This is about two things. The SignalGate story that won't die and the unravelling of one tech CEO. A man cornered by angry people who are not investors, employees, hungry hangers on, or immediate family (allowing for the fact there are an ever growing number in that last category). Sources are all at the end.
As someone in tech governance who has historically been around lots of OpSec discussions, the 'We are OpSec clean' bit, while a journalist was in the operation group chat, will be a forever meme.
Setting aside, as too many have, it was a plan including civilian targets. Signing off significant collateral damage to take out commercial and military shipping threats. Casualty count estimated to be 53 when I last checked.
Also notable is apparent White House (read Trump) confusion about story staying power. He is reportedly furious people are not moving on. It doesn't fit with running the government as a wrestling match:
Hype bout, trash talk, make sure fans know who is good and who is evil. Put on a good show and 10x noise and audience interaction.
Win or lose the job is done. Never apologise and move on. If someone gets hurt or breaks character, bring in a skit as distraction and discredit or pay them off.
When the skit for distraction (or next thing accelerated off the Project 2025 plan / billionaire wish list) is poking Iran to sign a nuclear deal under threat of US military action (a deal Trump tore up during his first term), or escalating the vaunted plan to annex Greenland...
Side bar on that one. Why Greenland? Strategic defence is a strong theme in the burbling, but smarter people have pointed out climate change creates an opportunity to get new liveable land that is currently sparsely populated, rich mineable resources made more accessible due to receding ice, and maybe even a new navigable Northern shipping passage.
What about that is out of character for the man and loose coalition who pitched Gaza minus Gazan's as prime beach front property and Ukraine as a US rare minerals factory.
Winner takes all, collateral damage and global destabilisation incidental. Disaster capitalism on steroids... or Ketamine and McDonalds.
...and breathe
Weepy Croesus
After wholly unverifiable reports that Musk was sobbing in the West Wing about backlash against DOGE, Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink, and him in general, followed by the bizarre White House Tesla infomercial, we have to marvel at how disconnected these men are from anything except their own power, money, and welfare.
Power corrupts and absolute power etc. The rarified air of sycophantic adoration, gymnastic justifications, and pseudo-religious wrapping for the advertised missions.
MOAR babies - get thy women in line and get them breeding. Take what's needed, no matter the illegality and harm that ensues. Paint the whole endeavour as sanctioned by God and patriotic. Keep the money tap to adjacently interested parties flowing.
Nix any poorly orchestrated public appearances and town halls. All that fury is just unfortunate imperial growing pains. The Deep State death throes on the way to being great again.
Just like Trump and Musk's personal debt mountains (way way over leveraged), the teetering mutually dependent towers of Fox News Babel can still be damaged by some moderate public push back.
CEOs are apparently deeply shocked and surprised that all is currently chaos. The Tariff-go-round is a financial and uncertainty disaster for investment plans. What is this madness? They say. They only signed up for deregulation and tax breaks.
The vision (the one they absolutely should have grasped as it was advertised in mile high neon) is utterly unhinged and anchored in unitary executive authority. What the leader says should happen without question, because that is the effective corporate governance reality within Musk's world, Trump's world, and the worlds of a few other giant firms and admired authoritarian leaders. It is absolutely the vision of J.D. Vance's corporate sponsor, Peter Theil.
Let's not be coy here, those worlds are run as for profit dictatorships. That's what folk voted for when they cosigned or failed to push back on this.
Such arrangements, where everything hinges on a cult of personality, do not attract the best people. There is no stability to build things. It becomes a wholly reactive game of stroking, out manoeuvring, or beheading the leader.
Political animals and bullies flourish, not careful people with any sense of duty. Fever dreams of great power and profit quickly fall to complex reality and all of the other people jockeying for position.
People covering backs when another FUBAR surfaces. Maybe action man Petey H prettily flexing his tattooed biceps. Talking a good strongman game, but being absolutely unsuited to lead a huge defence organisation.
Then dear leader (or power behind the throne) gears up for another cull of suspected leakers and folk who don't pass arbitrary loyalty tests:
Who did win the 2020 election? What is a woman? Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of all the Presidents and multi-billionaires?
Give a wrong response and they smash the mirrors (read regulators, inspectors general, principled security service and military leaders, non-loyal traditional media or social media, academics, civil society groups, unions, public interest lawyers, judges, and others tracking contradictory and untrue narratives.
What an utter shit show.
Sources (a.k.a fake news):
- AP News – overview of SignalGate and group chat details apnews.comapnews.com; casualty reports from Yemen strikes apnews.com.
- The Atlantic – first-person account of the Signal chat leak by Jeffrey Goldbergtheatlantic.comtheatlantic.com.
- The Guardian – analysis of leaked Signal messages and admin denialstheguardian.com.
- Futurism – report on Elon Musk nearly crying during a Fox Business interview about his duties futurism.com.
- LinkedIn post (T. Palmeri) – West Wing staff quotes about Musk’s behavior linkedin.com.
- The Guardian – guide to Trump’s distraction techniques (2017) theguardian.com.
- Christian Amato Blog – “deliberate shock and awe” strategy by Trump as authoritarian tactic christianamato.com.
- Reuters – Trump’s “Gaza could be better than Monaco” and Kushner’s “valuable waterfront” quotes reuters.comreuters.com.
- The Guardian – Kushner at Harvard, Gaza remarks theguardian.com.
- Reuters – details of U.S.-Ukraine draft minerals deal: no security guarantees, U.S. control of resources and profits reuters.com.
- Workday Magazine – discussion of Musk’s corporate authoritarian management and its implications workdaymagazine.orgworkdaymagazine.org.
- The New Yorker – description of Musk’s DOGE role as “authoritarian control through bureaucracy”community.nodebb.org.
- Naomi Klein in The Guardian – definition of the “Shock Doctrine” and disaster capitalism theguardian.com.
- Salon – critique of Musk bringing workplace authoritarianism to governmentsalon.com.
- Forbes – breakdown of Donald Trump’s debts and liabilities, including over $1 billion owed and new legal judgments
FORBES.COM - CNN – coverage of Trump’s $454 million civil fraud judgment and his inability to secure an appeal bond
CNN.COM - Financial Times – analysis of Trump’s limited access to traditional lenders post-judgment and rising reliance on foreign capital
FT.COM - SEC Filings via CNBC – details of Elon Musk’s pledged Tesla shares used to secure loans, exposing him to margin risk
CNBC.COM - Wall Street Journal – breakdown of Musk’s leveraged Twitter acquisition and the $13 billion debt loaded onto the company
WSJ.COM - Politico – Trump shifts support to Newsmax and OAN over Fox, building an alternative loyalty-based media pipeline
POLITICO.COM - The Guardian – Trump’s team excluding mainstream press from briefings and credentialing partisan influencers
THEGUARDIAN.COM - The Guardian – pro-Trump reporter confronts Zelensky over attire in Oval Office; backlash and narrative fallout
THEGUARDIAN.COM - Reuters – Elon Musk’s reinstatement of controversial accounts and promotion of Twitter Files to right-wing influencers
REUTERS.COM - New York Times – Musk suspends journalists for covering @ElonJet tracker; backlash over press freedom
NYTIMES.COM - BBC – Musk labels NPR, BBC, and CBC as “state-affiliated media,” causing major broadcasters to quit Twitter/X
BBC.COM - Washington Post – Trump pressures Georgia Secretary of State to “find votes,” leading to criminal investigation
WASHINGTONPOST.COM - Reuters – “Musk Industrial Complex” investigative series documenting safety, labor, and ethics violations across his companies
REUTERS.COM - Reuters Dominion Lawsuit Settlement – Fox News pays $787.5 million over false 2020 election claims, narrative credibility dented
REUTERS.COM - PBS Newshour – Trump booed by supporters after promoting COVID-19 vaccines at a rally
PBS.ORG - VOX – Elon Musk accedes to Turkey's censorship demands despite his “free speech” absolutism
VOX.COM