Trump taunted over ‘most powerless image of a president’ ever
Summary
MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell criticized Donald Trump’s Oval Office press conference with Elon Musk, calling it “the most powerless image of a president” ever.
Musk dominated the event—standing over Trump, speaking more words, and violating White House norms with his casual attire and child’s presence.
O’Donnell contrasted Musk’s influence with Trump’s past and present vice presidents, arguing that neither Mike Pence nor JD Vance would challenge Trump’s authority in such a manner.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lawrence-odonnell-donald-trump-powerless-image_n_67ac760fe4b023227078229dOpen linkView original on lemmy.world899
Comments113
He also had a 5 year old with him.
Ah yes, his human shield he's had since The Luigi Event.
Not so much a shield, more a prop.
I mean you say that but he's been wearing him on his shoulders like body armor since the day after. He's definitely a shield.
Won't protect him from something nasty slipped into his ket.
A fentanyl overdose could save the world!
Given your username, I thought you'd have gone with Master Blaster.
Yes, but Dr. Evil/Mini Me is funnier
Por que no los dos?
More like this i.m.o. :
::: spoiler senile 5 y.o. :::
Trump?
Yeah that's what "child's presence" means
It's a joke, implying that 'child's presence' referred to his own presence, or Trump's.
Damn that went straight over my head
Up in the sky, look!
It's a bird!
It's a plane!
It's the joke!
Weird how one CEO gets Luigied and suddenly it's bring your kid to work day for president Musk.
Lol I think I can get behind Luigi as a verb
Also, who wears a basebal cap and a T-shirt, and brings his four-year old who - like any four-year old - can't shut the hell up in the oval office? I mean honestly, who is this guy? Just because he has money doesn't give him the right to turn the presidency into a fucking daycare center. He could at least pretend to respect the institution a little bit...
The 4 year old is nothing more than a meat shield. Remember how right after the CEO shooting, Elmo started carrying one of his brood with him?
🤔
Like that would work in a country dominated by school shooters.
I feel bad for the kid being spawned by Musk though.
He's one of, what, 10?
Gonna stop you there, friend, and remind you that this is America. Yes it does.
On the other hand, maybe the most sensible things might have come from the 4-year-old ... Do we have an official statement from the child ?
P.S. : first time ever I'm not writing down the usual /sarcasm
Musk Jr. would like it on the record that we need more candy and toys.
if only that was the only statements coming out of the White House, it would be the best one ever
Now that's unifying policies! Something everyone can get behind!
Unironically would be better for our economy than anything his father has suggested
We kinda do, the kid basically said what sounds like parroting daddy with "they'll never know evil toddler laugh' when he overheard discussion of voting machines or some shit
"Out of the mouths of babes ... comes words of honesty, of truth"
I don't see any sarcasm here. That is a 100% factual statement.
You are right ; there is no sarcasm. So, i should have said : it's worthy of "Not The Onion" ... or such.
At this point th presidency is meaningless and vomitous anyway. I don't care if they just start wearing wife beaters and golf shorts - they truly can't bring the position or country any lower.
I mean, he bought the presidency so….
I'm sure the right wingers complaining about Zelensky not wearing a suit are incandescent with rage about Musks lack of decorum.
The same people who raged about Obama's tan suit
Or choice of mustard.
Or choice of lettuce leaf.
So who all is being hypocritical?
You want to get rid of Musk, stuff like this is how you do it.
Publicly make Trump out to be the lessor power in the relationship and his ego won't be able to handle it. Look how fast he lost his shit during that debate with Harris when the subject of his crowd size came up.
I really think people who say this aren't reading the room. It's not the same old Trump. This is an old broken down mentally deficient Trump. This isn't a case of an alliance between equals. This is a case of a grifter taking advantage of a guy too old to make decisions for himself. This is like a guy stealing the Social Security checks , altering the will , and selling assets for his own gain. I mean by all means keep saying it, cuz who knows and it is true, I just don't think it'll work. If anything it might be embolding Musk and legitimizing him.
No one knows what the deal is with that relationship. Maybe this is all part of their plan, maybe Elon has dirt on Trump, maybe he's brainwashed and neuralink is more advanced than is publicly known. Maybe they're both being blackmailed, and Joe Biden is the one really pulling the strings, and he's trying to destroy the country as revenge for Harris?
There are a lot of equally likely possibilities here, so we shouldn't try to jump to conclusions.
LOL!
That's what I've thought until now, but after that display I don't think he'll do anything to Musk, who it seems really does have some power over him--the money of course, but maybe something else too--maybe some dirt, maybe something in conjunction with Putin. But to let that little brat say those things[*] to him and his only reaction was to be submissive and look away tells me Musk really is the one in control here. This is actually scary.
[*] "You're not the president, you need to go away" and "I want you to shut your fucking mouth up"
tips tinfoil hat
He rigged the election for him... Even if it didn't cause the win, if he has irrefutable proof he rigged the election then he can bring Trump down with him. He could boost it into everyone's Twitter feeds that he didn't actually win and they would be forced to do something about it.
That's a good one, though I'm not sure even that would turn his followers against him or get the republican party to willingly give up the power they've gained. Though, maybe it would get the military to defy their fox news boss and oust him.
Wait, what is this * part of your comment? I guess I missed some piece of these insane news cycles.
I've seen several clips from the press conference of "Little X" saying those things to trump, in an audible whisper. You should be able to find them with a search, or if not I can try to find them in my history. Trump sits hunched, looks briefly at the kid then looks away in a defeated manner (like a dog!) while musk rambles on. Anyone else, trump would have said to get the kid out of there, it's bizarre.
https://www.snopes.com/articles/469232/musk-son-told-trump-shut-up/
Idc what snopes says about inconclusive; I saw and heard in the vids exactly what you did, lmao
This is 2016 Trump coming home to roost
Fucking love it when articles are specifically about a photo but they don’t post the fucking photo
it's not about a photo
It literally is, i saw the photo in another article
Another article might have included a photo or photos, but the 'image' being referred to is the image presented by a person or situation. Which is described. It's not about one particular photo
Can you post the photo here?
Wormtongue has made himself very cosy in his new home it would seem.
I understood that reference... but Theodin was a good man
Wormtongue and Denethor, maybe.
I don’t like this version of Middle Earth.
Denethor was a good man.
Piter an the Baron?
same actor for Piter and Wormtongue
Brad Dourif!
Holy moly.
He's also the lead scientist in Alien Resurrection.
I see two 4 year olds in this photo
Is that because the kid is 5?
Don’t forget Lil X!
3*
Poor kid is named X. What stupid assholes his parents are: he's gonna have to bear that stupid name all his life.
Then again, he could have been called Twitter I guess...
Now now... They could legally change it when they're 18.
Except Republicans are pushing anti-trans laws to prevent people from changing their names. The current proposal floating around would prevent married women from voting because they take on their husband's last name.
What proposal is that? I would like to spread the information if you have a link
https://www.newsweek.com/married-women-stopped-voting-save-act-2029325
Great reason to get rid of the dumb archaic practice in the first place. I repeatedly told my wife she shouldn't feel any pressure to take my name. She did anyway, but I think it was just because she liked it more.
Anyway, sacrificing your ability to vote in order to take your husbands last name might have the oh so unfortunate side effect of keeping trad wives from voting.
My wife kept her name when we got married ten years ago. It has only caused minimal problems with bureaucracy.
X is 88 in decimal? Musk's obsession with that letter finally makes sense
I don't believe he's that smart.
No, but he would copy a Nazi programmer who pointed out that shit to him.
The whole thing seemed to me to be a cutscene from the Red Alert universe.
Man I miss Westwood studios so much. All their games are masterpieces. I still play red alert 2 with my mom to this day, she introduced the series to me as a very young lad back in 1997
That's awesome. Who usually wins?
Me easily lol. My mom only plays allied and always rushes prism tanks. It's really unhinged
I'm catching a ride with Tim Curry
Save me a seat
All aboard to the one place that hasn't been corrupted by capitaliam?
You are aware that when Musk described how his Mars society would actually work, he basically described the Red Faction version of Mars, right?
I am unaware of much of anything Musk describes; however, I was talk about a Tim Curry skit from Red Alert. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1Sq1Nr58hM
I’ve been summoned
KIROV REPORTING
Conscript reporting!
We are being attacked :’(
Elon's kid made a fucking bitch of trump on live television and we can never go back from that moment
label musk as alpha and trump as beta in this picture (not that I believe in those labels but they do)
Then post it all over x-itter like crazy.. Don't let it die.. make this 'a thing'
And then watch Musk have the conundrum as to whether to take it down or not....
His ego wouldn't let him take it down, and make Donny Dump respond to it....
I have never seen Trump act more servile towards anyone than when he pulled a chair out for Netanyahu.
I understand this analogy.
I use arch, btw.
i feel like "schmuck" needs to make a comeback in the vernacular.
Schmusk
Pretty obvious that Jabba-the Orange is incompetent, confused and weak - a prime target for an even sleazier opportunist.
Or a puppeteer to pull his strings (or y'know... If he's a ventriloquist's dummy...)
Think of the relationship as a CEO and the chairman of the board, this is the way Trump sees it. The CEO is front and center but does the bidding of the chairman.
I don't think this is accurate of course but I'm sure Trump sees it this way.
Musk America Great Again
We were being shown who the real owners are (incel Dogebags like fElon) , and diaper donvict has to sit there and take it along with the rest of us.
Cuck
Please share this image
'trump taunted' is not news. The other half of the country sees this as a big dick power move. You can spin it any way you like. Pointless journalism. What's the point?
It's not journalism. It's entertainment.
I know. I wish it was treated as such. I really hope people in the future come to value nuance.
Wow, it has to be bad if it beats a tan suit. /s
Speaking more words. Lmao.
Bigly
rump is such a bitch!
His DEI's are bitches too! (don, eric, ivanka)
Either Trump will boot Musk out because he can't stand the perception that someone is giving him orders or this will be literally the only time that he has not done the stupidly petty thing, because the one thing you can rely on Donald Trump to do is the worst possible thing.
Let me preface this by saying I don't like trump, at all. But his powerlessness was nothing in comparison to whoever that democratic congresswoman outside the treasury building when DOGE was in there doing god knows what. Dems take the cake on appearing powerless, and that needs to change.