156 Comments
Aug 13Liked by Jay Kuo

My favorite part was when trump congratulated musk for wanting to fire striking workers, or workers who wanted to unionize - AND then today the UAW sued them both for it.

https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/uaw-sues-trump-musk-accusing-them-pushing-fire-striking-workers

Never a dull moment!

Expand full comment

The UAW rocks! Thank you for standing up against the openly anti-union behavior of the two fools.

We cannot let these pampered narcissists get away with anything anymore. We are in this political pickle with the Felon because he constantly pushes the envelope of what we will tolerate. No more!

Expand full comment

Here's a link that doesn't point to a "fake news" site...

https://thehill.com/business/4825606-uaw-files-charges-trump-musk/

Expand full comment

Yeah, but it's a local fox channel and they are sometimes less terrible. Not much less, but less. Funny I don't much care of The Hill either.

Expand full comment

The Hill is right leaning site that tends to hover more towards the center than Faux News, Newsmax, etc. I understand your misgivings though. I have seen liberal channels on YouTube that I find to be as annoying as Faux News because they bring up an issue and hash over the same point a dozen times without expanding upon the point.

Expand full comment

Classic example of a circle-jerk.

Expand full comment

My favorite part too. A good chuckle at the workers expense is always fun when two azzholes get together. Yuck, yuck, elbow ribbing each other. Sickening.

Expand full comment

Well, there might be an innocent explanation for Trump’s total inability to speak like anything resembling a normal person, but I was under the impression that speech problems were worthy of a month of front pages speculating on whether the senior citizen running for president is up to the job. I must be missing some extremely deep journalistic principle—I only spent 33 years in newsrooms, so I don’t know much.

Expand full comment
author

It does seem like they owe an explanation for what everyone plainly heard.

Expand full comment

Even if the technical explanation is true, how stupid do you have to be to do an interview, that is literally heard around the world, using subpar equipment. The picture the Trump team showed was him sitting at table with his phone, no headset. An occasion like this calls for a good computer and a headset with a high quality microphone and a wired network connection. But hey let them be ne stupid, we can all only profit from it.

Expand full comment

How is SpaceX's stock doing today? Does anyone really want to strap their tush in tech managed by the guy that can't pull off a Xoom meeting? I wonder if the Boeing Starline astronauts are going "Uhhh...you're sending who?"

Expand full comment

I know I don't.

Expand full comment

Stupid is as stupid does.

Expand full comment

The media should be pounding on this.

Expand full comment

Thanks, proud. Having a stutter must be "more worthy" than a lisp, eh?

Expand full comment

According to Google's AI (for whatever that's worth), sudden onset of slurred speech or lisps can be symptoms of strokes, brain injuries, brain tumors, etc. Obviously one must take google searches with a grain of salt, but nevertheless, this is doesn't seem like an automatic "Nothing to see here. Move along" type of thing, particularly given the escalating pattern of speech issues Trump has displayed. Not to mention the way his campaign and supporters piled on Biden.

I'm becoming convinced that part of the reason the press has such inadequate coverage of Trump is that he and his campaign have spent over a decade lobbing extremist propaganda-bombs at everyone else that, when it turns out Trump is the one actually engaging in the extreme behavior, the press doesn't want to cover it lest *they* look like they are participating in the same extremist behavior.

It's as if Trump's conduct has acted like an immunosuppressant against proper investigative journalism by training the press to ignore it instead of attacking.

Expand full comment

Not a bad analogy...

Expand full comment

Right? What is up with nowhere near 200 posts about it by NYT? I am not a journalist, but I am a professional data analyst with almost 30 years of experience - and these numbers, or rather absence thereof, do not add up. I thought it was SOOOOOO important to our media that a presidential candidate is able-bodied and of sound mind. Then.... suddenly... about three weeks ago.... it stopped being important. I don't understand!

Expand full comment

That is only if it is a Democratic candidate. IOKIYAR is the way they roll.

Expand full comment

The honchos probably have threatened their journalists with replacement by A.I. because they care about profits more than journalistic integrity.

Expand full comment

I really liked the Guardian comment: “a surprisingly dull meeting of two planet-sized egos”

Expand full comment

Oops, that should have come with - really enjoyed reading this and agree with you, like all of your pieces — I am fairly sure our politics are similar despite being a straight white female, 67 years old, but an ally to many causes.

Expand full comment

I must say, Jay, you put in a huge amount of energy and thought into what is yet another ephemeral and unmemorable tRump online escapade. By tomorrow, it will all be forgotten, deservedly so, and - as so often is said - we all move on.

But, do enjoy your writing no matter what the subject at hand is. My thoughts on the show:

Two little men, desperately seeking attention, locked together in a loveless embrace, playing to an audience of Nazis and incels…what fun.

Expand full comment
author

I do think it’s more than that, because of Musk. His money and his platform make for a potentially dangerous combination on Trump’s behalf, so it is pleasing in the extreme to see his efforts crash and burn.

Expand full comment

Point taken, but Twitter/X has been rebranded by Musk into a welcoming space for racists, Nazis, misogynists,far-right militia types, etc. His audience for the shite that goes out under his tweet are the Musk fanboys and camp followers of the types I listed above...who beyond that mob is he actually "influencing"?

Sure, it's a loud megaphone, but Musk's reach is limited in my view, he's not like, e.g., Orwell's Big Brother, piped into all public and private spaces without surcease. What he really is influencing, in a negative manner to his own business interests, are potential and current Tesla owners, and how Musk's political views and conduct have figuring into plummeting car sales...now, THAT'S the sort of "influencing" I welcome!

Expand full comment

And to your point, Lance, I am *precisely* the target market that Musk needs for Tesla (Angelino, drive limited amounts, have money, previously owned a hybrid, etc.), and my wife wants our next car to be electric or at least, a plug-in hybrid.

I have told her that I will NEVER buy a Tesla and put money into Musk’s pockets, and will look at *every* electric on the market before purchasing. I may lose this argument (you know… “happy wife…” 😉), but will not do so willingly.

It’s just SO stupid that he’s let his obvious South African bigotry run his financial empire, and he will likely be known as the man who lost more money in a shorter time than ANYONE in history, with his disastrous Twitter/X transformation.

Expand full comment

As a white South African now US citizen I’m horrified on a daily basis by the Musk we see today. 20 years ago I was proud of a South African doing so much to move us forward with solar and EV and reusable spacecraft! Today it is a very different persona on view. Maybe he was always this way, or maybe the sickeningly large pile of money he sleeps on got to him. Either way he’s an embarrassment and does not represent MY South Africa!

PS I love my home country and never intended to leave permanently but life had other plans. I woke up on Nov 9 2016 when everything had changed and resolved to get my citizenship before the next election!

Expand full comment

Good for you, citizen Debby!

Expand full comment

exactly! From a woman, and wife who was going to buy a Tesla. No, no, et no. I will purchase something else…

Expand full comment

You have soooo many choices better than a Tesla EV these days. She doesn't need a Tesla. <3

Expand full comment

Her argument is price, so we’ll see how that goes when she’s ready.

I have a Lexus RX350 SUV that I love and would gladly buy their plug-in hybrid, but it’s SO damn much money that I can’t justify it…

Expand full comment

We loved our 2019 Leaf. Newer models are even more efficient. Just sayin'. If you're looking for a luxury model, I don't know those as well. May the best car win!

Expand full comment

I don't know if Tesla fixed the issues, but at one time didn't they have a crappy safety and maintenance record? The only thing they had going for them IMO was the network of rapid charging stations.

I'm not in the market for a new car, so I haven't done any research on car prices in years. But if they are now cheaper that the alternatives, I'd wait for the others to reach economy of scale!

Expand full comment

Get a CPO one - off-lease, low miles, still has most of the factory warranty - and seriously - it's a LEXUS! Which means it's a Toyota that they made even better. You can drive that for 300K miles for almost nothing. And by the time you get there, there will be real (and affordable) choices in the electric market.

Expand full comment

Well Musk is working hard on making that happen. Latest valuation of X is 12.5B.

https://qz.com/elon-musk-x-twitter-value-drops-2023-1851136401

Expand full comment

Love the way you spell tRump. But many of the platforms and comment sections automatically capitalize the T. Even in the middle of a sentence. Annoying!!!

Expand full comment

I just call him The Convict. Solves all such problems, and I do not have to say, write, or type its name.

Expand full comment

The felon works too.

Expand full comment

He's the "Convicted Felon" to me because I refuse to write or say his name. I'm nit sure a person is a "Convict" until they are in prison? :)

Expand full comment

Dude was almost unalived! days ago. Weeks into decades

Expand full comment

Oh yeah, I forgot. And that's the most interesting part. Trump has become so insignificant that what ordinarily would be a monumental event in world history is already an almost-forgotten footnote two weeks later.

Expand full comment

The Orange Oaf is an old, tired wanna-be dictator leading a band of not very bright people who think a fascist dictatorship would be just ducky. He is financed by a bunch of self-absorbed billionaires who just want the tax cuts which would cross his desk, were he to be elected. His motivation is to maintain the cash stream from his grift... and to stay out of jail. If we win, we need to standardize federal elections across the board and rewrite the PAC laws and campaign finance laws. The FEC needs teeth - big, sharp ones.

Expand full comment
Aug 13·edited Aug 13Liked by Jay Kuo

I might add that Americas women are learning to avoid these same men that Trump and Musk are appealing too. The Incel, violent, racist, woman hating crowd that is attracting too many young men is a total turn off. I have been hearing my daughter explain that her friends are very unhappy with the men they are meeting on line although in person is better. Might mean that these men need to get off the internet, video games, White Supremacy hate sites and what have you, and get out into the real world. The internet seems to amplify a crazy world for people. I watched a video recently that someone had posted of a woman journalist spending time interviewing Nazi's in SC as they prepared to march at night with torches through a campus, symbolic of the hate they represent, and then she followed them around interviewing them. I could not watch much. Nothing useful is learned from these hate filled whiners once you know what they are about. A formula for stunted growth. This is who Trump wants to get. Fortunately, America is so much more than that, and that is why Harris and Walz are resonating with people. They're reminded that their country is about more than spoiled immigrant and native born, whiny, entitled, obscenely rich people.

Expand full comment

Just a quick addendum re obscenely rich people. Musk, Thiel and Murdoch are all naturalized citizens.

Expand full comment

They should all be under review, for National Security violations, IMO.

Expand full comment

Yes. Immigrants. I have a lot of friends who are naturalized citizens. Still, they are naturalized citizens who are immigrants, just like 2 of Trump's wives and his in-laws. Just like JD Vance's in-laws. Right now, I have a lot of American friends who are trying to get German citizenship here in Germany because this is where they live, work and have their lives, but just as my friends in the US who are naturalized do not fully feel American, these friends here feel themselves to be Americans. The obscenely rich do not seem to feel loyalty to any place.

Expand full comment
Aug 13·edited Aug 13Liked by Jay Kuo

Thanks Jay—appreciate the great recap since I of course refused to partake in that circle jerk. And WTF to the Atlantic

“…ought to have been a triumphant moment…”?! Are they living in a cave???

Expand full comment

I used to really respect the Atlantic, and thought maybe they would resist the urge to pander to tRump, but I see they still think there is potential for triumph there??!!??

Expand full comment

Yes…it has been so disheartening to watch the old guard fall, one by one, to greed and avarice.

Expand full comment

I canceled my subscription when I realized how right-wing they are. I don't miss it.

Expand full comment

The buffoonery marches on, picking up bling along the way, while the reality-based community points and laughs and campaigns and deflates the entire hot-air carnival of the damned by the reductionist "weirdo."

Expand full comment

"...hot-air carnival of the damned..." is the kind of comment that keeps me coming back. Brilliant!

Expand full comment

PUT UP YOUR BANNERS!

PUT UP YOUR SIGNS!

WEAR YOUR T-SHIRTS!

Shout it from the rooftops—-

HARRIS / WALZ 2024 !!!!!

Expand full comment

I went to the Harris Walz Merch yesterday and every single thing is sold out. I could not get my yard sign or my ‘Madame President’

t shirt. I was disappointed and then realized they are ALL SOLD OUT, people already have them…that’s okay with me!

Expand full comment

You can still find merch on Etsy. Not exactly the same, but still pisses off maggats!

Expand full comment

Well, I’m on my way over there right now!! Thanks for the tip.

Go Kamala Go 💙

Expand full comment

I got this yard sign before the VP was chosen:

https://stddonald.com/product/biden-harris-yard-sign-for-2024/

Expand full comment

Person in my neighborhood has left up his Biden/Harris sign - he just "redacted" the "Biden" and the "paid-for-by" at the bottom. It works for now!

Expand full comment

You should offer a "How to Write Headlines" course to the NYT. You could teach them a thing or two about content too.

Expand full comment

The day when I don't hear ANYTHING about Musk and Trump any more can't come soon enough.

Expand full comment

Loved your summary - saved me from having to stroke either of those creatures egos! Hopefully now Sylvester and Tweetie can go live together unhappily in cyberspace, and let the rest of the world get on with real life!

Expand full comment

Sylvester and Tweetie! Brava!

Expand full comment

Sufferin’ Succotash… that lisp was my new favorite thing. Sylvester the Cat is suing for copyright infringement. 🤣

Expand full comment

Someone needs to link this "event's" late start time with his derision of ABC's late start time during the NABJ interview.

Expand full comment
author

And that late start time wasn’t the fault of the NABJ organizers, as Trump claimed. It started late because Trump would not agree to real time factchecking.

Expand full comment

And Jay, wouldn’t it be nice if that truth was part of the NYT or WaPo coverage of the NABJ debacle?

Expand full comment

That’s the same as the NABJ, it started late because he wants zero fact checking. This should tell us all we need to know about him and his repugnant Republican ideals. Ugh.

Expand full comment

Again?? This is ridiculous. That needs to be standard in all his interviews. He lies when the truth would serve him better.

Expand full comment

He is terrified of the truth. Once that begins, there's no telling where it ends, and there is no controlling the effects.

Expand full comment

Thank you. I tried to listen to your example of the lisp issue. But hearing DTs voice makes me want to 🤮. I just can’t do it. Seeing him & hearing him makes me physically ill. Maybe that’s a woman thing. I don’t know. But he makes me want to run & hide somewhere. So I very much appreciate that you do the heavy lifting, so I don’t have to. 😇

Expand full comment

I feel exactly the same. I must change the channel when he speaks because I want to throw up. He makes me sick to my stomach. He’s a danger to all of us and our Country and should be treated as an enemy.

Expand full comment

Same here. I can take only a half second of hearing or seeing him (and, at a video of him at a rally, the idiots standing behind him).

Expand full comment

Same 🤢

Expand full comment

I might be willing to buy that Trump's speech problems last night have some sort of technical explanation outside of his control were it not for all the instances of him having exactly the same problems in speeches while he was in the White House and since. Last week's disastrous presser was loaded with Trump slurring and lisping his way through the questions.

His speech problems have accelerated along with his mental decline. The inability to form words properly is one of the signs of deepening dementia. My husband and I watched his brother have the same problem as he succumbed to frontotemporal dementia.

Expand full comment
author

It’s nuanced, but the speech issues signaling aphasia are different than what we heard last night. I only know this after interviewing an expert on it for The Big Picture!

Expand full comment

As a retired audio professional, I can confirm what Jay said. Each person would have had both their own microphone of choice *and* their own separate processing chain (mic preamplifier, compressor/limiter, de-esser, etc.), so each can be better controlled separately.

Could have been a bad setting in the processing chain, but as an audio pro, I would have had a back-up mic on another channel (maybe a lavalier mic on his lapel), and would have switched to it or at the least mixed them together for better result. If they didn’t have such basic live coverage issues accommodated, they were being incredibly shoddy.

Jay, you’re likely right: Musk fired SO many of his technical staff, maybe this, and the lengthy delay, more likely.

Expand full comment

I was very curious about this “lisp” or technical glitch, so I listened to some clips (thank you, Jeff Tiedrich!), and in my opinion, there was very *little* that sounded like an issue with his mic or processing chain. I don’t know what that was all about, as I’m hardly an expert in speech impairment from cognitive decline, which seems a *bit* more likely to me now, having listened.

Admittedly, I listened to only 2 extended clips that had been picked because they highlighted the “issue”, so maybe I didn’t hear enough to reach a conclusion….

Expand full comment

If it was a recording issue like the one you personally encountered, wouldn't Musk's voice have the same lisp?

Expand full comment

If the issue was a bad microphone, no.

Expand full comment
deletedAug 13
Comment deleted
Expand full comment

I bow to your obviously superior expertise. ✌️

Expand full comment

I don't think they were in the same room.

Expand full comment

I read some time ago that he wears a mouth plate due to drug use related damage to his palate, and that sometimes the plate slips. If that's true, maybe that was part of the speech problem.

Expand full comment

I recall laughing at him saying something about "the Uniteh Shtase" back in the bad old days.

Expand full comment

God Bless the Unithed Schtates… it’s a video. I don’t want any trump for president ever again. Lived through 9 years of this chump screwing everything up and ruining our Country. We’re not going back!!

Expand full comment

OT (but related) Guilty verdict, 4 felony and 3 misdemeanor counts in Colorado, Tina Peters abused her position and conspired with others (hopefully more charges for others) to illegally access voting equipment/data. I haven't seen mention of the transporting across State lines and giving it to someone who posted it online (during his Cyber Symposium) but seems to me receiving stolen goods is a crime, so I hope the best is yet to come. 😉

https://www.cpr.org/2024/08/12/tina-peters-trial-verdict/

Expand full comment