Trump / Musk (other than DOGE) Omnibus Thread

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Bob Woodward’s new book, WAR:

“… The book, “War,” also reveals new details about Donald Trump’s private conversations with Putin – and a secret shipment of Covid-19 testing equipment Trump sent to the Russian president for his personal use during the height of the pandemic. …

– Citing a Trump aide, Woodward reports that there have been “maybe as many as seven” calls between Trump and Putin since Trump left the White House in 2021. …”

 
“… During the height of the pandemic, Russia and the United States did exchange medical equipment such as ventilators. But Putin — who infamously isolated himself over fears of Covid — told Trump on a phone call to keep the delivery of the Abbott machines quiet, Woodward reports.

“Please don’t tell anybody you sent these to me,” Putin said to Trump, according to Woodward.

“I don’t care,” Trump replied. “Fine.”

“No, no,” Putin said. “I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me. They don’t care about me.”

Woodward writes that Trump has stayed in touch with Putin after leaving office.

In one scene, Woodward recounts a moment at Mar-a-Lago where Trump tells a senior aide to leave the room so “he could have what he said was a private phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.”

“According to Trump’s aide, there have been multiple phone calls between Trump and Putin, maybe as many as seven in the period since Trump left the White House in 2021,” Woodward writes.

Woodward asked Trump aide Jason Miller whether Trump and Putin had spoken since he left the White House. “Um, ah, not that, ah, not that I’m aware of,” Miller told Woodward.

“I have not heard that they’re talking, so I’d push back on that,” Miller added. …”
 
“… Woodward writes that Biden’s Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines “carefully hedged” when asked about whether there were any post-presidency Trump-Putin calls.

“I would not purport to be aware of all contacts with Putin. I wouldn’t purport to speak to what President Trump may or may not have done,” Haines said, according to Woodward.

… “
 
(Cont’d)

“…
Woodward also writes about Trump’s decision to run for president again, including a series of conversations with his ally and golfing buddy, Sen. Lindsey Graham.

“Going to Mar-a-Lago is a little bit like going to North Korea,” Graham said. “Everybody stands up and claps every time Trump comes in.”

…Graham repeatedly urged Trump to move on from the 2020 election, telling him if he is reelected, “then January 6 won’t be your obituary.”

“I gave a speech today and I only mentioned the 2020 election twice!” Trump said to Graham a few days later, “as if it had shown maximum restraint,” Woodward writes.

As Trump framed his presidential campaign around fear, Woodward writes that Graham said of the former president: “Trump is becoming more erratic. These court cases. I think they would rattle anybody.” …”
 
Continued — this book is chock full of news. Like 30 individual news cycles worth in the before times …

“… Woodward also recounts a meeting that Graham, the South Carolina senator, had with the crown prince in March.

“Hey, let’s call Trump,” Graham said to MBS while visiting with the Saudi leader in March.

What happened next offers a fascinating window into how the Saudi leader operates and communicates with various world leaders and government officials. Woodward writes that bin Salman had an aide bring over a bag with about 50 burner phones, pulling out one labeled “TRUMP 45.”

Among the others in the bag, Woodward writes, was a burner labeled “JAKE SULLIVAN.”

… “
 
gtyellowjacket said:
Tesla still has the best self-driving technology out there
Click to expand...
My understanding is that that isn't even close to being true. Even their assisted driving tech has had major failures and is nowhere near what is advertised.

Not even self driving but for a comparison...


And for self driving itself.

www.businessinsider.com

Tesla's not even in the top 10 of self-driving firms, according to experts who ranked all of the leading companies working on automation

Tesla was nowhere to be found in this year's list of the top 10 of leading automated driving firms ranked by research firm Guidehouse Insights.
www.businessinsider.com www.businessinsider.com
 
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ChapelHillSooner said:
My understanding is that that isn't even close to being true. Even their assisted driving tech has had major failures and is nowhere near what is advertised.

Not even self driving but for a comparison...


And for self driving itself.

www.businessinsider.com

Tesla's not even in the top 10 of self-driving firms, according to experts who ranked all of the leading companies working on automation

Tesla was nowhere to be found in this year's list of the top 10 of leading automated driving firms ranked by research firm Guidehouse Insights.
www.businessinsider.com www.businessinsider.com
Click to expand...
Cool article and like every old dad, I love and trust consumer reports but this struck me as weird:

"Tesla’s “Full Self Driving” optional feature, which promises to one day provide assistance in a broad range of situations including urban driving, was not evaluated in these tests."

I'm not a car guy but it seems like full self-driving should have been included in those tests if they are going to evaluate how well Tesla performs compared to other car makers.
 
gtyellowjacket said:
Cool article and like every old dad, I love and trust consumer reports but this struck me as weird:

"Tesla’s “Full Self Driving” optional feature, which promises to one day provide assistance in a broad range of situations including urban driving, was not evaluated in these tests."

I'm not a car guy but it seems like full self-driving should have been included in those tests if they are going to evaluate how well Tesla performs compared to other car makers.
Click to expand...
Waymo has been offering commercial driverless taxis service for two years. It uses lidar, radar and cameras.

Tesla just uses camera and is nowhere close to real-world self-driving.

How could you claim that Tesla has the best self-driving technology? Tesla is way behind the market.
 
Calheel said:
Waymo has been offering commercial driverless taxis service for two years. It uses lidar, radar and cameras.

Tesla just uses camera and is nowhere close to real-world self-driving.

How could you claim that Tesla has the best self-driving technology? Tesla is way behind the market.
Click to expand...
I made the claim out of ignorance. I really did think Tesla was ahead but nice to know the others are catching up or exceeding.

Yeah, Tesla made a technical decision to only use video instead of also relying on things like lidar, sonar or radar to keep cost low and with all the cars they have on the road right now, it's looking like a bad choice. Hard to retrofit, and video just doesn't seem like enough in edge cases. Maybe they'll get it figured out.

I did try Ford's self driving offering when we were test driving for our last car and I got turned off by the way they priced it. It was something like 50 bucks a month for as long as you own the car which is probably a relatively small fraction of what it would cost to operate a car on a monthly basis but just seemed like a lot. And I just looked up Tesla's version and it's double that so I'm probably just going to have to get used to it.
 
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