MATT BERG
& CROOKED MEDIA

TUESDAY
MAY 20, 2025

I think I’ve done enough.”

 
— Elon Musk, [on his political spending...]([link removed]) in a statement many of his critics would endorse.

FORK IN THE DOGE

Elon Musk says he’s stepping back from political spending, as he continues to fade away from the political scene. Are we finally done with this guy?

- A hundred years ago last month, “The Great Gatsby” took direct aim at the enormous, destructive firepower of the rich in American society, in a memorable passage depicting two luxury-class characters fleeing from their own wreckage. “They were careless people,” F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote. “They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”

- Is that what Elon’s up to? Sure looks like it. He’s ditching his political spending, he said today, at a moment when he suddenly seems to be rapidly vanishing from the American political landscape. This disappearing act comes after he splashed out $290 million of his own cash to elect President Donald Trump, then humiliatingly failed to buy the Wisconsin Supreme Court race for $25 million. At the peak of his power, he was everywhere — shattering federal agencies and disrupting the lives of thousands of workers with abrupt mass firings. He quickly [became hated]([link removed]) by a majority of Americans. The foreign aid cuts he helped orchestrate have been tied to widespread suffering and death [among the world’s most destitute people.]([link removed]) Fellow billionaire Bill Gates [slammed Musk]([link removed]) by saying: “The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one.” 

- “In terms of political spending, I’m going to do a lot less in the future,” Musk said [during a virtual interview]([link removed]) at the Qatar Economic Forum today. “I think I’ve done enough.…  If I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it,” he added, looking exceptionally depressed while wearing a slim-fit fur-collared jacket. “I do not currently see a reason.”
 

- Well, he does have a reason to cut it out: His giddy activism has cost him a fortune. Musk’s net worth [dropped more than $100 billion]([link removed]) earlier this year, after the market value of Tesla, his electric car company, plummeted. Protestors have picketed Tesla dealerships, while activists [painted swastikas]([link removed]) on its cars and even [set some ablaze]([link removed]).

 
But will Musk stay true to his word?

- He could always change his mind, of course. Or he might just be lying. “He can just fund dark money groups to try and avoid the political scrutiny,” one journalist [pointed out]([link removed]). Musk’s America PAC, for the moment, [remains mum]([link removed]) about its future plans. (This all reminds me of how much I viscerally hate [Citizens United]([link removed])!!!)

- But for now, we’ll take what we can get: “Musk’s businesses are tanking, his campaign involvements have been backfiring, and the country has been suffering from his political actions,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told What A Day. “He’s making the right decision for everyone concerned.” 

Perhaps Musk’s humiliation will serve as a cautionary tale for other billionaires tempted to rent the U.S. government for funsies. After all, it has only cost him billions in net worth… and [a metric shit-ton]([link removed]) of [public embarrassment]([link removed]).

RUMOR HAS IT

The political exposé about former President Joe Biden’s health and disastrous reelection campaign, which Washington D.C. can’t stop talking about, was finally released today. 
 
It contains fresh details likely to bolster right-wing rumors — and is also likely to put Biden’s White House physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, in the hot seat. 
 
The timing of the release of “Original Sin” by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson — a deeply reported book detailing an alleged cover-up by Biden’s closest aides to hide his health problems — is uncanny, coming just two days after the former president was diagnosed with an aggressive case of prostate cancer. 
 
MAGAworld has leapt to the conclusion that Biden was actually hiding an earlier cancer diagnosis, although that’s far from proven and doctors say it’s entirely possible his condition might have gone undetected. 
 
Yet details about O’Connor’s tenure may hand Biden’s political opponents grist to carry on their attacks, including about his very close and long-standing relationship to Biden.   
 
“People around Biden worried that O’Connor, whom almost everyone called Doc, might be too close to his patient,” Tapper and Thompson wrote, noting that he had been Biden’s primary care physician for 13 years. “He thought closeness to a patient — even the president — was an asset rather than a liability.”
 
These anecdotes are shared in the context of O’Connor’s refusal to subject Biden to a cognitive exam — not a prostate exam, which doctors often don’t conduct for patients older than 75. (There’s no requirement for presidents to undergo medical exams, either.)
 
“Biden’s political advisers discussed whether he should finally undergo a cognitive exam to blunt questions about his mental fitness. O’Connor had long pushed back on political advisers interfering in his medical evaluations,” the journalists wrote. “He told others that he did not believe the science required him to do a cognitive test. He saw the president frequently, and if he had reason for concern, he would have performed one.”
 
O’Connor often battled Biden’s aides to allow him more rest, since the presidency is a taxing job. “O’Connor quipped that Biden’s staff were trying to kill him, while O’Connor was trying to keep him alive,” according to the book.
 
Right-wing commentators are [calling for lawmakers]([link removed]) on Capitol Hill to subpoena O’Connor. Yesterday, Donald Trump told reporters that “someone is going to have to speak to his doctor.” The Republican-led House Oversight Committee is investigating whether White House officials concealed negative information about Biden’s health. 

How could the president, who receives some of the best medical care in the world, dodge such a severe cancer diagnosis? Again, it’s in the realm of possibility, [according to experts]([link removed]). But we still don’t know all the facts, either.

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WHAT ELSE?

[Former Fox News contributor Leo Terrell,]([link removed]) a top Department of Justice official, suggested that former First Lady Jill Biden could be charged with “elder abuse” for supporting her husband’s re-election campaign. Yes, that’s legally just as absurd as it sounds — and, no, I can’t believe we’re less than six months into this!
 
[Democrats criticized the Trump administration]([link removed]) for charging Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) with assault after a confrontation with officials outside an immigration detention center last week. “Everyone responsible for this illegitimate abuse of power is going to be held accountable for their actions,” House Democratic leadership said in a statement. This case appears to be yet another example of the Trump administration flexing its powers to target the president's political opponents.
 
[DHS Secretary Kristi Noem botched an answer]([link removed]) about habeas corpus, the right to due process for people in the United States: “Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country,” she told lawmakers during a hearing today. Do you hear that? That’s a collective sigh from civics teachers across America.
 
[Noem also told lawmakers that her department]([link removed]) has “no plans for doing a reality show.” That comes after a spokesperson confirmed that DHS was considering a pitch for a show that would have immigrants compete against each other for U.S. citizenship. Fucked up that our government was even thinking about it!
 
[Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) was the only Democrat]([link removed]) to vote in approval of Charles Kushner, the father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared, to be U.S. ambassador to France. Kushner is a convicted felon pardoned by Trump — who has long supported the New Jersey lawmaker. (Booker claimed that he voted “yes” because of Kushner’s support for criminal justice reforms.)  Politicians will be politicians, I guess! 🤢
 
[Donald Trump warned GOP lawmakers to not]([link removed]) “fuck around with Medicaid” as the House struggles to pass his “big, beautiful bill” to pay for tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy. Here’s the catch: It’s widely acknowledged as impossible to pay for his $4.5 trillion in tax cuts with slashing Medicaid. Must be nice when you have no understanding of how policy works!
 
[Annual Covid-19 shots for healthy young adults]([link removed]) and children will no longer be approved by the Trump administration. It’s a major policy shift led by [sewage swimmer]([link removed]) Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which will require companies to conduct large, lengthy studies before receiving approval to provide vaccines to healthier people.
 
[Former Rep. Billy Long, Trump’s pick to lead]([link removed]) the Internal Revenue Service, once promoted a tax credit that the IRS said doesn’t exist. Oh, and he had no background in tax until two years ago, when he began doing shady shit. Only the finest!

[Former FBI Director James Comey claimed]([link removed]) to be unaware of the violent connotation of his social media post, depicting seashells arranged to look like “86 47” on a beach. “I said, well, to me, as a kid, it always meant to leave a place, to ditch a place,” Comey told MSNBC. “I said, that’s really clever.”

OUR CONTENT RUNNETH OVER
 
May is usually the calm before June’s opinion storm at SCOTUS — but not in Trump’s America. This week on [Strict Scrutiny]([link removed]), Melissa, Kate, and Leah dig into whether the courts will let Trump end birthright citizenship. If you're trying to make sense of the legal chaos shaping our rights and democracy, Strict Scrutiny is here to help you understand what’s going on in the highest court, and where to focus your attention to combat news fatigue. Expert legal analysis in plain English, hot off the precedent. New episodes of [Strict Scrutiny]([link removed]) drop every Monday — tune in wherever you get your podcasts or on YouTube!
 
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[The White Sox unveiled a new mural]([link removed]) of Father Bob, who now goes by Pope Leo, beside the row where he watched Game 1 of the 2005 World Series. “The pope absolutely has an open invite to come back,” a White Sox executive said. “To come sit in Section 140, to throw out a first pitch. Heck, maybe we’ll let him get an at-bat.” 

[A New Hampshire bakery won a free speech case]([link removed]), after its town tried to force the shop to remove a mural depicting sun rays shining on paintings of muffins, donuts and cinnamon rolls that was painted by high school students. It was a weird case: The town argued that the mural qualified as an advertisement sign, and therefore it was too large. (In reality, it’s heavily implied that the town just didn’t want too many tourists stopping by.) 

[It was chess grandmaster Magnus Carlson]([link removed]) versus 143,000 people in the largest chess showdown of all time… and it was a draw. Over more than a month, people around the world voted on moves to counter Carlson, who was expected to win the match by a wide margin. Team World played some “very, very sound chess,” said Carlson. I love this — it’s like that [100 men versus 1 gorilla thought experiment]([link removed]), but in real life (and more wholesome).
 
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