Maybe probably the most sudden factor about Sean Hannity‘s hour-long sit down with Donald Trump and Elon Musk — a primary — was the preliminary query that the Fox Information host posed to the duo.
“So he’s working totally free with DOGE. He’s type of put a number of his life on maintain. And also you sued Twitter a lot of years in the past. You simply made him pay $10 million?” Hannity requested.
Unperturbed, Musk stated he had simply let the legal professionals determine the dicey authorized matter, whereas Trump claimed that his No. 1 adviser obtained a “huge low cost.”
“It’s very low. I used to be seeking to get far more cash than that,” Trump stated.
Hannity was referring to the newest settlement of a Trump lawsuit, this time from Musk’s X, which earlier this month agreed to pay the sum to the president even when the litigation had lengthy been dormant.
In any other case, the Hannity interview was what you’ll anticipate: The Fox Information host is a long-time defender of Trump’s, who as soon as even was referred to as to talk at one among his marketing campaign rallies. This time, although, the intent of the interview appeared to be to melt Musk’s picture. And with Democrats attempting to bait Trump by referring to “President Musk,” Hannity gave them loads of time to disclaim that there’s a rift between them.
Trump stated, “Elon referred to as me. He stated, ‘You realize, they’re attempting to drive us aside. I stated, ‘Completely.’”
As Musk carries out mass layoffs throughout the federal authorities, the pink slips have reportedly gone far past faceless DEI bureaucrats however to these in command of meals and air security in addition to these in command of defending the nuclear weapons arsenal, a lot of whom needed to be rehired. Then there are experiences of DOGE’s entry to authorities private information, the newest effort being the IRS, with main considerations over how the data is getting used. Earlier than the Hannity interview ran, Kara Swisher informed CNN’s Anderson Cooper that Musk’s finish purpose is entry to the info. “They’re attempting to say there may be nothing to see right here when there’s a lot to see right here,” Swisher stated.
But few of these factors had been addressed throughout Trump-Musk sit down. A few of these urgent questions, which contain critical problems with privateness and safety, had been glossed over. Hannity did ask concerning the potential for Musk, whose companies maintain billions of presidency contracts, to have conflicts of curiosity. “Then we received’t let him do it,” Trump insisted.
“I haven’t requested the president for something ever,” Musk stated. “…I’ll recuse myself whether it is” a battle.
“I’m getting a each day proctology examination right here,” Musk stated. “It’s not like I will probably be getting away with one thing at nighttime.”
Hannity didn’t observe up, however did add, “Welcome to DC. If you’d like a good friend, get a canine.”
Through the hour, the Fox Information host spoke in awe of Musk’s profession, whereas sharing his incredulousness at a few of the Democratic assaults, all the pieces from calling him a “dick” to claiming that the nation was in a constitutional disaster.
“Initially, do you give a flying rip, primary?” Hannity requested.
“They wouldn’t be complaining a lot if we weren’t doing one thing helpful, I believe,” Musk stated, as he railed in opposition to the “unelected paperwork.”
However there’s nonetheless a little bit of a thriller over Musk’s paperwork. The White Home insists that DOGE is clear, but it surely’s a bit opaque on who really runs DOGE, because the Trump administration recently denies that it’s Musk.
On the outset, Hannity promised that Trump and Musk have “taken a wrecking ball to the deep state, all whereas exposing a stunning quantity of waste, fraud abuse and corruption on the federal degree.” However there have been no new bombshell revelations of what DOGE has discovered. Somewhat, Hannity’s present ran a scroll of USAID spending, repeating most of the gadgets that the White Home had recognized final week, a few of them sounding like completely absurd outlays. However per FactCheck.org, a number of the items didn’t even come from USAID, similar to a “transgender opera” in Colombia.
Throughout one other a part of the interview, Musk talked of his method as being one among “competence and caring,” which is sort of a distinction to any hour on his X feed. Just a few weeks in the past, as company workers engaged on humanitarian initiatives had been within the crosshairs, Musk wrote, “We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wooden chipper. Might gone to some nice events. Did that as a substitute.”
The Trump-Musk interview was taped on Friday, whereas loads of different Musk dramas have performed out since then, from the exit of a top Social Security official to a girl claiming to have fathered one other one among his youngsters. A proclaimed free-speech absolutist, Musk on Sunday referred to as for 60 Minutes journalists to get a “lengthy jail sentence.”
It’s questionable, although, that Hannity would have introduced any of that up, as this interview was hardly prosecutorial. At one level, it even appeared as if Hannity was treating the Trump-Musk crew like a star couple, serving to them refute an onslaught of tabloid gossip.
“I believe they’ve confirmed they haven’t any energy anymore, as a result of they threw all the pieces that they had at you they usually didn’t win,” Hannity informed them. “…And now I see, they need a divorce. They need you two to begin hating one another.”
