Unmeasured Rulers

At this point, the two world leaders running America (and, in some cases, beyond) agree that they want to betray our ally, Ukraine to the benefit of their ally, Russia. They’re just not in total agreement as to how to execute that betrayal, which leads us to an incredible lede like this one from the WSJ: “President Trump called Elon Musk on Wednesday and asked him to lift restrictions on a military-grade version of Starlink in Ukraine that the SpaceX chief had throttled, U.S. officials said. Some U.S. and Ukrainian officials said the system was working more normally on Thursday, after Trump and Musk spoke, but wasn’t restored to full functionality. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday ‘the speed has not been restored.’ ‘I’ve heard it was fixed but if it’s not I’ll speak to him,’ Trump told reporters Friday, referring to Musk.”

+ Obviously, Musk has way too much power for an unelected (not to mention unsavory, untoward, unkind, and increasingly, unAmerican) citizen. And he’s spending bigly to make sure things stay that way. “Elon Musk gave another $76 million to boost Republicans in the first two weeks of October, bringing his total giving this cycle to more than $442 million.”

+ “Live by the sword, die by the sword.” WaPo (Gift Article): As Republicans brace for election losses, Musk prepares for war. (I guess he’s been preparing by starving kids in Africa, endangering civilians in Ukraine, and of course, trolling on X.)