Trump Completely Humiliates Elon Musk in Front of House Republicans

Donald Trump is wasting no time making a punch line out of some of his key allies, including Elon Musk.

During his first meeting with Republican lawmakers on the Hill as president-elect, Trump asserted his power over Musk, mocking the tech billionaire for sticking around for so long.

“Elon won’t go home. I can’t get rid of him,” Trump said Wednesday. “Until I don’t like him.”

The world’s richest man has reportedly spent “nearly every single day” of the last week at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, according to CNN. Musk has been spotted golfing with the president-elect, dining with him and his wife, Melania, and has even been in the room while Trump phones world leaders, hopping on calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell argued that Trump’s comments about Musk were an assertion of his dominance, played before a room that has to play along.

“Everyone laughed,” said O’Donnell. “They laughed that uncomfortable laugh. But they laugh when Donald Trump makes a joke about someone on his team, a joke that everyone knows is true, a joke that paints that person as pathetic, as Donald Trump’s personal sense of superiority demands that he do.”

O’Donnell also suggested that Musk’s new role in the government—co-leading a new agency, the Department of Government Efficiency, otherwise known as “DOGE”—is basically a joke in itself, with Musk’s responsibilities being tantamount to a “fake job” with little more power than that of a lobbyist on K Street.

Musk will be the likely benefactor of his extended stay with the president-elect, whose opinion is famously swayed by whomever he last interacted with. But, according to tech journalist Kara Swisher, the relationship between the two self-imagined strongmen is destined to flame out.

“They’re both narcissists, and there can be only one narcissist as head of the country, and that’s Donald Trump who just won the election,” Swisher said on Monday. “You know he owes things to Elon, but at some point, you know if he takes too much of the attention—think about Steve Bannon. You remember he was on the cover of that magazine, and how quickly he got out, even though he was critical to Trump’s first campaign and he was right in the middle of the White House, and then he wasn’t.

“Trump goes through people like tissues, essentially,” Swisher noted. “And even if it’s Musk, they’re going to clash at some point.”

Israel is preparing a cease-fire plan regarding its bombing of Lebanon as a gift to the incoming Donald Trump administration, The Washington Post reports.

The Post reports, citing three Israeli sources, that Ron Dermer, the Israeli minister of strategic affairs, told Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner on Sunday that Israel was quickly preparing a cease-fire deal to give the president-elect an early win when he takes office in January. Dermer visited Trump and Kushner on Sunday at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago estate before a visit to President Biden at the White House. There is no indication Israel will end its bombing of Lebanon before January.

It’s no secret that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supported Trump over Kamala Harris, and a quick peace deal would raise suspicions that Netanyahu was holding off ceasing hostilities before the election to help Trump’s prospects. Trump has supported Israel’s brutal bombing campaigns in both Lebanon and Gaza, reportedly telling Netanyahu to “do what you have to do” in a phone call early last month.

In a video statement Sunday, Netanyahu said he had spoken to Trump three times in the preceding days, saying that he saw “major opportunities ahead for Israel, especially in advancing peace.” This is quite a different tack than what Netanyahu has been saying for the past year, as Israeli forces have killed at least 44,383 Palestinians since October 7, 2023, including more than 16,765 children.

Trump made overtures to Arab American communities in Michigan in the weeks leading up to the election, campaigning in Dearborn, the country’s largest Arab-majority city. The move paid off, with Trump winning a majority of voters not only in Dearborn but also in the battleground state of Michigan.

Would a peace deal only covering Lebanon placate those voters? There is no mention of Gaza in the Post’s report, and Netanyahu has not said anything about a forthcoming cease-fire, let alone a peace deal, regarding Israel’s bombing campaign in the territory. But Trump will gladly take anything he can call a win while continuing to enable Netanyahu’s actions.

President-elect Donald Trump surprised Republican lawmakers on Wednesday when he chose Florida Representative Matt Gaetz to serve as his attorney general—including many of the senators needed to push through his confirmation.

The antagonistic, deeply partisan MAGA cheerleader must now earn votes from the same Republicans who reviled him for forcing out Speaker Kevin McCarthy just over a year ago. And it’s not looking like he has a lot of support.

Senator Jon Cornyn reportedly audibly snorted upon hearing news of Gaetz’s nomination. “I don’t know the man other than just his public persona,” he later told Washington Post correspondent Liz Goodwin.

Senator Susan Collins said she was “shocked” by the news of his pick, and Senator Lisa Murkowski said, “This one was not on my Bingo card.” But even Trump’s biggest supporters in the chamber were surprised. “Holy cow,” said Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville, adding that he too did not see this one coming.

Senator Joe Manchin said that “no one could believe it” when the news broke on the Senate floor.

Politico reporter Meridith Lee Hill said she saw a House Republican laughing so hard at the pick that he began crying. When asked if he believed Gaetz has the character and experience needed to be attorney general, GOP Representative Mike Simpson replied, “Are you shittin me, that you just asked that question? No! But hell, you’ll print that and now I’m going to be investigated.”

Gaetz, one of the most outspoken MAGA representatives, has been described by his Republican colleagues in the past as a childish, “disgraceful,” and “vile” person. He is currently under a House ethics investigation for sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, after allegations that he had sex with a minor.

Whether Trump loyalists or Liz Cheney-ites, Republicans throughout Congress were shocked at Trump’s nomination of Gaetz. Perhaps Republican Senator Thom Tillis put it best: “I’m sure it’ll make for a popcorn-eating confirmation.”

This story has been updated.

Donald Trump plans to appoint Representative Matt Gaetz to the post of attorney general, the president-elect announced on Truth Social Wednesday, and the Florida congressman has already gleefully accepted the position.

The news is a surprise, considering that Gaetz was not among the names discussed for the position, which included right-wing activist Mike Davis and Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee who quickly dismissed Trump’s classified documents case.

Gaetz has been a staunch supporter of Trump, showing up to the president-elect’s New York hush-money trial in May and leaping to Trump’s defense in media appearances. But, he also has a questionable reputation, having escaped federal charges over allegations of sexual misconduct with an underage girl.

Gaetz is the target of a House Ethics Committee investigation over those allegations as well as reports of illicit drug use. The Florida representative led the effort to oust former Representative Kevin McCarthy from the House speakership in part because he wished to block the ethics probe. If he were to survive Senate confirmation and become attorney general, the ethics investigation would disappear.

While Gaetz has a law degree as well as an active law license, he does not appear to have any prosecutorial experience, which might be another obstacle in his confirmation process.

Trump will expect his attorney general to protect him from any legal cases or challenges, even though the position actually entails leading the Justice Department as the country’s top law enforcement official. A Republican attorney general will also be tasked with implementing conservative goals, such as implementing the right-wing Project 2025 manifesto.

Gaetz’s lack of prosecutorial experience may doom his chances, and Senate Republicans may not think he is up to the task. Several Republicans are already expressing shock and disapproval including Senators John Cornyn, Charles Grassley, and Susan Collins, among many others. It remains to be seen if Gaetz will win over enough Republican senators to be confirmed, or if the allegations against him will torpedo the nomination.

This story has been updated.

Trump Media insiders are dumping their stock in Truth Social’s parent company.

Trump Media & Technology Group director Eric Swider sold all the stock he owned directly in the company on Friday, offloading 136,183 shares at $28.23 per share, a total value of more than $3.8 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Swider still holds a little more than 18,000 shares in TMTG via an LLC, Zach Everson reported Wednesday in his 1100 Pennsylvania newsletter.

Swider had been the CEO of Digital World Acquisition Corporation, which merged with TMTG in March when the media company was on the verge of running out of cash. The deal was seen as a major win for Trump, infusing $300 million into the company and keeping Truth Social up and running. The merger also helped the media entity make a particularly strong debut on the stock market, with a valuation of nearly $8 billion, sending the worth of Trump’s personal stake in the company skyrocketing to upward of $3 billion.

But Swider wasn’t the only one to offload his Trumpian assets. Also on Friday, Chief Financial Officer Phillip Juhan dumped 320,000 shares at a price of $30.65 apiece, and on Monday he sold another 64,000 shares at a price of $32.97 each, leaving him with just over 265,000 shares in the social media endeavor. General counsel and Secretary Scott Glabe also dropped shares on Friday, though significantly fewer—15,917 shares, at $32.19 each.