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Comment by bgwalter | Hacker News Reader

There is so much theater and reality TV in the Trump administration that it's hard to conclude anything. Most of the theater is there to play to his MAGA base.

First there was the (staged?) row with Zelensky. A couple of months later nothing has really changed.

Now Musk left as planned (he couldn't stay longer than 130 days in that position). Time for another public row to show that Trump is tough on subsidies for electric vehicles.

SpaceX will of course continue to get funded. A large number of LEO satellites are needed for Trump's Golden Dome and Starlink is needed in crisis regions.

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The Zelensky interview was only staged (manufactured) by the White House. You may have noticed immediately after the US stopped intelligence sharing just long enough for Putin to take back Kursk.

https://www.justice.gov/jmd/ethics/summary-government-ethics...

It looks like it is 130 days per year, not a rolling start from the date of hiring.

This is so farfetched and I find it absolutely bizarre that anyone can have a worldview where they think this level of conspiracy is the most likely explanation for any of these things. It runs contrary to the point of a conspiracy which is to do things that benefit you. Being called a pedophile and splitting your base is not to your benefit.

Even if it was to his benefit to get called a pedophile, there still would be no reason to assume 4D-chess genius. The malignant narcissist and drug explanation is right there. The long track record of infighting and interpersonal fallouts is right there. The track record of falsely calling people pedophiles is also right there.

But for some reason we must discard all reason and conclude that Trump and Musk are conspiring.

Direct your bewilderment at the conspiracy theorists of the NYT!

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/technology/elon-musk-trum...

"The spat was revelatory, it was epic, it was historic, at least according to the thousands of earnest and excited commentaries that were instantly published.

It was also a well-timed outburst.

Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump did not have a feud five days ago and might not have a feud five days from now. Until proved otherwise, all of this is theater. Think of it as the political version of professional wrestling. For a few hours, everyone was diverted by the spectacle of a brawl between the world’s richest man and its most powerful person."

Having you and other politically naive persons shoot down anything as a "conspiracy theory" is exactly what enables the system.

Yeah I think this is the most logical take.

These guys are both masters of dominating attention on social media. It got them to where they are. The way to dominate the national attention in this world we've created, is to act like a child and call someone a pedo. They are not the leaders we wanted, but may be the leaders we deserve.

Well, he did get elected TWICE so, seems deserved enough to me.

That's a really good take, and I personally missed that his departure was pre-planned all along (you are the first I saw to mention 130 days). But, again. "So, thank you, Elon, as you are leaving your role anyway, how about making a little performance for the public? Be my friend, post on Twitter that I didn't release Epstein files because I'm in them…"

…Really?

>First there was the (staged?) row with Zelensky. A couple of months later nothing has really changed.

I understand that the US stopped authorizing new shipments of gear to Ukraine like they were doing under Biden.

I don't believe it was staged. I think it was a long-shot attempt by Zelensky to make his case directly to the American people:

https://xcancel.com/RichardHanania/status/189556292259384155...

There is no multiverse where Trump would knowingly allow someone to mock or criticize him. If Musk grovels enough Trump may let him back; he loves emasculating his rivals.

> Now Musk left as planned (he couldn't stay longer than 130 days in that position).

He couldn't legally stay more than 130 days, but Trump is already ignoring plenty of more important laws and getting away with it. I doubt adding this one to the list would make any difference.

I really don't think the Zelensky thing was staged, and I doubt this was either.

As far as I can tell about Zelensky, he had every intention to cancel Trump's proposed deal after the white house meeting, but he is losing the war with Russia so badly that he absolutely needs US support, so he had no choice but to come back to the table.

Musk pulling out the Epstein thing and Trump pulling out the SpaceX contracts are both two subjects these guys are very touchy about. If they were faking it, they wouldn't have gone for the (emotional) throat on this one.

That said, Trump always chickens out, so there's no real chance SpaceX is getting its contracts canceled, even the ones that legitimately are a huge waste of money.

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