Whatever DOGE chief Elon Musk intended with his ‘salute’ at a speech Monday at the Capital One Arena, right-wing extremists are embracing it, The Associated Press reports. Musk gave the “straight-arm gesture” after telling the crowd, “I just want to say ‘thank you’ for making it happen,” referring to Donald J. Trump’s election as president.
‘Golden Age’ Without Musk? – DOGE chief/Tesla/SpaceX/Starlink CEO Elon Musk reacted Wednesday to his snub as not being part of the announcement of a “$500 billion” investment in “artificial superintelligence” in US factories that would create 100,000 jobs for Americans by posting on his $44-billion X/Twitter investment, “They don’t actually have the money.”
Fair enough: The announcement took place at the White House with President Trump along with Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son – he of the “artificial superintelligence” quip – with Oracle’s Larry Ellison and Open AI’s Sam Altman. Politico’s afternoon newsletter, Digital Future Daily sorted out this story of how the technoligopoly has decided AI (and not coincidentally, crypto currency) is so very good for our future.
It’s that Altman appearance that must have Musk most vexed.
Musk was an early investor in OpenAI and alleges in a suit filed last summer that he had secured an agreement with the company and founders Altman and Greg Brockman, also named in the suit, that the company would remain a non-profit with an open code. Musk pulled out of OpenAI in 2018 claiming potential conflict-of-interest with Tesla and its self-driving technology. OpenAI last month announced a new structure to become a for-profit company, according to The Verge.
Early in the last administration, Musk was said to break from the Democratic Party because then-President Biden held an electric vehicle “summit” with new EVs from General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Stellantis (ex-Fiat Chrysler), but not Tesla.
But Musk’s skepticism about the $500-billion AI deal is not unfounded. Shortly after Trump 45 took office in 2017, he touted a Foxconn plan to build an LCD screen-making plant in Racine County, Wisconsin that would create 50,000 jobs. Accompanied by then-Gov. Scott Walker (R) and then-House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), Trump called it “the eighth wonder of the world.” (Foxconn had promised a $10-billion investment and 10,000 jobs.)
Five years on, Wisconsin incentives have been cut to $80 million from an initial $2.85 billion, and it produces no phone screens, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
But tech/internet-business journalist Kara Swisher said on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 Wednesday that Musk lashed out against the half-trillion-dollar announcement (coincidentally, just a few billion bucks more than his personal wealth) because “he is not part of it” and said the technoligopolists who appeared at the White House without him could raise that cash “in about four seconds.”
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Forty-six House Democrats joined Republicans Wednesday to pass the Laken Riley Act, 263-156, to impose more severe penalties on undocumented immigrants who commit crimes in the US. It is the first bill to come up for President Trump’s signature, CQ Roll Call reports. The Senate passed the bill last week.
The bill is named for Laken Riley, who at 22 was murdered last year by an undocumented immigrant who had been released after an arrest. After it is signed by the president, the bill will require the secretary of Homeland Security to issue detention for undocumented immigrants arrested or convicted for burglary, theft or shoplifting. An amendment by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) added assault of a police officer to that list of crimes.
--TL
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WEDNESDAY 1/22/25
Keeping Up With Trump 47 – President Trump issued 26 executive orders in the first 24 hours according to Marketplace, in launching his agenda and reversing Biden administration policies as quickly as possible. Yes, it is difficult to keep up, but we will try as we remind you that you are invited to comment, whether as a conservative for the right column, or a liberal for the left column, with an email to editors@thehustings.news.
First up … Trump’s EO ending birthright citizenship has drawn lawsuits from Democratic attorneys general in 18 states, plus San Francisco and Washington, D.C., according to NPR’s Morning Edition.
The AGs site Section 1 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
“We’re the only country in the world that does it, you know,” Trump has countered. “And it’s just absolutely ridiculous. We’ll see. We think we have very good grounds.”
Not on Trump’s assertion that we’re the only country that does it. World Population Review cites 33 countries including the US, plus two territories that have jus soli, or birthright citizenship. Another 32 nations have some form of restricted birthright citizenship, the website says.
Ending DEI … Trump issued a memo placing employees in federal diversity, equity and inclusion programs on paid leave until 5 pm Wednesday, per NPR’s Morning Edition. Agencies have to noon Thursday Eastern time to report on their compliance to the Office of Personnel Management. Agencies must develop a “reduction-in-force action” against the employees, according to Trump’s memo.
Wait for the tariffs … Not so fast, but quickly enough for the president’s favorite word.
“We’re talking about a tariff of 10% on China based on the fact that they’re sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada. Probably February 1 is the date we’re looking at. For Mexico and China we’re talking about approximately, approximately, 25%,” Trump told a press conference Tuesday, Politico reports.
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WHO’s Out First – About eight hours after President Trump was sworn in, he issued an executive order to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization, which will make it harder to fight the pandemic and undermine US standing as a global health leader, critics of Trump’s move told The New York Times.
Trump cited WHO’s “mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the “failure to adopt urgently needed reforms” and a expensive membership payments, higher than what China pays.
The withdrawal will leave the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention without access to global data such as the genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus China handed over to WHO in 2020.
The upshot … So, continue to blame Trump 45’s problems dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which certainly helped him lose re-election that year, on the WHO, which Trump 47 will likely need if/when there is another pandemic in the next four years?
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Meanwhile, in the Boardrooms – Business leaders are “scrambling” to sort out sweeping changes to tax, immigration, trade and energy policies brought on by President Trump’s flurry of executive orders, The Wall Street Journal reports. Among the scramble, JPMorganChase has set up a war room, law firm Fisher Phillips has created an immigration hotline to help its clients deal with potential workplace immigration raids and manufacturers and retailers have teams working to mitigate potential new tariffs.
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Meanwhile, on the Pulpit – The inaugural prayer service at the National Cathedral is not normally a political event. But on Tuesday morning, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, leader of the Episcopal Diocese in Washington said, “I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.”
As President Trump, Vice President Vance and family members looked on, Budde said, “There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some of who fear for their lives.”
Per The New York Times Budde continued that “the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here.”
Later, from the White House, Trump told reporters, “I didn’t think it was a good service, no.”
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Replacing Vance – Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) has appointed Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to replace Sen. JD Vance now that he is vice president, The Columbus Dispatch reports. Elon Musk’s junior partner in the non-governmental Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was reportedly interested in the appointment, but dropped out of contention and will run for Ohio governor in 2026, instead.
Husted is expected to run for the Senate seat in the November 2026 elections, winner of which would serve the rest of Vance’s term, to 2028.
--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa