A Fake Feud?

Why real

Donald Trump is Mr. Reality Television and Elon Musk, a Bro-media maestro. Neither are honest at any time. So why is this supposed feud true?

These guys are no 4D chess players and both went back to the buffet for seconds on narcissism. It is easy to see how Trump and Musk, with all the moral development of “I’m rubber and you’re glue,” could develop an epic tizzy. But it could also be a ham-fisted ploy for Musk to re-establish brand and sell some cars. Or something else. Who knows?

Point is, never believe what you see.

It is just a plausible that Musk is going dark to work out how to use all that stolen data for Trump and the feud is just to stop protesters from showing up at Tesla dealerships.

Progressively lazy

I have no answer. My concern is how so many progressives are genuinely lazy. Everyone hopes someone else ultimately fixes the Trump problem. If not expecting non-white voters to win elections, then it is some feud with a fellow sociopath that harbingers an end. All the talk about something that is possibly no more a than glorified setup for an upcoming WWE at the Kennedy Center, is very disconcerting.

Musk makes too much federal government money to really beef with Trump. Do you think Trump really cares about space exploration? Or electric, self-driving cars? Or brain implants? All those people Musk inserted into government to cover his various schemes would vaporize in a real conflict. Contracts would go up in smoke. Hell, Starlink could get nationalized on National Security grounds and competitors underwritten through the Defense Department.

Consider how quickly Bezos reversed on displaying tariff costs on Amazon—start with the AWS $10 billion dollar NSA contact and keep counting. Musk depends even more on government largess—this is a weak hand to feud from.

Say no to face-value

It is just as plausible that Musk is going dark to work out how to use all that stolen data for Trump and the feud is to stop protesters from showing up at Tesla dealerships or even paying much critical attention to him at all after a time.

Given what we know, my conjecture is supported by the evidence as well as those who see a genuine feud. Until real audio recordings and documents with some throw-weight start flying, Musk hiding in plain sight to pursue more evil is just as likely as any feud.

Progressives must stop letting what we want and enjoy interfere with understanding the world as actually unfolds.

A Progressive Art of War.

We must be honest with ourselves and admit our strategies to-date left us with Trump 2.0 . We need to deeply consider what the progressive movement is and how to restructure our strategies to match the challenges today in fighting privilege. This is no call for centrism, but rather a plea to create an effective movement that wins the day in the face of virulent opposition.

Why read this edition?

Unrooted in the modern day, reading The Art of War is a chance to consider strategy as strategy, while avoiding distractions of modern theories on political action and social change. The work encourages readers to carefully examine their situation, motivations, resources, opposition and to avoid reacting, but rather purposefully act to win with as little conflict as possible.

I have added in-line comments to map the work onto contemporary progressive movement language to make connections more clear and relevant.

Available on Amazon or order from a bookstore near you.

.