On Tuesday, Donald Trump gave a press conference out of the Oval Office, joined by his "First Buddy" and anti-federal spending hatchetman Elon Musk — who, looking strikingly worse for wear, became the center of attention for all the wrong reasons.
When Trump handed the stage to Musk to talk about what his so-called Department of Government Efficiency was achieving, the world's richest man stumbled into a strange and rambling monologue, replete with such zingers like "some of the things I say will be incorrect" when a journalist prodded him for spreading blatant misinformation.
But we won't get into the weeds about every eyebrow-raising thing Musk said here.
Instead, let's turn an eye to just how bizarre this whole spectacle is: Musk wearing his "Dark Maga" hat, standing with his antsy four-year-old son for good PR, and who probably shouldn't be there (just ask his mom); Trump doing his best to look patient as he sits at the Resolute desk, head turned as he listens to Elon's intoning, his supposed subordinate looming over him and practically running the whole presser; and back to Musk, who noticeably struggles to finish his trains of thought, often laughing awkwardly — and all this dragged out over thirty agonizing minutes.
"Gravitas can be difficult sometimes," Musk stiffly joked at one point, after being interrupted by his son.
In short, Musk's behavior here is weird. Not even his little kid's adorable antics — and again, why is he there? — can distract from the fact that Musk looks like a fish out of water, wholly unprepared to speak coherently at length about anything. This is a man used to being worshipped at his companies, not someone who's accustomed to having to answer to the public.
And it shows. On multiple occasions, Trump intervenes to get Musk back on track, which neatly sums up their whole testy dynamic.
"And also could you also mention some of the things your team has found?" asked the president, after Musk spent a couple minutes pontificating about the meaning of democracy.
Later, Musk is asked about the serious conflicts of interests he brings as someone who is determining how federal money is spent, because his companies like SpaceX enjoy large government contracts. Tellingly, Musk doesn't deny those conflicts exist, and even says he'll declare any that come up himself, which he has yet to actually do. It's unconvincing stuff.
Then Trump, an experienced public speaker unlike Musk, puts the issue to bed by simply declaring that his administration "wouldn't let" Musk work in areas where there's a conflict of interest. Deftly, Trump pivoted to hammering home claims that DOGE found rampant "fraud and abuse," though of course without evidence.
Needless to say, strange behavior is what we've come to expect from Musk. Before mustering the courage to perform back-to-back Nazi salutes at Trump's post-inauguration party, he looked totally spaced out, twitching his face and eyes like he was high. (Musk has admitted to frequently taking ketamine.)
We'll end by highlighting how Musk vowed that he'd be "as transparent as possible" regarding his actions at DOGE. So far, it's been anything but; he and his team of twenty-something lieutenants, themselves not subject to standard background checks, have gained access to federal systems and data in a way that critics argue is unconstitutional.
Musk can't hide from the cameras, though, and this showing provided a candid look at a man struggling to explain what it is he actually does for the government, or the American people. So far, what little transparency we've been afforded has looked equal parts damning and absurd.
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