Random Thoughts on Last Night's News

6/28/25

Elon Musk’s Tesla Issues:

Forbes reported that Elon Musk has fired one of his top executives with sales slumping around the world - especially in Europe where it may have suffered permanent brand damage due to the CEO’s toxic right-wing rhetoric and interference in their elections.

Tesla’s Robotaxi, which Musk is counting on to make up for his Spruce Goose 2.0 Cybertruck debacle, has been getting negative reviews online and he refuses to disclose safety data he had to turn over to NHSTA.

Probably the best solution is for Musk to step down as CEO or for the Board to fire him, but he packed the Board with sycophants and his ego likely won’t allow him to resign. Tesla has also been the cash cow to fund his other projects (along with US taxpayer dollars) like SpaceX, his AI company Grok, Neuralink, and of course X (formerly Twitter), and he won’t give up control voluntarily.

Musk has certainly scaled back his rhetoric and political activity since his spat with Trump and exit from the WH, but everyone knows where he stands and it isn’t on the side of many of his former Tesla buyers.

Ron Desantis’s Alligator Alcatraz:

Lame duck governor Ron Desantis continues to desperately find a way to revive his failing political career, and has thrown some red meat to MAGA hoping to win back their approval after he burned bridges by running against Trump. What better way than to build an El Salvador-style concentration camp in the FL Everglades?

The camp is now open and Desantis is eager to fill up the facility in the swamp with migrants so he and other Republicans can use it for photo ops and Fox-ready video clips. Kristi Noem was on Fox last night talking about it, and she hasn’t been this happy since she shot her dog because he was untrainable for hunting.

Desantis also chose the name after Trump announced that he was going to reopen Alcatraz prison in SF Bay for migrants, then learned that the cost of doing so and the logistics made it unworkable. So Desantis created a new Alcatraz in the swamps, where trying to escape will likely make people alligator or anaconda food.

This isn’t going to revive Lame Duck Ron’s career though. His wife Casey is unable to run to succeed him as planned because of her charity fraud and Trump’s early endorsement of Byron Donalds. JD Vance has a commanding lead in the 2028 primary polling which is only likely to widen.

But Repulsive Ron did finally get back on Fox a few times, which has made him the happiest he has been since he sued Disney. There will not be an open Senate seat in FL, so maybe he can become a Fox host where he can put his charisma and likability to the test.

Iran Nuclear Fiasco:

It seems clear that the US and Israel did not destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities. Its enriched uranium was reportedly moved to a site that was not bombed, and centrifuges are scattered around the country at various sites. So there is really only 4 solutions:

1. A negotiated resolution similar to an Obama nuke deal - highly unlikely at this point. Iran is no longer in the mood to continue negotiations, kicked out all international inspectors, turned off monitoring cameras at facilities, and Trump last night denied a report that the US is trying to negotiate with Iran.

2. Popular uprising leading to regime change. Trump also called for this on Truth Social, which was naive and silly. The regime has been in power for 40 years and is deeply embedded into every aspect of the society and culture.

3. Resume bombings. A likely scenario, but the problem is this is likely to be less effective than before since Iran has taken every possible measure to secure and hide their capabilities and arrested hundreds who were suspected of spying and targeting for the Israelis and US. This would also make Trump look foolish after insisting repeatedly that everything has been “completely obliterated” already.

4. Declare victory and pretend they don’t have nukes anymore. Maybe the most likely scenario for Trump, but this certainly won’t satisfy the Israelis who may resume bombings on their own.

The Big Bloated Budget Disaster:

With the Senate set to vote this weekend on a budget that will explode the deficit to record levels while making dramatic cuts to things like Medicaid and renewable energy initiatives so billionaires and huge corporations can get tax cuts, a new Fox poll - which they broadcast last night - showed just 38% agree with the bill and 59% disapprove of it. It is certainly big, but voters are not finding it all that beautiful.

The Senate Parliamentarian did Republicans a favor by stripping out several of the most odious things from the package, with outraged House Republicans who continue to call on John Thune to fire her (he won’t), but there is still plenty for people to not like. When people feel the brunt of this when it takes effect, and the bond market sees the final deficit numbers, the economy is likely to get even worse than the putrid Q1 that Trump engineered with his tariff madness.

Whatever they pass then goes back to the House, where things are expected to get really nasty next week between the two Chambers as they scramble to meet Trump’s July 4 deadline when he wants to do a big signing on a day when most Americans aren’t interested in partisan politics.

Today is Day 77 of “90 trade deals in 90 days”. Still no new deals, but lots of concepts of deals are in the works.