Trump is clearly unhappy about it, too.
“That’s a nasty question,” he told a reporter at a White House press briefing on Wednesday after being quizzed about the term. “Don’t ever say what you said. That’s a nasty question. To me, that’s the nastiest question.”
A moment from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s Tuesday briefing is going viral, with critics saying it perfectly encapsulates the Trump White House’s approach to foreign affairs.
Leavitt was asked if the White House had a response to the presidential election in South Korea, where liberal candidate Lee Jae-myung defeated conservative rival Kim Moon Soo.
“Yes, we do. In fact. Let me find it here for you,” Leavitt said, flipping through a binder in front of her.
“Should be somewhere here,” she said, still flipping through.
https://x.com/i/status/1929955007475879962
After a pause and more shuffling, she added: “Hmm. We do not.”
She laughed awkwardly as she said, “But I will get you one,” before abruptly moving on to a new question from another reporter.
The clip quickly gained traction on social media.
Critics said it showcased the Trump administration’s lack of preparation and attention to world events.
“A total clown show,” remarked the Republicans Against Trump group.
Pam Bondi did that with Epstein files. It’s their trademark.
This isn’t just a gaffe, it’s a clown show at the podium while the world is watching.
Melissa Carol
I’m surprised she didn’t just say something like: Yes, the White Houses official response is that President Trump loves this great United States and even though the previous administration didn’t do anything to help our great country, rest assured your President Trump is going to Make America Great Again. Next question?
Trump just banned travelers from 12 nations, mostly Black and brown. This isn’t security. It’s racism. Sign to stop the ban.
War Of Titans: “BBB actually stands for Big beautiful breakup,”…
Musk, 53, and Trump, 78, got into a heated back-and-forth on their respective social media sites – X and Truth Social – after Musk publicly criticized the president’s tax bill, dubbed the “big beautiful bill,” just days after leaving his role leading DOGE.
Earlier Thursday, Trump said he was “very disappointed” by Musk’s comments on his spending bill, which is working its way through Congress.
After Trump spoke out in the Oval Office, Musk took to X to say his former buddy would have lost the most recent presidential election without him.
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House, and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” Musk wrote.
“Such ingratitude,” he added in a follow-up post.
As the spat unfolded, the president claimed Musk had gone “CRAZY” and threatened to terminate his multi-billion-dollar government contracts.”
Donald Trump’s former advisor Steve Bannon urged the president to deport Elon Musk and cancel his government contracts after the two former allies started an all-out feud.
“They should initiate a formal investigation of his immigration status, because I am of the strong belief that he is an illegal alien, and he should be deported from the country immediately,” Bannon said, according to the New York Times.
Politico also ran an interview with the far-right strategist, who said “MAGA’s done” with Musk.
“I think MAGA is now seeing exactly what he was all along,” Bannon said. “I’m just saying, Hey, told you – knew this was gonna happen, folks. Not a hard one.”
Musk’s very public breakup with Trump largely came down to serious disagreements over Trump’s signature spending bill, which is projected to add trillions to the US deficit.
“He’s not being constructive – he’s being destructive,” Bannon said. “He’s made this a personal vendetta against the president of the United States because the president dismissed him.”
In response to Musk’s public unraveling, Bannon suggested that Trump should take revenge by attacking his businesses and even his immigration status, despite his position as a naturalized US citizen.
“President Trump, tonight, should sign an executive order calling up the Defense Production Act, and seize SpaceX tonight, before midnight,” Bannon said on his War Room podcast.
Musk immediately lashed out at Bannon for his comments, saying that “Bannon is peak r*****.”
The tech billionaire went on to repeat the slur in various posts on X, even calling him a “communist” at one point.
Musk’s spat with Bannon is no surprise, as the two have had a history of trading blows online, the former often criticizing the tech billionaire for his role in the Trump administration.
In December 2024, before Musk had even started at DOGE, Bannon called him a “toddler” and criticized his stance on H1-B visas. In response, Musk told him to "F* YOURSELF in the face."**
user-fnp3ywdskj
GET THE POPCORN! The right-in fighting is getting good. Everyone who wasn’t MAGA knew this wouldn’t last. The two personalities would clash, and Elon has different priorities than Trump. Elon wants as little government oversight as possible while he still gets his cushiony government contracts and pro-environmental tax cuts. Trump wants whatever Trump wants. Big government for purely control, a big military, and removing any kind of support he doesn’t like.
Even if Musk fails in his efforts to kill Trump’s bill, this battle is exposing a deeper truth that the White House can’t hide: The MAGA coalition is fragile and some of the differences are starting to tear at the seams less than half a year into the second Trump term. Trump’s slim win in 2024 was no doubt due in large part to Musk, and not just the eye-popping quarter-billion-plus Musk spent to push the old man’s orange carcass over the finish line. It’s because Musk and other influential figures, especially those associated with Silicon Valley or who pretend to be former liberals, were able to convince a chunk of more secular, largely male voters to throw their lot in with the Christian nationalist base that is the backbone of the MAGA movement. But while these two groups joined together based on a shared animosity towards racial minorities and women, it was always a far more uneasy alliance than Musk or Trump wanted to admit. And now it’s getting shakier as two narcissistic billionaires are at odds.
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1930703865801810022?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1930703865801810022|twgr^58692e2ba6bbd3cf937aff9a86f064c38bf3e79d|twcon^s1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.salon.com%2F2025%2F06%2F06%2Ffight-with-musk-reveals-magas-biggest-delusion%2F
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., lies all day about everything, but he was probably telling the truth when he sneered that “the EV mandate is very important to” Musk. Tesla sales have been crashing since Musk joined the MAGA movement, meaning he needs government subsidies for electric vehicles more than ever. But while I have no doubt Musk is way more concerned about his bottom line than about government spending — his ostensible reason for hating the bill — his anger would be impotent if it didn’t tap into existing tensions between the newfangled technofascist wing of the GOP and more traditional Republicans.
“The Silicon Valley tech world does not like this bill,” Tim Miller of The Bulwark explained on his podcast Wednesday. It’s not just Musk, but many wealthy leaders who are deeply invested in the energy and tech areas that President Joe Biden’s administration invested so heavily in. They stabbed Democrats in the back as a thank-you for that money, and now are shocked they are being similarly betrayed by the Republicans they joined up with.
I don’t think Musk and Trump were actually fighting when Musk ostensibly “left” last week — even as Trump was assuring reporters his billionaire buddy was going nowhere — but there’s no doubt this conflict is disrupting their months of narcissistic codependency. On Thursday, Trump got angry and accused Musk of having “Trump derangement syndrome” on camera. It was during the same event that he lamented that the Allies prevailed on D-Day, suggesting the 78-year-old was in one of his increasingly common moments of uninhibited honesty.
This conflict was brewing for reasons that run deeper than Musk and Trump’s competing egos or Silicon Valley’s dependency on government funding, which their leaders disparage. The atheistic world of pseudo-intellectualism that Musk and his minions come from was always going to have friction with the Christian nationalists who actually run the MAGA-ified Republican Party.
The most recent sign I’ve seen that there’s trouble in fascist paradise came late last month, from a YouTube video that, at first blush, seems like it’s not related: Jordan Peterson’s ill-fated effort to “debate” 20 atheists at once. Peterson is a former psychology professor remade into a MAGA culture warrior, and was a huge player in radicalizing a lot of young, secular men to the right for years before Musk got into the game. But he, like Musk, has been feeling pressure lately to fully MAGA-ify by openly embracing Christianity. Last July, Musk and Peterson even did an interview together where they talked up being a “cultural Christian,” creating the space for people who don’t believe in God or Jesus to support Christian nationalists in their theocratic goals.
But Peterson’s stint on the zoo-like faux-debate show “Jubilee” exposed how untenable the Christians-who-don’t-believe stance may be. Initially, it was billed as “1 Christian versus 20 atheists,” but then one of the atheists outed Peterson, by simply asking Peterson a simple question: "Am I not talking to a Christian?"
https://twitter.com/i/status/1928205927255056600
Peterson started yelling diversions and using other tactics to avoid answering the question. He did it again with another atheist by trying to nitpick what the word “believe” means when asked if one “believes” in God. It’s all very funny, because it’s obvious Peterson doesn’t believe in God or Jesus, but also wants the cultural cachet of being a Christian on the right.
This matters because Peterson is up there with Musk for representing the more secular, nerdy wing of MAGA, which also happens to be comprised of some of the most fairweather Trump supporters. These are those young men who voted for Biden in 2020 and switched to Trump in 2024, helping Trump barely win the election. With the help of Musk and Peterson, they convinced themselves they can buddy up with people who believe in demon possession and think porn should be banned, all without risk to themselves.
Ultimately, the college-educated, secular nerds convinced themselves the rest of MAGA are dumb sheep who are easy to control. They underestimate their new allies, though. On Thursday, Musk complained that Trump was showing “ingratitude,” claiming Trump would have lost the election without his support. (Which is probably true!)
This budget fight exposes how delusional that “we can handle the sheeple” attitude always was. It’s not about religion, per se, but the culture clash between the Musk fanboys and the Christian nationalist debate is driving much of this. Musk and his acolytes envision a technofascism that sucks all the money out of social services and puts it into the tech industry, even as it pursues goals typically disliked by the Christian right, such as clean energy production. Meanwhile, the Christian right wing of the party, while happy to pass huge cuts to Medicaid and Obamacare, is largely leaving untouched Social Security or Medicare, which their working-class and aging base depends on. The techbro fascists may hate the liberals they live next door to, but at the end of the day, they’re still part of the urban, atheistic, educated class that the MAGA movement demonizes. That difference was not going to be papered over forever.
Two days after “Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files,” the mercurial billionaire appears to be rethinking those allegations.
In less than 48 hours, Musk deleted the Epstein post on X.
Then, over the weekend, Musk’s reshared post calling for Trump’s impeachment disappeared.
Instead, Musk highlighted Trump’s Truth Social post criticizing California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for failing to rein in unruly immigration protests in Los Angeles following ICE raids.
“Governor Gavin Newscum and Mayor Bass should apologize to the people of Los Angeles for the absolutely horrible job that they have done, and this now includes the ongoing LA riots,” wrote Trump. “These are not protesters; they are troublemakers and insurrectionists. Remember, No Masks!”
While Musk has differences with Trump about the spending bill, he has consistently supported Trump’s aggressive push to deport undocumented immigrants.
Hours after Trump’s controversial decision to deploy California National Guard troops to respond to anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles, Musk posted an image of a man in face paint standing on top of a burning car waving a Mexican flag.
“This is not ok,” Musk said in his post on X.
He also reposted Vice President JD Vance’s post sharing Trump’s Truth Social post saying the “president will not tolerate rioting and violence.”
The reason for Musk’s shift in tone is not clear, although he seemed to voice some regret hours after the big social media fight, after mutual friends of Musk and the president, including hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman and rapper Kanye West, urged the duo to make peace.
“I support @realDonaldTrump and @elonmusk and they should make peace for the benefit of our great country. We are much stronger together than apart,” wrote Ackman.
Vincent Scardina supported Donald Trump’s tough stance on immigration at the ballot box. But that decision came back to bite the roofing boss when ICE detained a third of his workforce.
The six men, all from Nicaragua, were pulled over in a work truck on May 27 while heading to a job—and carted off to jail.
According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, deputies helped transport the men to a local detention facility “for deportation.”
Scardina, who runs a small roofing business in Florida’s Lower Keys, cannot believe it. “It’s quite a shock. You get to know these guys, you become their friends—not just an employer but a friend,” he told NBC6, visibly emotional.
Roofing boss and Trump voter Vincent Scardina, who lost a third of his staff in an ICE raid / TheDailyBeast/NBC6
Adding to Scardina’s annoyance, the men had valid work permits and pending asylum applications, according to their attorney Regilucia Smith. “They are legally here,” she said. “Valid work permit, not even close to expired… again, no criminal records—not here, not in Nicaragua.”
ICE’s nationwide raids came after White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller was reported by the Wall Street Journal to have told immigration officials in May to target anyone in the country illegally.
A swoop on a Home Depot last Friday in a predominantly Latino neighborhood of Los Angeles sparked widespread anti-ICE demonstrations and outbursts of rioting in the city, prompting President Donald Trump to commandeer the National Guard and deploy Marines against the wishes of local leaders.
The City of Glendale said the decision to scrap the ICE contract was not
Scardina says he voted for Trump and still supports many of the former president’s policies, but this isn’t what he signed up for. “Buyer’s remorse? I don’t know, a little bit.”
The detained men represented a third of his total staff—devastating in a small labor pool like Key West. “We’re not able…to just replace people as easily as, say, a big city, [with] very limited people to pull from, and then you would have to train them, and that takes sometimes years,” he said.
Even more jarring, three of the workers have now been transferred to detention centers in Texas and California. The rest remain in local custody, as their lawyer fights to have them released.
ICE raids in Los Angeles led to a weekend of angry protests and clashes with police. / Jill Connelly / Jill Connelly/Reuters
Scardina isn’t alone. He says other contractors in the area are being hit hard too. “I know of one landscaper that lost nine or 10 of his whole crew he had and he’s just totally out of business all of a sudden, just like that.”
Still, his colleague, Virgil Scardina, says they count themselves lucky. “I get to go home and hug my kid,” he said. “These guys don’t. And they don’t deserve that.”
ICE did not immediately respond to comment from the Daily Beast.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung is claiming 250,000 “patriots” attended Saturday’s military parade in Washington D..C., despite the pictures of largely empty bleachers and lawns during the event.
“Amazing. Despite the threat of rain, over 250,000 patriots showed up to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the @USArmy,” Cheung wrote on X.
Despite being a high-profile event on President Donald Trump’s birthday, the attendance was low, sparking online commentaries mocking the president especially given the event’s steep $45 million price tag.
Near the Washington Monument in D.C. the crowd looked sparse beneath a light drizzle during Trump’s highly-anticipated salute to the 250th anniversary of the US military.
Reddit users didn’t miss the opportunity to mock the turnout. “There were thousands more at our No Kings protest in Springfield MO today. LOL.,” scoffed a user.
Others criticized the production quality and cost. “The canned crowd sounds… the sponsors…the crappy mix engineer. Kind of hilarious, in waste of my tax money kind of way,” quipped another Redditor.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a policy expert, also chimed in, comparing the turnout unfavorably to other large Washington Mall events he’s attended.
Starting half an hour early because of rain, the parade’s schedule was further disrupted as the day went on with worsening weather affecting various planned elements like flyovers.
Despite the clear issues, President Trump couldn’t help but smile from his seat as a parade of troops and tanks rolled down Constitution Avenue.
The spectacle is believed to have cost around $45 million, not including potential road damage caused by the heavy armored tanks.
However, the US Army stands ready to foot the bill for any damages, which could range anywhere from $3 to $16 million.
The parade showcased numerous US soldiers donned in historically accurate uniforms representing various wars the US has participated in, such as the Revolutionary War and World War II.
According to organizers of the so-called “No Kings” protests that took place nationwide on Saturday, more people attended the demonstrations than attended Trump’s parade.
People attend a military parade commemorating the Army’s 250th anniversary and coinciding with President Donald Trump’s 79th birthday, Saturday, June 14, 2025, in Washington.© AP
Organizers said millions had marched in hundreds of events. Governors across the U.S. had urged calm and vowed no tolerance for violence, while some mobilized the National Guard ahead of marchers gathering.
Confrontations were isolated. But police in Los Angeles, where protests over federal immigration enforcement raids erupted a week earlier and sparked demonstrations across the country, used tear gas and crowd-control munitions to clear out protesters after the formal event ended.
Across social media, people claimed to have reserved tickets en masse to Trump’s birthday parade with no intent of showing up. Last time this happened, Trump tried to ban America’s most popular app.
In the middle of Donald Trump’s birthday military parade on Saturday evening, an activist posted a video on the Meta platform, Threads, announcing that they had received more than a million views on a TikTok video advertising how to reserve tickets to the Trump parade event.
The activist had no intention of attending the Trump rally, nor did many of the people that saw their video. But they were one of dozens of social media users across platforms who began circulating instructions in recent days for how to reserve tickets to the rally, even if you had no intention of attending it.
On Saturday evening, amidst rain and a threat of thunderstorms, the crowds for Trump’s parade appeared to be modest. (It is notoriously difficult to accurately assess crowd size, especially during the middle of an event.) On social media, though, users were gleeful, taking credit — as they did in a similar incident in 2020 — for impacting the rally’s attendance. “We’re preparing for an enormous turnout — hundreds of thousands of attendees,” Matt McCool, the special agent-in-charge for the U.S. Secret Service’s Washington, D.C., field office, said at a security briefing on Monday.
Now, social media denizens are claiming credit again for a muted response to Trump’s heavily publicized birthday party and military parade.
“I got 10 tickets here in Australia. Whoops, my bad, won’t be there,” wrote one. Said another, “We Europeans couldn’t use our tickets here. Solidarity from Scotland!”
This incident comes at a particularly tricky moment for social media companies, and for TikTok especially, which is only online today because President Trump has chosen not to enforce a binding law that would ban it from the United States unless its parent company, ByteDance, sells it to a non-Chinese company.
President Donald Trump’s weekend parade wasn’t quite the extravaganza many had expected ― and critics such as conservative attorney George Conway couldn’t help but laugh at him over it.
Other Trump critics also compared the event to the type usually seen in places such as North Korea, with former Secretary of State and 2016 campaign rival Hillary Clinton calling it a “low-energy Dear Leader parade.”
The day before the parade, California Gov. Gavin Newsom also made a North Korea comparison:
https://x.com/i/status/1933623930193129852
And Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas) not only compared the parade to the kind favored by dictators like Kim, but also used it as an opportunity to introduce legislation to prevent such displays in the future.
The 36 countries potentially facing travel restrictions under a new Trump administration policy are…The information provided lists the following 36 countries that a recent internal State Department memo indicated might be recommended for full or partial suspension of entry to the US:
This is according to news reports from June 16, 2025, which describe an internal memo from the US State Department setting a 60-day deadline for these countries to meet certain requirements or face a travel ban. The memo reportedly outlines concerns such as a lack of competent or cooperative governments in some of these nations affecting reliable identity document production, questionable passport security, involvement in terrorism, and nationals overstaying US visas or not cooperating with removals. However, it is noted that not all of these concerns apply to every country on the list.
