politics
Source: The Washington Post / Getty / Elon Musk / Donald Trump
It should come as no surprise that the bromance between these two ego maniacs would have come to a fiery end.
We knew this day would come, but no one had Musk and Trump beefing with each other so soon on their bingo cards. The alleged ketamine abuser couldn’t keep his disdain for Trump’s “one big beautiful bill,” calling it a “disgusting abomination.”
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“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk began. “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
Trump was uncharacteristically quiet following Musk’s initial comments about his legislative centerpiece of his second presidency, the “one big beautiful bill.”
That all changed when Trump finally “clapped back” at Musk while taking questions during his meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Trump said he was “very surprised” and “disappointed” by his former financier’s comments about his stupid bill, claiming the Tesla chief saw the bill and understood its inner workings better than anybody, while suggesting that Musk was mad because of the removal of subsidies and mandates for electric vehicles.
Elon Musk Had Time For Donald Trump
Musk responded in real time via his “former platform,” X, formerly Twitter, with a flurry of posts on X accusing Trump of “ingratitude” and “Without me, Trump would have lost the election,” while refuting the orange menace’s claims.
“Keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill, even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!), but ditch the MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill,” Musk wrote.
Oh, and he wasn’t done. Musk then hit the president with a low blow, writing, “Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!”
Donald Trump Claps Back
Trump finally fired back on his platform, Truth Social, by threatening to cut Musk’s government contracts. “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it.” Felon 47 wrote.
Musk replied by threatening to decommission SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which could be detrimental to the International Space Station and NASA, as it is described as “the only spacecraft currently flying that is capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth” and can seat seven passengers.
Musk also agreed with a post stating that Trump should be impeached and replaced by JD Vance.
Oh, this is getting spicy.
While all of this was going on, CNN reports that Tesla stocks took a hit and Musk’s net worth shrank.
Per CNN:
Tesla shares plummeted 15% this afternoon as Elon Musk’s battle with President Donald Trump intensified.
Trump threatened in a social media post to target Musk’s business empire.
“The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The Tesla selloff has wiped off more than $150 billion off the market value of Telsa, which started the day worth nearly $1.1 trillion.
It has also erased a chunk off the net worth of Musk, the world’s richest person.
Social media has pulled up all the seats, grabbed some popcorn and are currently watching Musk go at with Trump and his supporters, you can see those reactions in the gallery below.
3. Wellllll, did he?
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President Donald Trump unveiled a controversial travel ban against a small number of countries with majority Muslim populations, and revived the policy this week. On Wednesday (June 4), President Trump signed a proclamation that slapped a new travel ban against a dozen countries and partial restrictions on seven others.
The White House shared the proclamation on its website, which detailed the Trump administration’s plans to bar entry to the United States to individuals hailing from Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
In addition to the aforementioned countries, the proclamation placed partial travel restrictions on individuals from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
From the proclamation:
As President, I must act to protect the national security and national interest of the United States and its people. I remain committed to engaging with those countries willing to cooperate to improve information-sharing and identity-management procedures, and to address both terrorism-related and public-safety risks. Nationals of some countries also pose significant risks of overstaying their visas in the United States, which increases burdens on immigration and law enforcement components of the United States, and often exacerbates other risks related to national security and public safety.
The travel ban that was enacted in 2018 was wildly unpopular as it seemingly targeted countries that President Trump perceived to be enemies of the state. With the Republican Party holding majorities in both chambers, Trump and his administration have been emboldened to expand the travel ban to include mostly African and Muslim countries, and have the support of Republican members of Congress.
Sen. Chuck Grassley defended President Trump’s renewed travel ban, stating that it was in the best interest of national security, as reported by KCRG.
“I don’t know what the basis was for him making that decision, but I assume it’s come because of some terrorist attacks we’ve had in the United States,” Grassley said.
Amnesty International posted a response to the travel ban, which can be read here.
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Elon Musk‘s alignment with President Donald Trump‘s administration is coming under scrutiny after the world’s richest man criticized a massive bill that could add trillions to the United States’ debt. Via his X social media platform, Elon Musk blasted Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” by labeling it a “disgusting abomination.”
On Tuesday (June 3), Elon Musk took to X and aimed his critique at the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” becoming the first Trump ally to decry the bill and its well-documented flaws publicly.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk began. “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
What was curious about the South African businessman’s missive was that it was completely backed by the Republican Party members of the House, which is public knowledge. Some have pondered why Musk didn’t aim his vitriol towards those elected officials instead of painting his disdain for the budget bill with a wide brush.
Via Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, the White House’s response to Musk’s jabs was succinct, and that Trump is all in on getting the bill through the Senate.
“This is one big, beautiful bill, and he’s sticking to it,” Leavitt said, responding to a reporter in the press room who asked if the president would be upset by Musk’s comments.
Musk has the support of some Republican Party officials such as Sen. Rand Paul, who wrote on X, “I want to see the tax cuts made permanent, but I also want to see the $5 trillion in new debt removed from the bill. At least 4 of us in the Senate feel this way,” which was retweeted by the Tesla founder. He also shared other supporting statements from others who feel similarly to him about the bill.
This isn’t the first time Musk, who reportedly exited DOGE and the White House last week, has railed against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, doing so in a CBS News interview last month.
“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” Musk said in May.
On X, the reactions to Elon Musk seemingly breaking with the Trump administration and Republican Party members of Congress were plentiful. We’ve got some listed below.
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Photo: The Washington Post / Getty
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Source: Douglas Rissing / Getty
Last Thursday (May 30), the Department of Labor announced that they were beginning a “phased pause” of operations at all Job Corps locations nationwide, stating that it would be “an orderly transition for students, staff, and local communities.” In a statement, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeReamer claimed that the program no longer produces “the intended outcomes that students deserve,” adding that “a startling number of serious incident reports and our in-depth fiscal analysis.” The announcement caused an immediate uproar, and has led some to wonder why the government wants to shut Job Corps down.Job Corps was created in 1964 as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War On Poverty”, specifically to combat the rising rate of youth unemployment in the nation with vocational training while improving their basic education skills. It was modeled after past programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corps during the era of the Great Depression. Participants are between the ages of 16 to 24 (or older depending on disability requirements), and from low-income backgrounds. Job Corps currently has 121 centers nationwide, with two in Puerto Rico with six regional offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia and San Francisco. According to a study done by Mathematica in 2008, they found that it was “the only federal training program… shown to increase earnings for this [disadvantaged youth] population.”
https://x.com/_The_Twell/status/1929638183945621897The program has come under fire in the past for being costly. President Richard Nixon sought to shrink the program during his time in office, and President Ronald Reagan sought to eliminate it during his years in the White House, but he faced bipartisan pushback in Congress. That same support was evident last week, as Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) defended the program. “I urged Secretary Chavez-DeRemer to resume enrollment at Maine’s two Job Corps centers and to reverse the Department’s proposed elimination of the Job Corps program,” Collins said, adding that as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee that she’ll “continue to work to support this valuable program.”Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) also blasted the decision. “Congress appropriated funding for Job Corps, and the Trump Administration can’t just decide to not spend it because they want to make room for tax cuts for billionaires,” she said, noting the DOL’s remarks that their pause aligns with the current “big, beautiful bill” to create a new fiscal budget which aims to kick millions off of Medicaid as well as restrict federal judges’ oversight and rulings against the Trump administration.
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Source: Getty Images / Cory Booker / Elon Musk
Cory Booker is shutting down claims he was out here throwing up a Nazi salute.
MAGA Republicans and Elon Musk are losing their sh*t and doing their best to compare a moment where Cory Booker put his hand on his heart and waved goodbye to the crowd at the Democratic National Convention in California to when Musk clearly did a Nazi salute.
Through a spokesperson, Booker shut down those ridiculous claims.
“Cory Booker was obviously just waving to the crowd. Anyone who claims his wave is the same as Elon Musk‘s gesture is operating in bad faith,” Maya Krishna-Rogers, spokesperson for Booker, said to Newsweek in a statement sent via email on Sunday. “The differences between the two are obvious to anyone without an agenda.”
Musk also doubled down on his acceptance of th use of the word “retard” as an insult.
🤨 https://t.co/HP6RApoMju
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 1, 2025
MAGA Republicans going hard trying to make something out of nothing about Cory Booker waving goodbye to the crowd, comes after Musk and Steve Bannon both were both accused doing nazi salutes during events.
Musk was accused of doing a Nazi salute during Trump rally during his second inauguration following his unfortunate election win.
Elon Musk has gone full mask off Nazi. He is actively promoting Nazism. Tesla is now a hate symbol. pic.twitter.com/gO2VFS0x1B
— James Jansson (@jamesjansson) January 20, 2025
Still despite Booker’s statement and the video evidence, you can’t tell these MAGA fools a damn thing as continue to take photos of other elected officials clearly waving bye, and using them as evidence of them doing Nazi salutes in order to vindicate the alleged ketamine abuser Elon Musk.
🤨 https://t.co/E7NzAWCuJB
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 1, 2025
SMH.
You can see more stupid reactions in the gallery below.
3. Because it’s not a Nazi salute
Here’s a list of all the news networks who have not covered Cory Booker’s salute:- NYTimes- CNN- Washington Post- MSNBC- NPR- USA Today- Reuters- Axios- ABC NewsEvery single one of them wrote stories on Elon Musk’s salute.do you get it yet? pic.twitter.com/uIGJ5TfvQL— kekius tees (@kekmaximusk) June 1, 2025
6. Lol @ shaking
I’m literally shaking right now. Cory Booker is literally Hitler. I can’t wait for fake news to cover this as extensively as they did Elon when gave his heart out to everyone! pic.twitter.com/UBMwOOfWvY— Sara Rose 🇺🇸🌹 (@saras76) May 31, 2025
8.
Hello, @NewsHour — will you be making a post comparing Cory Booker’s apparent “fascist salute” to the “Sieg Heil?”Your post about Elon Musk making a very similar gesture amassed over 36M views.Since you assure US taxpayers that PBS is a non-partisan organization, and all. pic.twitter.com/OPcwtD1Cjv— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) June 1, 2025
9. Piers Morgan is a loser
It’s most amusing to watch all the people who branded @elonmusk a Nazi now tying themselves in tortured knots trying to explain why Cory Booker isn’t… for doing the EXACT SAME THING. Of course, neither is.. but the hypocrisy stinks. https://t.co/4ozBbrBFSe— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) June 1, 2025
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As politicians around the world continue to pursue anti-LGBTQ+ agendas, Cynthia Erivo has a simple message for queer people in 2025: Don’t let them win.
In her new Billboard cover story published Monday (June 2), Erivo opens up about her thoughts on the Trump administration’s continued attacks on LGBTQ+ rights. When asked by Billboard Pride editor Stephen Daw how she’s coping with the political chaos, the singer-actress shared that she’s focusing on trying to combat the vitriol with peace and calm.
“I’m trying to be a person you can get positive things from, because that is the only way you can balance this stuff,” she says. “Fear-mongering is very powerful, and the only thing that you can do in order to offset that is to feed it with light and positivity.”
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For her queer and trans fans, Erivo highlights the importance of staying true to yourself, even amid a scary political landscape. “I want to encourage people to not decide to just tuck away and start hiding and not being themselves anymore, because that is exactly what they want,” she says. “The more yourself you are, the more you are in front of people who don’t necessarily understand, the better understanding starts to happen.”
All-star songwriter Justin Tranter agrees, saying that Erivo herself has become a powerful symbol for the LGBTQ+ community since her public coming out in 2022. “Cynthia being Black and queer, and being one of the most famous people alive in this moment while our community is dealing with what we are dealing with, is no mistake,” they tell Billboard. “For someone as talented as her to be a beacon for young Black queer people all over the world … is no accident.”
Over the last few years, Erivo made a name for herself as one of the premiere performers at The Kennedy Center, where she’s performed her own solo concerts while also honoring legends such as Dionne Warwick, Dame Julie Andrews and Earth, Wind & Fire. But earlier in 2025, President Trump announced that he was naming himself as the chairman of the prestigious arts organization, replacing existing board members with his own allies and ceasing any and all drag performances hosted by the Center.
“I don’t know who gains what from that. I hope that it comes back,” Erivo says of Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center. “It’s really sad to have to watch this happen to it. The Kennedy Center is supposed to be a space of creativity and art and music for everyone.”
See Erivo on the cover of Billboard and check out photos from her cover shoot below:
President Donald Trump has demonstrated in times past that he is chronically online, as some have witnessed via his frequent posts on his social media network, Truth Social. Taking to his platform once more, President Donald Trump shared a post promoting a peculiar conspiracy theory alleging that former President Joe Biden was replaced by a clone.
Over the weekend, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social and reshared a post from a user that suggests that President Joe Biden was replaced by robotic clones in 2020. The post itself was replete with hashtags such as “#BlackMen,” “#Blackwomem, “#Blacks,” and “#Jews” along with mentions towards political groups and media outlets.
“There is no #JoeBiden – executed in 2020. #Biden clones doubles & robotic engineered soulless mindless entities are what you see. #Democrats dont know the difference,” read the leading portion of the brief post. The user, who has around 5,000 followers, had the good fortune of getting President Trump’s attention, who reshared the post to his millions of followers.
While there is no proof of this claim, it does appear to be a recent one. Biden has been a favorite target of Trump supporters and the MAGA faithful, who believe the former president’s performance in his first and final term as the nation’s leader left America in worse shape than Trump.
The Truth Social user also shared an article from The Babylon Bee, a fictional news outlet similar to The Onion, which leans into political satire and has fooled former politicians in the past into thinking it is a fact-based news organization.
President Trump and former President Biden have not made any comments about the theory, from what we’ve been able to assess.
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Photo: Anadolu / Getty
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With Pride Month 2025 coming amid dark times for the LGBTQ+ community, pop singer Reneé Rapp wants her fans to know there is still light in the dark — they just have to go looking for it. In a new cover story for Cosmopolitan on Monday (June 2), the “Leave Me Alone” singer shared a […]
Diddy is currently on trial in New York for sex trafficking and racketeering. While the trial is still in its early stages, President Donald Trump was asked about potentially pardoning the Bad Boy mogul, and Trump admitted it’s something he’d consider. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news During […]
What does Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez listen to when she’s fighting for change or passing legislation on Capitol Hill? A lot of Bad Bunny, as it turns out.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone published Friday (May 30), the politician opened up about policy, the Donald Trump administration and, of course, her favorite tunes. “I have had the Bad Bunny album on repeat,” she told the publication, referencing 2025’s four-week Billboard 200 chart-topper Debi Tirar Mas Fotos.
“As a Puerto Rican, the album is very cathartic, and it’s very political,” AOC continued. “It speaks to a lot of what’s happening to us and our people right now.”
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The New York native added that she loves how the rapper is “bringing salsa back.” “Rauw Alejandro is doing that, too,” she noted. “I’m a big salsa person. It’s such a nice outlet. I like it because the lyricism is so dramatic. Everyone’s breaking up, everyone’s got the love of their life. It’s so funny.”
AOC’s praise of the “Titi Me Pregunto” artist comes as he’s gearing up to tour the globe in support of his new album, traveling around Latin America, Asia, Australia and Europe. He’s also been breaking numerous sales records while he’s at it, from becoming the first Latin act to ever sell out a stadium concert in Australia to selling all-time high amounts of tickets in France, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Sweden for a Latin artist.
Other than his upcoming residency in Puerto Rico, however, Bunny is notably skipping the United States on his tour. When asked for her thoughts, Ocasio-Cortez told RS, “We just don’t have figures like that anymore.”
“I think about the Civil Rights Movement, and I think about people like Harry Belafonte and all of these artists who really did risk everything, risk their careers and their popularity in order to support and take part in people’s movements, and to use their art … it’s more rare now, or at least it feels that way,” she continued. “I wasn’t around then. The pressures of the industry are to be as broad as possible. When you have someone who does something gutsy like that, first of all, people come through for it, and it’s super compelling.”
To the representative’s point about Bunny being political, the three-time Grammy winner is also active in politics outside of his music. In the 2024 U.S. election, he supported Kamala Harris’ campaign for president, boosting her messaging about what was at stake for Puerto Rican voters.
Several other Latin stars — including Luis Fonsi, Marc Anthony and Ricky Martin — also expressed support for Harris, though others backed Trump. In September, AOC dissed Nicky Jam and Anuel AA for endorsing the twice-impeached POTUS during a congressional hearing.
“I suppose that puts you and Nicky Jam and Anuel in the same boat,” she told Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the far-right Center for Immigration Studies, after he claimed not to remember Trump saying he wanted to “sell” Puerto Rico.