what I said states or implies that Donald has a thick skin. Of course he’s the most fragile snowflake ever.
But that has never stopped him from getting into it with others. One feud after another after another—it’s his much-loved hobby, and he thinks he profits by it. He thinks it makes others admire him (and sadly he’s absolutely correct that a certain proportion of humans adore bullies).
Of course Donald would willingly get into it with Elon. Donald confidently expected two things—that both look as though they’ll be proven true:
Elon wouldn’t ever say anything Donald actually can’t stand to hear. Elon has not said a word about Donald’s likely dementia (just like Fred’s!) or about Donald’s combover or about Donald’s fat ass. Not one word. Nothing about Donald’s being Putin’s poodle. Nothing about Donald having to be bailed out AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN from his business-stupidity. None of those things, or anything else from the list of Donald’s greatest vulnerabilities.
Donald will win. Donald will prevail and Elon will cave; Donald’s reputation will soar and Elon will bow down in fealty.
Not so sure about this - Musk said Trump wouldn’t have won without Musk’s money.
The idea that Trump needs help to win elections and can’t do it based purely on his Personal Greatness infuriates him. His major gripe with the accusation he had corruptly received help in winning from Russia was not the accusation of corruption but the idea he needed help.
Days after the very public breakup of President Trump and his former adviser Elon Musk, the latter appears to be doing damage control.
“I regret some of my posts about President [Trump] last week,” Musk posted on X, his social media platform, just after 3 a.m. ET on Wednesday. “They went too far.”
Trump has been active on social media early Wednesday, but has not responded publicly to Musk’s apology.
However, in a previously recorded podcast interview with the New York Post that aired on Wednesday morning, Trump said he had “no hard feelings” towards Musk.
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