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| Elon Musk |
Elon Musk may be the world’s richest man but when it comes to common sense the guy is a pauper.
Following the release of Tesla’s car-crash first-quarter financials, showing a 71 percent plunge in net income, Elon said it's time that he returned to the corporate steering wheel. No kidding.
"Starting early next month, in May, my time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly," Musk said during his April 22 earnings call.
He envisions spending a day or two per week at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, while allocating more time at Tesla.
Musk is making a mistake. One or two days a week at DOGE means that Elon will still be viewed as Donald Trump’s No. 1 hatchet man.
He seems to think that firing federal workers is the way to put the country back on track. But that DOGE work is partly responsible for throwing Tesla off track.
Tesla admitted as much, conceding that the trade fight and “changing political sentiment” will force it to revisit its 2025 sales forecast.
Elon needs to completely sever ties to DOGE now. He also needs to reconsider his opposition to PR. A savvy PR person would have warned Musk that his DOGE work would wind up denting Tesla’s corporate reputation and sales.
Elon should dodge DOGE before its too late for his car company.
PR hero of the month goes to former Pentagon spokesperson John Ullyot for outing the “total chaos” and dysfunction within the top military leaders under the in-over-his-head Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Ullyot’s essay in Politico outed the turmoil under the leadership of the former Fox News talking head.
He was a supporter of Hegseth but jumped ship due to the “full-blown meltdown at the Pentagon,” which is “becoming a real problem for the administration,” he wrote.
Ullyot was a member-in-good-standing in the MAGA movement until he was “exiled” from the cult by Donald J. Trump Jr. after the Politico bombshell.
“This guy is not America First,” Junior posted on social media. “I’ve been hearing for years he works his ass off to subvert my father’s agenda. That ends today. He’s officially exiled from our movement.”
That sounds a bit far-fetched. Ullyot served as Deputy Assistant to President Trump and National Security Council spokesperson. He worked to counter Chinese Communist Party aggression, deter Iran and eliminate ISIS.
Ullyot also was Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the department's chief communications officer. The Marine Corps veteran was a senior advisor to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.
He is a more than credible witness of the Pentagon's meltdown under Hegseth, who may be one day remembered largely for the 16 videos and photos that he posted on X, showing him working out with members of the military.
That shows where Hegseth's priorities are.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s short-sighted decision to shut down the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation unit is being cheered by Russian propagandists everywhere.
Americans already are being duped by the Russians, according to a NewsGuard survey conducted by YouGov this month.
It found that one third (33.9 percent) of Americans believed at least one false claim being pushed by the Russians.
Republicans were more likely to believe Russian disinformation claims than Democratis. Of GOPers, 57.6 percent identified at least one Russian disinformation claim as true compared to 17.9 percent of Dems.
A whopping 64 percent of Americans fell for the lie pushed by RT, TASS, Novosti and ukraina.ru that the approval rating of Ukraine president Zelensky stood at a paltry four percent. His actual approval numbers are in the 57 percent to 63 percent range.
Rubio’s unilateral surrender in the global information war is going to make a bad situation worse. It's great news for Vladimir Putin and his gang.
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Thomas Jefferson warned about the dangers of an imperial president who would deny an election loss in a bid to cling to power. Sound familiar?... Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says reporters don't need his permisson to take a photo of the Pentagon's 9/11 memorial, as long as they are not on the job... Kirkland and Ellison lawyers need some negotiating tips. 
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