Trump / Musk (other than DOGE) Omnibus Thread

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UNCatTech said:
So now as long as you're going after a "criminal" you can kill them without worry of prosecution.

Trump wants every day to be the purge.
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That situation illustrates two things to me...that Trump is absolutely reprehensible yet again AND that unions have no use for me. None of them. Not a single one. And police unions are the worst of the worst.
 

State Dept. Plans $400 Million Purchase of Armored Tesla Cybertrucks​

The department plans to buy armored Tesla vehicles. Elon Musk, who is leading efforts to cut government spending, has won more than $13 billion in government contracts in the past five years.

www.nytimes.com

State Dept. Plans $400 Million Purchase of Armored Tesla Cybertrucks

The department plans to buy armored Tesla vehicles. Elon Musk, who is leading efforts to cut government spending, has won more than $13 billion in government contracts in the past five years.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

“… The purchase of Cybertrucks, an atypical choice for government armored transport, is likely to raise conflict of interest issues, especially as Mr. Musk trumpets his own efforts to root out what he regards as unnecessary spending.

…
Mr. Musk is already a major government contractor. Companies he owns or controls have secured $13 billion in federal contracts over the past five years. SpaceX, the rocket company he founded, collects most of that money and is one of the biggest government contractors.

The State Department procurement forecast was published in December, after Mr. Trump won the election but before he took office. Plans to purchase Cybertrucks were reported earlier on Wednesday by Drop Site News.

Sales of the Cybertruck have been modest since its introduction in late 2023. Tesla sold 39,000 last year, according to estimates by Cox Automotive. With a starting price of $80,000, the vehicle is too expensive for many buyers. …”
 
It's not like the government is simply offering charity to Musk. His companies make quality products and this benefits the US. I mean, SpaceX is spearheading this country's space program and is needed to rescue to stranded NASA astronauts. Starlink is providing assistance to folks in WNC, Ukraine and in rural areas.

I have no issue with a third party reviewing the Cybertruck contract (or other Musk contracts) to determine if it is worth the money the US is paying.
 
Cybertrucks are horribly unreliable, with dismal off-road performance, so now we’re going to pay Grifter in Chief Musk $400 mil to slapdash on some heavy ass armor? It’s going to get service people hurt or killed, and those things will likely take up acres of garage spaces, to get trotted out for North Korean style parades, only. Oh, and the likelihood is high that contract ends up doubled and the product delayed.
 
Ramrouser said:
It's not like the government is simply offering charity to Musk. His companies make quality products and this benefits the US. I mean, SpaceX is spearheading this country's space program and is needed to rescue to stranded NASA astronauts. Starlink is providing assistance to folks in WNC, Ukraine and in rural areas.

I have no issue with a third party reviewing the Cybertruck contract (or other Musk contracts) to determine if it is worth the money the US is paying.
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If Musk wants to pursue government contracts and compete with other companies for those contracts fine. But he shouldn't be allowed to be a part of the administration and in charge of making decisions on expenditures while at the same time gulping up government funds.
 
Ramrouser said:
It's not like the government is simply offering charity to Musk. His companies make quality products and this benefits the US. I mean, SpaceX is spearheading this country's space program and is needed to rescue to stranded NASA astronauts. Starlink is providing assistance to folks in WNC, Ukraine and in rural areas.

I have no issue with a third party reviewing the Cybertruck contract (or other Musk contracts) to determine if it is worth the money the US is paying.
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LOL, the cybertruck is PLAGUED with issues and this likely will be a lifeline that continues its existence. It would otherwise be extinct in 2 years. It also likely buoys TESLA stock which has been hammered lately as the rest of the world has realized that Tesla vehicles are among the absolute worst EV's.
 

Musk team kicks off federal layoffs as White House eyes big cuts​

The Trump administration’s plan for shrinking the civilian workforce is coming into increasingly clear view.

“Billionaire Elon Musk’s team has initiated sweeping layoffs of federal employees, as the Trump administration races to shrink the government’s civilian workforce.

An official with the Office of Personnel Management, which is now run by Musk allies, emailed staff Wednesday morning stating that widespread layoffs — known as “reductions in force” — have begun and are already overwhelming the small agency that functions as a human resources department for the government, according to a copy of the message obtained by The Washington Post. OPM has also begun to assert more control over all federal hiring, according to four employees of the agency and additional internal communications also obtained by The Post.

… Career staff and U.S. DOGE Service aides have clashed over efforts to freeze new hires. A backlog of unfilled positions is building even in critical agencies — such as the Department of Veterans Affairs, where badly needed doctors and nurses have been blocked from final approval to start work even though they are supposed to be exempt from a hiring freeze Trump ordered. …”
 
nycfan said:

Musk team kicks off federal layoffs as White House eyes big cuts​

The Trump administration’s plan for shrinking the civilian workforce is coming into increasingly clear view.

“Billionaire Elon Musk’s team has initiated sweeping layoffs of federal employees, as the Trump administration races to shrink the government’s civilian workforce.

An official with the Office of Personnel Management, which is now run by Musk allies, emailed staff Wednesday morning stating that widespread layoffs — known as “reductions in force” — have begun and are already overwhelming the small agency that functions as a human resources department for the government, according to a copy of the message obtained by The Washington Post. OPM has also begun to assert more control over all federal hiring, according to four employees of the agency and additional internal communications also obtained by The Post.

… Career staff and U.S. DOGE Service aides have clashed over efforts to freeze new hires. A backlog of unfilled positions is building even in critical agencies — such as the Department of Veterans Affairs, where badly needed doctors and nurses have been blocked from final approval to start work even though they are supposed to be exempt from a hiring freeze Trump ordered. …”
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Continued — https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/02/12/musk-trump-federal-layoffs/

“… Employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, for instance, received an email Tuesday saying they were being terminated while on their probationary period.

But the email, signed by HR representative Adam Martinez, included unfinished placeholders, addressing the memo to “[EmployeeFirstName] [EmployeeLastName]” and noting, “I am removing you from your position of [JobTitle],” according to a copy obtained by The Post.

Similarly, probationary employees at the Small Business Administration received emails Friday and Monday notifying them of their termination — before receiving a second email Monday revoking the dismissal, according to copies obtained by The Post. The Monday email said the notification was “sent in error — and as such, is not currently in effect.”

“If you are in receipt of the initial notice,” the email read, “your employment has not been terminated as was erroneously indicated in the initial notice.”

On Tuesday, the employees received a third email: Once again, they were let go. …”
 
Contd

“… At DOGE’s bidding, developers at OPM last week installed a road bump in an online hiring system that requires each new hire to be personally approved by a political appointee in the office of the agency’s acting director, Charles Ezell, who works from a regional office in Macon, Georgia, three OPM employees said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private talks. Because of the change, the USAStaffing module for new hires across the government has been locked down for at least a week, multiple OPM employees said. …”
 
There is so little thought to these layoffs it’s breathtaking — they are firing all probationary period workers first because they have fewer protections, but doing so en masse with little to no view as to whether those workers fill a difficult to replace skill set or a specific area of need or are replacements for folks about to or that have retired.

“… Musk’s team has begun cutting staff by dismissing workers in their probationary periods, which, depending on the agency, can last one or two years. These workers typically have little protection from being fired without cause, and they amount to about 7 percent of the government’s civilian workforce of more than 2 million.

About 10 percent of the FBI’s workforce is in its probationary period, for instance, as is 6.5 percent of the Internal Revenue Service.

Some agencies have submitted to OPM lists of probationary employees that exceed 45 percent of their entire workforces, said one person familiar with the issue, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss matters not yet made public. …”

And it isn’t really about cost savings, it is about control:

“… Even cutting 1 in every 4 government workers would only reduce federal spending by about 1 percent. But if it makes it easier for the Trump administration to implement other changes without resistance, the layoffs could provide the basis for much bigger unilateral spending cuts, said Jessica Riedl, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a right-leaning think tank. …”
 
“… Probationary workers at the Technology Transformation Services arm of the General Services Administration were also laid off Wednesday afternoon, according to multiple people familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel.

The unit is a software-focused arm of the GSA headed by a Tesla alumnus, Thomas Shedd, who has described it as one of “two pillars of technical talent.”

Many workers had been reinterviewed about keeping their jobs in recent days. Workers were told they had a final chance to accept the deferred resignation offer, according to one person familiar with the discussion. Those who didn’t accept would lose their positions. …”
 
nycfan said:
Continued — https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/02/12/musk-trump-federal-layoffs/

“… Employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, for instance, received an email Tuesday saying they were being terminated while on their probationary period.

But the email, signed by HR representative Adam Martinez, included unfinished placeholders, addressing the memo to “[EmployeeFirstName] [EmployeeLastName]” and noting, “I am removing you from your position of [JobTitle],” according to a copy obtained by The Post.

Similarly, probationary employees at the Small Business Administration received emails Friday and Monday notifying them of their termination — before receiving a second email Monday revoking the dismissal, according to copies obtained by The Post. The Monday email said the notification was “sent in error — and as such, is not currently in effect.”

“If you are in receipt of the initial notice,” the email read, “your employment has not been terminated as was erroneously indicated in the initial notice.”

On Tuesday, the employees received a third email: Once again, they were let go. …”
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Hegseth's Ukraine bombshell and Trump's Putin call leave NATO reeling​



“… State of play: Hegseth, who is attending his first meeting of NATO's defense ministers, made clear Wednesday that the following chips will now be "off the table" in peace talks, as a senior U.S. defense official stressed to Axios.

  1. NATO membership for Ukraine — a central source of tension with Russia promised by the alliance in 2008 — is not a "realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement," Hegseth said.
  2. U.S. troops will not be deployed to Ukraine to enforce postwar security guarantees.
  3. Any European peacekeepers sent to Ukraine should be deployed as part of a "non-NATO mission," meaning Article 5 — the alliance's bedrock principle of collective defense — should not protect them.
…
  • In the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump demurred when asked whether Ukraine was "an equal member" of the peace process: "I think they have to make peace," he said after a pause. "That was not a good war to go into."
Friction point: Most NATO allies vehemently reject the idea that Ukraine chose war with Russia, and have argued for years that peace talks should happen at a time and place of Ukraine's choosing.

… The intrigue: The European Union's top diplomat Kaja Kallas, who is attending Thursday's meetings along with Ukrainian defense minister Rustem Umerov, said the EU would continue supporting Ukraine if Kyiv refused to accept Trump's conditions….”
 
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