The only person who had more fun on Inauguration Day than Donald Trump was Melania Trump. Kidding, kidding. No, you guessed it — it was Elon Musk. The richest man in the world couldn’t stop grinning as he jumped around and made heart-pounding gestures to the crowd in D.C.’s Capital One Arena.
Make sense of the latest news and debates with our daily newsletter
Of course, he was accused of acting like a Nazi by the throngs on social media who saw only his stiffened, outstretched arm and hand — an awkward gesture by an awkward man. But a Nazi salute? Lemmings leaping in unison from a cliff can claim more original thought.
Musk is many things — probably too many at once — but nothing in his repertoire suggests he’s a Proud Boy, only pretending to be a normal guy who wants to fly rockets through space and ride around in electric trucks that look like Tonka transformers. He might be a genius, but watch or listen to him for a minute. You can almost see the lights flashing and gears grinding behind his eyes as he tries to wrestle a thought into a logical sequence of words.
In any case, Musk is surely due the benefit of doubt. What I saw in real time on Monday was a character not unlike the one played by Tom Hanks in the 1988 movie “Big,” someone who would eat a cocktail ear of corn as if were a regular-sized cob. We can be certain that Musk was, for the moment, in love with Trump, who had promised in his inaugural speech to plant a flag on Mars. Musk bumped his heart with his fist and shot valentines into the crowd with the grandest gesture he could muster.
Follow Kathleen Parker
The newly reminted president’s antics were in sync with Musk’s that day, as he tossed Sharpie pens to the crowd at the arena, after signing eight of his seemingly 400 executive orders onstage. It was reminiscent of Trump’s 2017 visit to San Juan, Puerto Rico, when he tossed rolls of paper towels into a cheering church crowd after Hurricane Maria had devastated the island.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/01/17/trump-impoundment-congress-power-grab/
One would think that Trump’s detractors might worry more about a few of those orders than they have been about Musk’s excitement. Trump’s pardoning or commutation of everyone involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, calumny, including the most violent, comes to mind. Thanks to this promise kept, political violence is officially sanctioned, just as long as it favors the president.
Trump had promised all along to release the Jan. 6 “hostages.” Yet the pardons remind America that the gangsters who breached the Capitol, threatening to kill Vice President Mike Pence and hunting then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, were working for Trump. By calling them hostages, Trump designated dangerous thugs as veterans of a war — his own against the U.S. Constitution.
Anyone who watched the horror unfold on Jan. 6 knows that those who punched, pilloried and lasered their way into the Capitol deserved to be prosecuted and serve time behind bars. I wonder how long before ol’ “QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley — he of the horned headdress — starts making the talk show rounds. What was on your mind that day, Mr. Shaman?
In addition to terminating our membership in the World Health Organization and the Paris climate agreement, Trump signaled that he wouldn’t honor the Supreme Court’s ruling that TikTok cease operating in the United States. In another order, he promised to halt enforcing penalties against tech companies that host the app for 75 days, during which he said he’ll consult with advisers “on the national security concerns posed by TikTok, and to pursue a resolution” to save the platform.
Congress has studied these security concerns for years. It passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act after finding that TikTok was collecting data that could allow Beijing to spy on Americans. But Trump thinks there might be a way forward through a joint venture. Meanwhile, TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chew was a guest at the inauguration, seated next to Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s nominee for, ahem, director of national intelligence.
Republicans, speaking post-inauguration, have noted that Americans wanted change and praised Trump’s first day. Republican conference chair Rep. Lisa C. McClain (Michigan) averred that Trump had done more in one day than President Joe Biden did in four years. Well, there’s certainly that. And his administration hasn’t yet scratched the surface. Watch out because, as every child knows, if you give a mouse a cookie, he’s going to want a glass of milk. And Greenland, the Panama Canal and the Gulf of America.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/01/24/trump-president-orders-musk/
Make sense of the latest news and debates with our daily newsletter
Of course, he was accused of acting like a Nazi by the throngs on social media who saw only his stiffened, outstretched arm and hand — an awkward gesture by an awkward man. But a Nazi salute? Lemmings leaping in unison from a cliff can claim more original thought.
Musk is many things — probably too many at once — but nothing in his repertoire suggests he’s a Proud Boy, only pretending to be a normal guy who wants to fly rockets through space and ride around in electric trucks that look like Tonka transformers. He might be a genius, but watch or listen to him for a minute. You can almost see the lights flashing and gears grinding behind his eyes as he tries to wrestle a thought into a logical sequence of words.
In any case, Musk is surely due the benefit of doubt. What I saw in real time on Monday was a character not unlike the one played by Tom Hanks in the 1988 movie “Big,” someone who would eat a cocktail ear of corn as if were a regular-sized cob. We can be certain that Musk was, for the moment, in love with Trump, who had promised in his inaugural speech to plant a flag on Mars. Musk bumped his heart with his fist and shot valentines into the crowd with the grandest gesture he could muster.
Follow Kathleen Parker
The newly reminted president’s antics were in sync with Musk’s that day, as he tossed Sharpie pens to the crowd at the arena, after signing eight of his seemingly 400 executive orders onstage. It was reminiscent of Trump’s 2017 visit to San Juan, Puerto Rico, when he tossed rolls of paper towels into a cheering church crowd after Hurricane Maria had devastated the island.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/01/17/trump-impoundment-congress-power-grab/
One would think that Trump’s detractors might worry more about a few of those orders than they have been about Musk’s excitement. Trump’s pardoning or commutation of everyone involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, calumny, including the most violent, comes to mind. Thanks to this promise kept, political violence is officially sanctioned, just as long as it favors the president.
Trump had promised all along to release the Jan. 6 “hostages.” Yet the pardons remind America that the gangsters who breached the Capitol, threatening to kill Vice President Mike Pence and hunting then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, were working for Trump. By calling them hostages, Trump designated dangerous thugs as veterans of a war — his own against the U.S. Constitution.
Anyone who watched the horror unfold on Jan. 6 knows that those who punched, pilloried and lasered their way into the Capitol deserved to be prosecuted and serve time behind bars. I wonder how long before ol’ “QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley — he of the horned headdress — starts making the talk show rounds. What was on your mind that day, Mr. Shaman?
In addition to terminating our membership in the World Health Organization and the Paris climate agreement, Trump signaled that he wouldn’t honor the Supreme Court’s ruling that TikTok cease operating in the United States. In another order, he promised to halt enforcing penalties against tech companies that host the app for 75 days, during which he said he’ll consult with advisers “on the national security concerns posed by TikTok, and to pursue a resolution” to save the platform.
Congress has studied these security concerns for years. It passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act after finding that TikTok was collecting data that could allow Beijing to spy on Americans. But Trump thinks there might be a way forward through a joint venture. Meanwhile, TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chew was a guest at the inauguration, seated next to Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s nominee for, ahem, director of national intelligence.
Republicans, speaking post-inauguration, have noted that Americans wanted change and praised Trump’s first day. Republican conference chair Rep. Lisa C. McClain (Michigan) averred that Trump had done more in one day than President Joe Biden did in four years. Well, there’s certainly that. And his administration hasn’t yet scratched the surface. Watch out because, as every child knows, if you give a mouse a cookie, he’s going to want a glass of milk. And Greenland, the Panama Canal and the Gulf of America.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/01/24/trump-president-orders-musk/
