1 00:00:00,680 --> 00:00:02,840 Look, there's been a big break up this week. 2 00:00:02,840 --> 00:00:06,920 And sometimes in situations like this people say nasty things 3 00:00:06,920 --> 00:00:11,000 that they don't really mean, but also sometimes they say nasty 4 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:14,400 things that they do really mean. And I get the feeling that we're 5 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:17,640 in the latter type of situation this time around. 6 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:21,480 Just six months ago, Elon Musk was on top of the world. 7 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:25,080 He had funded Donald Trump's election win, jumped around 8 00:00:25,080 --> 00:00:28,960 behind him on stage in a show of support, and had even been given 9 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:32,640 a civil service job, something to do with procurement, as a 10 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:36,200 reward for his help. Early on, there were signs that 11 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:39,160 things might not work out. I feel there's a slight 12 00:00:39,160 --> 00:00:42,960 expression of irritation or maybe even disgust on Trump's 13 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:46,160 face in the iconic jumping Elon photo. 14 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:50,120 The biggest sign that things would not last, of course, was 15 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:53,520 the Jim Cramer tweet. Once Cramer said that he was 16 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:56,800 bullish on the friendship, you could basically set your watch 17 00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:59,480 to it, knowing that disaster was looming. 18 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:02,640 At first, though, everything was going well. 19 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:07,360 Elon Musk tweeted on his version of Twitter that he loved Trump 20 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:10,200 as much as a straight man can love another man. 21 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:13,720 And I think that Trump tweeted some positive things about Elon 22 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:17,280 too on his version of Twitter. But I guess because of all of 23 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:21,080 the drama yesterday, everyone was trying to see what was being 24 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:25,240 said on Trump Twitter, and the website crashed, leaving only 25 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:29,120 this somewhat sad message that there are no truths. 26 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:32,040 But it did. Please let us know that in this 27 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:35,760 post truth world that in the event that Donald Trump does 28 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:39,280 compose a truth, we will be able to find it right there. 29 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:42,560 So I suppose we should keep an eye out for that. 30 00:01:43,320 --> 00:01:44,720 There's no way around it, though. 31 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:47,880 Elon Musk was off to a great start in January. 32 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:51,880 Tesla hadn't really had its best year in 2024. 33 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:55,320 While it was still being priced as a growth stock, it appeared 34 00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:57,280 to have entirely stopped growing. 35 00:01:57,560 --> 00:02:00,800 The company had just had its first yearly sales decline in 36 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:03,600 2024. There was growing competition 37 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:07,600 from the big automotive brands and from new upstarts in China 38 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:11,760 in the Cybertruck. Tesla's newest model had missed 39 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:15,880 Elon Musk's stated sales goal by 84%. 40 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:19,800 Judged on sales alone, the Cybertruck has been more of a 41 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:22,840 flop than the Edsel. And that's a big deal because 42 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:26,760 the Edsel has gone down in history as an enduring icon of 43 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:29,080 failure in the automobile industry. 44 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:32,800 According to Encyclopedia Britannica, ineffective 45 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:37,160 marketing, flawed design, a high purchase price, and poor 46 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:40,480 workmanship led to consumer blowback. 47 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:45,240 When the Edsel was released in 1957, while Ford had planned to 48 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:51,840 sell 200,000 Edsels a year, they only managed to sell 63,000 cars 49 00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:56,800 and had to scrap the new brand entirely. 2 years later, Elon 50 00:02:56,800 --> 00:03:01,960 Musk predicted that he would sell 250,000 cyber trucks in the 51 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:04,480 first year. After all, he had taken a 52 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:08,600 million deposits. But Tesla ended up selling just 53 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:12,720 under 50,000 cyber trucks. The failure could possibly be 54 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:17,240 blamed on ineffective marketing, a flawed design, a high purchase 55 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:20,960 price, poor workmanship and general thugliness. 56 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:24,800 But none of this actually mattered, as despite the decline 57 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:30,920 in sales, Tesla stock rose 62 1/2% and hit an all time high in 58 00:03:30,920 --> 00:03:34,720 2024. I asked Grok, Elon Musk's 59 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:38,680 chatbot, why the stock had gone up so much despite all of the 60 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:41,640 bad news and the corporate underperformance. 61 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:45,800 I figured Grok would be the best person or graphics card or 62 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:49,560 whatever it is to ask, as Elon Musk has described it as being 63 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:53,200 scary smart. Grok explained to me that 64 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:57,680 despite a decline in Tesla's vehicle deliveries, Tesla stock 65 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:01,480 surged because of Elon Musk's political influence and because 66 00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:05,880 of optimism about Musk's close ties to Donald Trump and his 67 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:08,520 advisory role within the US government. 68 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:13,000 Rock said that investors were betting that Musk's influence in 69 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:16,320 government could lead to favourable regulatory changes 70 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:20,399 for his businesses. Now I had to ask Rock if it 71 00:04:20,399 --> 00:04:23,600 thought that the investors had been foolish in their optimism, 72 00:04:23,840 --> 00:04:27,200 and it told me that their enthusiasm looks like it was 73 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:30,560 riding more on hope than on grounded reasoning. 74 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:34,240 I wasn't really sure about the ethics of the whole situation 75 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:38,480 either, so I asked Crock if it thought that this was an example 76 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:41,800 of crony capitalism, and it replied yes. 77 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:45,640 I'll tell you, life has gotten a lot easier now that I can 78 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:48,640 outsource my morality to a graphics card. 79 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:53,520 Despite all of the optimism from a mere 6 months ago and the 80 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:56,960 promise of the high investment returns associated with crony 81 00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:02,160 capitalism, Tesla stock has been sinking this year and Elon Musk 82 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:05,760 and Donald Trump have had a very public falling out. 83 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:09,280 There's been name calling and shocking allegations that you 84 00:05:09,280 --> 00:05:12,880 wouldn't normally expect from two men who normally behave with 85 00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:17,000 such dignity. So how did everything fall apart 86 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:19,240 so quickly between Trump and Musk? 87 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:23,120 It seems like only a few weeks ago that Elon Musk was sitting 88 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:26,760 in on cabinet meetings wearing his Trump was right about 89 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:30,640 everything had or making everyone laugh with his 420 90 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:33,320 jokes. I was born 69 days after 420. 91 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:40,240 Wow, I know, right? 53 years old, I'll tell you, 92 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:44,040 that guy could really work as a comedian if he wasn't so busy 93 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:46,360 doing whatever it is that he does. 94 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:50,920 Despite the great start, last week he announced on Twitter 95 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:54,400 that his time as a special government employee had come to 96 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:57,600 an end, and he thanked Donald Trump for the opportunity. 97 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:02,360 Now, his role as a special government employee only allowed 98 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:06,880 him to work a federal job for 130 days each year, and that 99 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:10,920 time was almost up. But his announcement that he was 100 00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:14,920 leaving did come a day after he had said that he was 101 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:19,040 disappointed with Trump's budget bill, saying that he thought it 102 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:23,840 undermined the work of Doge, which had managed to cut 2% of 103 00:06:23,840 --> 00:06:27,280 the $2 trillion he had initially claimed he could cut from the 104 00:06:27,280 --> 00:06:31,240 federal budget. The next day, Trump announced on 105 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:34,640 his version of Twitter. He and Elon use different 106 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:37,040 Twitters. Everyone does now. 107 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:40,680 But he announced that Elon would be joining him for a press 108 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:44,080 conference and that while it would be Elon's last day at 109 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:47,920 work, he would always be with us, helping all the way. 110 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:51,800 Trump finished up by saying Elon is terrific. 111 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:53,840 See you tomorrow at the White House. 112 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:58,480 The next day, Elon turned up at the White House with a black 113 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:03,080 eye, which some media outlets have amusingly blamed on Stephen 114 00:07:03,080 --> 00:07:07,280 Miller or Scott Percent. But Musk claims it came from his 115 00:07:07,280 --> 00:07:12,040 child, a serial number. Trump gave him a big gold key to 116 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:15,680 the White House in a goodbye ceremony, but I get the feeling 117 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:18,680 that he has since called in a locksmith to change all of the 118 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:22,240 locks. Amusingly, a guy called Doge 119 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:26,000 Designer who's one of those accounts that got big on Twitter 120 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:29,960 by pretending that the stuff Elon Musk makes up is actually 121 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:34,440 real in order to be retweeted by Elon Musk tweeted out. 122 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:38,960 In the coming days, legacy media will try to convince you that 123 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:43,160 President Trump and Elon Musk are no longer friends and that's 124 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:45,840 why Musk left. He really couldn't have been 125 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:49,200 more right about that. The news has been absolutely 126 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:53,720 filled with that exact story. It was very prophetic of Dodge 127 00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:56,080 Designer. So then he got back to 128 00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:59,800 pretending that the stuff Elon Musk makes up is actually real 129 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:03,120 in order to be retweeted by Elon Musk. 130 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:05,560 It's wise of him to stick to his knitting. 131 00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:10,320 It's worth noting how difficult the last 24 hours or so have 132 00:08:10,320 --> 00:08:14,040 been for many political influences as they've spent the 133 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:18,760 last year or so praising both Elon and Trump and now they have 134 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:22,840 to choose a side. And this decision is fraught 135 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:26,560 with danger as if they pick Trump and Elon manages to 136 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:29,200 overthrow him, it's career suicide. 137 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:32,280 They'll get banned from Twitter and have to get a real job. 138 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:36,760 If they pick Elon and Trump then ships him off to an El Salvador 139 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:40,320 prison, well they'll have to delete their tweets rather 140 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:43,039 quickly and be careful not to leave their homes without a 141 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:47,040 passport and a long form birth certificate in hand, as you 142 00:08:47,040 --> 00:08:50,200 never know what irreversible mistakes could be made. 143 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:55,480 Obviously the person in the most difficult position is JD Vance, 144 00:08:55,680 --> 00:08:59,560 as Musk tweeted that he thinks Trump should be impeached and 145 00:08:59,560 --> 00:09:02,800 replaced by Vance. Vance will have to be very 146 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:07,120 careful picking a side. Back in February, JD Vance was 147 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:11,680 quick to rush to the defence of a 25 year old Doge staffer who 148 00:09:11,680 --> 00:09:16,080 resigned after he was linked to some racist social media posts. 149 00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:20,360 The Stafford tweeted things like normalize Indian hate. 150 00:09:20,680 --> 00:09:23,440 Now, you would think that JD Vance might have either 151 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:27,000 condemned these posts or even just ignored the issue. 152 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:30,600 It's reasonable, after all, to believe that the Vice President 153 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:34,280 is too busy to know about every HR issue in the government. 154 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:38,400 After all, there are nearly 3,000,000 federal employees. 155 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:40,400 That's not what happened, though. 156 00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:44,880 As soon as Elon Musk tweeted his support for the staffer, JD 157 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:49,120 Vance joined in, possibly momentarily forgetting that his 158 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:52,880 wife, Usha Vance, is the daughter of Indian immigrants. 159 00:09:53,520 --> 00:09:57,840 It was clearly very important to him to show his support for Elon 160 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:01,000 Musk. The vice president didn't rush 161 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:04,760 to pick a side yesterday. He was mostly silent and posted 162 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:09,440 a photo of himself sitting next to the podcaster Theo Von and 163 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:13,040 wrote Slow Newsday. What are we even going to talk 164 00:10:13,040 --> 00:10:15,720 about? Musk then replied to Vance with 165 00:10:15,720 --> 00:10:18,920 a laughing emoji in a second post. 166 00:10:19,120 --> 00:10:22,480 Vance followed up with. President Trump has done more 167 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:26,000 than any person in my lifetime to earn the trust of the 168 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:29,000 movement he leads. I'm proud to stand beside. 169 00:10:29,680 --> 00:10:33,560 I imagined that Vance, who we all know is obsessed with 170 00:10:33,800 --> 00:10:38,400 politeness and etiquette, is probably torn over who should 171 00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:41,960 have said thank you to who. I imagine he feels that Musk 172 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:44,920 should have worn a suit more often while at the White House. 173 00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:48,760 After all, he was at the highest office in the country and 174 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:53,480 refused to wear a suit. And in rap news, even Kanye West 175 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:58,000 stepped in, urging Trump and Musk to reconcile tweeting 176 00:10:58,480 --> 00:11:02,880 Bruise, please, new. And then there's an icon of 177 00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:05,600 people hugging and it says we love you both. 178 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:08,800 So much. So the fallout between Musk and 179 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:13,040 Trump seems to have started when Musk began criticizing Trump's 180 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:17,480 budget bill a few days ago, calling it outrageous, pork 181 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:20,160 filled, and a disgusting abomination. 182 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:23,800 Trump at first avoided directly addressing Musk. 183 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:27,520 But on Thursday he finally snapped, calling his former 184 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:32,040 backer crazy, suggesting that he has Trump Derangement Syndrome, 185 00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:35,400 and most shockingly of all, threatening to RIP up his 186 00:11:35,400 --> 00:11:38,680 government contracts. I'm not sure if he stuck one of 187 00:11:38,680 --> 00:11:40,800 those. I bought this before we knew 188 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:44,320 Elon was crazy. Stickers on the Tesla that he 189 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:47,080 pretended to buy from Elon at the White House lawn. 190 00:11:47,400 --> 00:11:52,000 But things were getting serious. Now, obviously, from Musk's 191 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:55,400 perspective, losing his government contracts is the 192 00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:57,240 worst thing that could happen to him. 193 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:01,240 If you take the crony out of crony capitalism, what's even 194 00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:04,520 left now? I haven't been logging into 195 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:07,880 Twitter very much over the last year, but as soon as I heard 196 00:12:07,880 --> 00:12:10,840 what was going on, there was only one place to be. 197 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:14,920 To quote Cliff Asness, the world may be imploding, but it's the 198 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:18,920 best Twitter Day ever. The partnership between Trump 199 00:12:18,920 --> 00:12:22,800 and Musk began when Musk endorsed Trump last July after 200 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:25,480 the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania. 201 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:31,520 Musk then spent $250 million on getting Trump elected, which was 202 00:12:31,520 --> 00:12:34,720 the largest financial intervention in any election in 203 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:37,800 human history. Musk took credit for the 204 00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:42,280 sweeping Republican electoral victory, tweeting Without me, 205 00:12:42,400 --> 00:12:45,720 Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the 206 00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:50,000 House, and the Republicans would be 51 to 49 in the Senate. 207 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:55,400 Such ingratitude, he added. Now I hate to say this, but if 208 00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:59,360 Musk is right in saying that he made Trump, Trump should 209 00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:02,760 probably be a little bit nervous as it's become somewhat 210 00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:06,480 noticeable over the years that pretty much everything Elon Musk 211 00:13:06,480 --> 00:13:11,600 makes burns to the ground. Later that day, Musk posted a 212 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:15,840 poll on Twitter asking his followers is it time to create a 213 00:13:15,840 --> 00:13:21,240 new political party in America that actually represents the 80% 214 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:24,480 in the middle? He later retweeted someone who 215 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:28,160 was calling for Trump to resign, argued that Trump's global 216 00:13:28,160 --> 00:13:32,480 tariff plan would trigger AUS recession, and many people think 217 00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:36,800 that he suggested that Trump was involved in nefarious activities 218 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:40,440 with Jeffrey Epstein. Now, if you paid attention to 219 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:43,720 Elon Musk for any length of time, you will remember that 220 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:48,640 during the Thai Caver lawsuit 6 years ago, Musk explained to a 221 00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:52,720 court that such accusations don't mean much and are common 222 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:54,920 in South Africa, where he grew up. 223 00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:58,240 There's also nothing new about these allegations. 224 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:01,680 It's not the nuclear bomb that many in the press are making it 225 00:14:01,680 --> 00:14:04,840 out to be. We know that both Musk and Trump 226 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:07,920 were in that circle. Everyone's seen the photos of 227 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:11,480 Musk, which Elaine Maxwell and Trump with Epstein. 228 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:16,640 In a 2002 profile of Epstein by New York Magazine, Trump was 229 00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:20,800 even quoted describing Epstein as a terrific guy who enjoyed 230 00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:24,440 the company of beautiful women on the younger side. 231 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:29,120 In my opinion, it's not bringing up the Epstein allegations that 232 00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:32,440 got Trump so upset. The real reason that Trump got 233 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:36,640 angry about Elon's tweet is that by saying that Trump is in the 234 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:40,560 Epstein files, Musk was implying that Trump travelled on 235 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:44,200 Epstein's jet. The implication being that Trump 236 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:46,960 wasn't rich enough to have his own private jet. 237 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:51,000 And Trump is hugely insulted that Musk would imply that he's 238 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:56,440 poor or ever was poor. Trump obviously has the Qatar 239 00:14:56,440 --> 00:15:01,000 bribe jet now, but a big part of Trump's brand over the years has 240 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:04,440 been the private plane that he's had since the late 1980s, 241 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:08,480 according to Forbes, which he had his name written on in huge 242 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:12,160 gold letters so that everyone knew that he had a plane. 243 00:15:12,160 --> 00:15:15,160 It was heavily featured in his reality show where he played a 244 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:19,000 businessman. The issue is that Trump possibly 245 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:23,960 knew Epstein in the early 1980s before he had his own plane and 246 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:27,040 Trump finds it really humiliating that Musk would 247 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:29,000 bring that to the publics attention. 248 00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:32,040 It was a low blow and I think Musk knew it. 249 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:36,480 Trump came back with the threat that he would take away the 250 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:40,000 billions in government subsidies that go to Musks companies. 251 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:43,480 But then, through the hardest punch that Donald Trump can 252 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:47,720 throw, he gave Elon one of his trademark illiterate of 253 00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:51,720 nicknames, which always stick and have been known to end 254 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:56,160 political careers. He called him mediocre mosque 255 00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:59,240 and then told him to go back to Africa. 256 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:03,240 Now, there's no sharper weapon in the Trump arsenal than an 257 00:16:03,240 --> 00:16:07,200 alliterative nickname and the accusation that someone might be 258 00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:11,080 a migrant worker. Musk, of course, shot back, 259 00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:13,840 tweeting that he would decommission the Dragon 260 00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:18,560 spacecraft immediately, as SpaceX is currently the only US 261 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:22,080 provider that can transfer astronauts and supplies to the 262 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:26,200 International Space Station. Musk later walked that back 263 00:16:26,320 --> 00:16:31,560 after some guy on Twitter with 671 followers suggested that he 264 00:16:31,560 --> 00:16:34,880 cool off for a few days before doing anything rash. 265 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:39,240 And this whole situation led many to question how the US U.S. 266 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:43,240 government ever found itself in a position where one guy could 267 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:47,200 threaten the entire US space program because the president 268 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:51,040 wrote a mean tweet about him. That's not really supposed to be 269 00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:54,680 how things work. As an outsider, the thing that 270 00:16:54,680 --> 00:16:58,200 makes this whole feud so hilarious to me is that there 271 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:01,840 seems to be no way that these two guys can attack each other 272 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:05,040 without making themselves look bad in the process. 273 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:09,760 When Trump accuses Elon of being high, it leads to the obvious 274 00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:13,560 question of why did you allow him to lay off huge swathes of 275 00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:16,800 the federal workforce if you knew that he had a problem like 276 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:20,079 that? Trump and Musk rely heavily on 277 00:17:20,079 --> 00:17:23,720 each other for power, and for that reason they can inflict 278 00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:27,839 serious damage to each other. Musk might be right that Trump 279 00:17:27,839 --> 00:17:30,960 would not have won the presidency without his funding, 280 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:35,000 but Musk's money alone wasn't enough to buy the Wisconsin 281 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:37,480 Supreme Court. While he might have been able to 282 00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:41,000 buy the election, he still needed the right candidate. 283 00:17:41,360 --> 00:17:45,040 Musk might be right that NASA has become too reliant on 284 00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:50,000 SpaceX, but SpaceX is also extremely reliant on U.S. 285 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:53,080 government contracts. They could each damage each 286 00:17:53,080 --> 00:17:56,960 other, but not necessarily without damaging themselves in 287 00:17:56,960 --> 00:18:00,640 the process. Anyway, the FT reported 288 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:05,320 yesterday on who the big winners and big losers were 20 weeks 289 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:09,040 into the Trump presidency. Some of the biggest winners so 290 00:18:09,040 --> 00:18:12,920 far are European defence companies and Chinese tech 291 00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:16,400 giants. In terms of market cap, Tesla 292 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:21,160 was one of the biggest losers, having lost $304 billion over 293 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:25,400 the last 20 weeks, and Meta was one of the biggest winners, 294 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:31,080 having gained $177 billion. Now, Trump never really hid his 295 00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:35,240 distaste for Mark Zuckerberg, but it's possible that by 296 00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:38,640 disguising himself with baggy clothes and gold chains, 297 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:43,200 Zuckerberg managed to slip under the radar and is becoming the 298 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:46,640 new Elon Musk. We'll have to just wait and see. 299 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:50,600 Thanks for tuning into this week's podcast, with special 300 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:53,360 thanks to those of you who supported on Patreon. 301 00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:56,520 Have a great week and talk to you again next week. 302 00:18:56,680 --> 00:18:57,040 Bye.