Today in Politics, Bulletin 146. 6/6/25

… After his feud with Elon Musk yesterday, Fox reported that Trump is getting rid of the Tesla that he allegedly (I don’t believe he paid for it) bought from Musk: “We are told that the Tesla is either going to be given away or sold off.”

… ABC’s Jonathan Karl got Trump on the phone early this morning to ask him about Musk: "You mean the man who has lost his mind?"

… Karl: “He said Musk wants to talk to him, but he's not ready to talk to Musk. People close to Trump have described him as more sad than angry at Musk. One adviser who was with Trump on Thursday night said he seemed ‘bummed’ about the breakup. And that's the way he sounded on Friday morning.”

… Trump then uncharacteristically avoided all media today at the WH and when walking to Marine One to head to Bedminster. Reporters were outside on the WH lawn attempting to talk to him but he bypassed them without saying anything.

… Daily Caller: “WH insiders said Musk had been over-asking and trying to act like a 2nd president. He was being told no a lot, something that caused him to become increasingly irritable over time. Some of those big asks were for specific leaders at the IRS, CIA, and perhaps most notably, NASA. Days before the public implosion, Trump withdrew the nomination of Jared Isaacman, a Musk ally, to run the agency. Sources told the Caller that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

… “Musk regularly argued with Sergio Gor, director of the WH Personnel Office, over staffing. But he also feuded over policy issues. He was kept out of the State Dept by Marco Rubio and his access was limited at the Pentagon. For several weeks, DOGE staffers were active in the Pentagon. But following the news of Musk’s briefing at the Pentagon, which apparently caused significant strife between Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the DOGE staffers mostly dispersed.”

… A senior Trump admin official: “This has been simmering for awhile. No one at the White House likes Elon and while some people like DOGE, no one likes the DOGE monkey minions running around. The way he’s going out is symptomatic of his habits - quite bizarre.”

… Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ): “Everyone needs to pray for peace and unification between these two guys for the good of the country.”

… DOGE staffers also had their desks cleaned out and packed last night in case they were all fired by Trump. One DOGE staffer to Caller last night: “I just got to DOGE HQ. I’m the last man here. The place cleared out as a precaution.”

… James Fishback, who came up with the idea for $5,000 ‘DOGE checks’ to every American early in the admin when Musk was promising $2 trillion in cuts, announced he is stepping away from Musk and DOGE movement because of the things Musk said. He told Politico: “The truth is that Elon set expectations that he relayed to the president, me, and the country that he did not come close to fulfilling. That’s disappointing, but ok. What’s not ok is his baseless personal attacks against President Trump.”

… JD Vance’s silence was deafening yesterday during the Trump-Musk battle, as he has been close to Musk for many years and wants his support when he runs in 2028. He FINALLY made a weak post supporting Trump at 10:28 PM without mentioning Musk: “President Trump has done more than any person in my lifetime to earn the trust of the movement he leads. I'm proud to stand beside him.”

… Vance later posted this absurd statement: "There are many lies the corporate media tells about President Trump. One of the most glaring is that he's impulsive or short-tempered. Anyone who has seen him operate under pressure knows that's ridiculous."

… That is Vance doing the absolute bare minimum to placate Trump without taking sides.

… Mike Johnson on CNBC: "We exchanged text messages yesterday. I spoke with him at length on Monday. That's why the kind of blowup that happened this week was very surprising, disappointing to me. I really like Elon. He's a friend. I've come to truly respect his acumen. But I don't tell my friend Elon how to build rockets, and I wish he wouldn't argue with me about how to craft legislation and pass it."

… Johnson later to Politico on Musk: “I tell you what - do not doubt, do not second guess, and don’t ever challenge Donald Trump.”

… Musk announced today that the results of his online poll are in over whether he should form a 3rd party and 80% of respondents said yes. Musk: “The people have spoken. A new political party is needed in America to represent the 80% in the middle!”

… Trump’s budget director Russ Vought suggested to CNN that Musk better shut his mouth or he risks losing his lucrative govt contracts in the upcoming budget negotiations between the Senate and House: "We recognize that Elon benefits from, and his companies benefit from, the taxpayer dollars. We're trying to put together the best bill for the American people as we possibly can."

… YouGov poll of Republicans on the feud: 28% side with Trump. 8% side with Musk. 52% do not side with either on it.

… Host Brian Kilmeade on Fox & Friends this morning: "The Epstein file thing was way over the top. It's just crazy to say that Trump was in the Epstein files. What are you doing? Sometimes when people get drunk they do crazy things."

… Kilmeade worked with Pete Hegseth for many years, so he should know.

… House Oversight Committee Democrats, citing Musk’s posts about Trump being implicated in the FBI’s Jeffrey Epstein files, formally demanded that FBI director Kash Patel and AG Pam Bondi release all the files and evidence related to the case. They also noted that Bondi promised to release them 3 months ago: "Describe why DOJ has failed to release any additional Epstein documents between February 27, 2025 and present."

… It was a day when all the worst people were fighting, as Alex Jones and MAGA influencer Catturd went at it after Jones agreed with a post that the shooting at Trump’s rally in PA may have been a staged assassination attempt, and the reason why Dep. FBI Dir. Dan Bongino is so stressed out is because he has seen evidence of that and FBI files detailing Trump’s involvement with Jeffrey Epstein.

… Catturd posted to his 3.7 million followers: “What a POS Alex Jones turned out to be - what a fucking fraud. He’s literally implying here that Trump is a pedophile. He’s been silent all day while Trump has been viciously, attacked with lies. I used to respect Alex Jones, but now he’s just a piece of shit fraud. What a fucking sellout.”

… Alex Jones (4.4 million followers) responded: “You are publicly telling verified lies. I never called Trump a pedo. I think you have had a mental breakdown. It’s ok I forgive you. But your mind is like a dirty cat box.”

… Musk responded late last night to Steve Bannon’s call for Trump to invoke the Defense Production Act so the govt can seize SpaceX. Musk posted first that Bannon was a “communist retard” and then a “peak retard.” He then tagged the right-wing troll account ‘Retard Finder’ to go after Bannon’s ‘WarRoom’ podcast account on X.

… Dmitry Novikov, Dept Chair of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, has offered Musk political asylum in Russia if things get too hot for him with Trump: "I think that Musk has a completely different game, so he will not need any political asylum, although if he did, Russia, of course, could provide it."

The end of week that started out a little slow and then got very crazy at the end. Reminder no Bulletin on Saturdays - it is puffin season here in Maine and we are headed out to an island tomorrow where there is a big puffin colony. Next Bulletin will recap the weekend on Sunday night.

If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here.

… Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) was outraged that Giani Singh gave the morning prayer to open Congress. Miller: “It is deeply disturbing that a Muslim was allowed to lead morning prayer this morning in the House.”

… Singh is Sikh, not Muslim. And he was invited by Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew. After intense backlash, including from Republicans, the long-time despicable racist