Most Americans see Memorial Day as a time to pay tribute to the U.S. service members who gave their lives for their country, or perhaps fire up the BBQ with friends and family to celebrate the unofficial start of summer, or maybe save some money on a new mattress. According to Google, a lot of Americans also make a point to look up what the “Memorial Day meaning” is. Then there’s Donald Trump.
For years, MAGA’s once and future king has made a tradition of celebrating major holidays — from Christmas to Mother’s Day to Easter — by launching CAPS-littered attacks on his perceived enemies. And if Trump Googled the meaning of Memorial Day on Sunday morning, even the search engine’s bizarrenew AI is unlikely to have answered that the holiday was about “human scum” or a good opportunity to rack up some more defamation damages.
In a Truth Social post, the former president wished a happy holiday to “to All, including the Human Scum that is working so hard to destroy our Once Great Country,” before repeating his attacks on two of the judges in New York who have presided over cases against him and his corporation this year. Trump devoted most of the post, however, to once again defaming E. Jean Carroll, the writer who, according to Carroll — and, last year, a jury in a civil trial — he sexually assaulted in a New York department store in the 1990s, and who has twice successfully sued Trump for defamation, including in January when a jury awarded her well over $80 million in damages.
Trump did not refer to Carroll by name in his post on Sunday, though it was obvious she was the “woman” he mentioned and once again called a liar.
The massive sum the jury awarded Carroll in January — which is Trump is trying to appeal — was largely an effort to deter Trump from further defaming her, but the deterrent lost its effectiveness less than a month and a half later. When he resumed his defamation of Carroll in March, her attorneys indicated they might indeed file another lawsuit. Carroll lawyer Roberta Kaplan reiterated that point again in response to Trump’s new attack on her client Sunday. “We have said several times since the last jury verdict in January that all options were on the table. And that remains true today — all options are on the table,” Kaplan said in a statement to New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman.
Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photos: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue; Scott Olson/Getty Images
For several years now, Elon Musk and Donald Trump, two of our most volatile rich dudes, have been engaged in an on-again, off-again feud. Trump has dismissed Musk as a “bullshit artist,” and the Tesla–SpaceX–Boring Company CEO has endorsed several of Trump’s political rivals. However, the two men’s anti-Establishment views often align, and when Musk bought Twitter in 2022, Trump celebrated his acquisition of the social-media giant. Musk eventually made good on his promise to reverse Trump’s permanent ban from Twitter (now known as X), but the ex-president mostly stayed off the site, insisting that Truth Social would remain the exclusive home of his social-media ramblings.
So what exactly went wrong between Musk and Trump? Are they back on good terms? And how is the public supposed to follow this drama when one of the participants only posts his “truths” on a site barely anyone uses? Here’s a guide to how it all went down, which we’ll continue to update as long as this chaotic duo keeps at it.
As president, Trump regularly lashed out at CEOs who crossed him, but somehow Musk stayed on his good side even as he repeatedly disparaged Trump’s policies and personality.
Days before the 2016 election, Musk told CNBC that he generally agreed with Hillary Clinton’s economic and environmental plans. His assessment of Trump was harsher. “I feel a bit stronger that he is not the right guy,” Musk said. “He doesn’t seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the United States.”
And early in Trump’s presidency, Musk criticized the “Muslim ban.”
Nevertheless, the CEO went on to join two of Trump’s business-advisory councils — only to quit in protest.
In August 2019, Musk said he supported Democrat Andrew Yang’s presidential campaign. That still didn’t keep Trump from heaping praise on the tech billionaire at Davos in January 2020, calling him in a CNBC interview “one of our great geniuses, and we have to protect our genius.” He continued, “You know, we have to protect Thomas Edison, and we have to protect all of these people that came up with originally the lightbulb and the wheel and all of these things. And he’s one of our very smart people, and we want to cherish those people.”
In the final year of his presidency, Trump found himself increasingly in agreement with Musk over “Twitter, the moon, and sticking it to the establishment,” as Politico put it. In May 2020, Trump defended Musk’s calls to reopen Tesla’s plant in Fremont, California, which had been closed because of COVID restrictions; then he headed to Florida’s Kennedy Space Center to watch a SpaceX rocket launch two NASA astronauts. Musk echoed some of Trump’s criticisms of pandemic precautions, adding a new wrinkle to his ongoing drama with Twitter. Per Politico:
From the beginning of the crisis, Musk, the temperamental billionaire leader of SpaceX and Tesla, has frequently questioned mainstream scientific research, reporting and policy on Covid-19, to the point that Twitter was forced to deal with a wave of complaints suggesting the social-media platform remove his tweets for spreading disinformation. He accelerated the proposal of hydroxychloroquine as a potential cure from the backwaters of Bitcoin Twitter discussions into the mainstream, off of two tweets (“maybe worth considering …”), bucked government lockdowns in order to keep his electric cars in production and recently stated that he believed policies designed to keep Americans safe were violating their constitutional rights. As he bluntly tweeted in March: “The coronavirus panic is dumb.”
The announcement of Musk’s deal to buy Twitter prompted speculation that he might let the former president and various other exiles back onto the platform. Sure enough, Musk, a self-described “free-speech absolutist,” soon declared that he was against permanent bans in general and Trump’s ban specifically. He said Twitter’s decision to kick Trump off over his January 6 rhetoric was “a mistake because it alienated a large part of the country and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice.”
At this point, Trump had already publicly claimed he was sticking with the flailing social-media network he had barely been using. “Truth Social will be a voice for me,” Trump told Fox News. “And that’s something nobody else can get.”
But he made it clear that he was rooting for the Musk-Twitter alliance. “I think it is good. We want liberty and justice and fairness in our country, and the more we can have open, the better,” Trump said. “I don’t view that as a competition for what I am doing.”
Over the years, Musk has said he’s a registered independent and described himself as “politically moderate” and “somewhere in the middle, socially liberal and fiscally conservative.” But at the All-In tech conference in May 2022, he said Biden’s support for unions and inability to “get a lot done” had driven him to embrace the GOP, though he had mostly voted for Democrats in the past.
“I have voted overwhelmingly for Democrats historically,” Musk said. “Like, I’m not sure I might never have voted for a Republican, just to be clear. Now, this election, I will.”
Although it was unclear whether “this election” referred to the midterms or the 2024 presidential contest, initially this seemed like it could be good news for Trump. A few weeks later, however, the “moderate” tech CEO revealed that the Republican who’d won him over was the Florida governor known for the “Don’t Say Gay” law and for punishing companies that defy him.
Even though Trump initially praised the Musk-Twitter deal, in mid-May he posted on Truth Social, “There is no way Elon Musk is going to buy Twitter at such a ridiculous price, especially since realizing it is a company largely based on BOTS of Spam Accounts. Fake anyone?”
So when Musk’s agreement with Twitter appeared to be falling apart, Trump was eager to do some gloating and settle some political grievances. At a July 9 rally in Anchorage, Alaska, for Republicans Sarah Palin and Governor Mike Dunleavy, he claimed he had predicted the deal wouldn’t happen and accused Musk of lying about voting for him in 2016.
“He said the other day, ‘Oh, I’ve never voted for a Republican.’ I said, ‘I didn’t know that,’” Trump said. “He told me he voted for me, so he’s another bullshit artist.”
Musk responded in a series of tweets, saying that Trump’s claim was “not true” and that he’s too old to run for president again anyway.
The former president escalated the budding feud on July 12, attacking Musk’s various endeavors in a series of Truth Social posts and claiming he could have made him “drop to [his] knees and beg” when he was in office.
Trump’s “truths” still don’t play nicely with other social-media sites, so Musk responded via another Twitter user’s screenshot of Trump’s post:
On October 28, the morning after Musk officially acquired Twitter, Trump took to Truth Social to wish him well. But he also claimed, dubiously, that his own site has become “somewhat of a phenomena” so it will be his home for the foreseeable future.
While Trump’s tweets were visible again, he refrained from returning to Twitter, claiming that he was perfectly happy on Truth Social.
“Truth Social is through the roof. It’s doing phenomenally well,” he said when asked about his social media intentions. “Truth Social has been very, very powerful, very, very strong, and I’ll be staying there. But I hear we’re getting a big vote to also go back on Twitter. I don’t see it because I don’t see any reason for it.”
Trump also assured his Truth followers, “we aren’t going anywhere.”
Announcing that you’re a fan of the U.S. Constitution used to be innocuous. But in this dark timeline it counts as a political statement.
Musk was clearly criticizing Trump’s Truth Social post from two days earlier, in which he called for the “termination of all rules, regulations, & articles, even those found in the Constitution” to undo Biden’s 2020 win.
On May 24, Ron DeSantis announced he was running for president in an audio stream with Musk on Twitter Spaces. It did not go well. The event was marred by multiple technical issues and failed to answer the fundamental question, “Why should I vote for DeSantis over Trump?”
Trump mocked DeSantis relentlessly on Truth Social and took a few shots at Musk too. For example, he posted what appeared to be a video of a SpaceX rocket labeled “Ron! 2024” falling over and exploding.
As of this writing, it’s the only post Trump has shared on the site since the tweets that got him banned in 2021.
Donald Trump desperately needs money. Elon Musk is absurdly wealthy and loves demonstrating his power. So when the New York Timesreported on March 5 that Trump and Musk had recently met, it seemed like there might be huge consequences for the 2024 election:
Donald Trump, who is urgently seeking a cash infusion to aid his presidential campaign, met on Sunday in Palm Beach, Fla., with Elon Musk, one of the world’s richest men, and a few wealthy Republican donors, according to three people briefed on the meeting who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private discussion.
… It’s not yet clear whether Mr. Musk plans to spend any of his fortune on Mr. Trump’s behalf. But his recent social media posts suggest he thinks it’s essential that Mr. Biden be defeated in November — and people who have spoken to Mr. Musk privately confirmed that is indeed his view.
Musk has publicly criticized President Biden and his policies multiple times, and he recently posted, “Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is a very real disease” in response to a clip of Bill Maher saying he would vote for anyone but Trump in 2024.
But Musk quickly poured cold water on the idea that he’d be funding Trump, writing on X:
On March 12 the Washington Postreported that Trump and Musk communicate more than has been publicly reported — and at one point Trump even offered Musk his flailing social media site. The deal was reportedly floated in the summer of 2023, and Musk declined (possibly because Truth Social is basically a MAGA-y Twitter clone).
When the offer was made in summer 2023, Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns Truth Social, was “trapped in a long-delayed merger process.” But in February 2024 the Securities and Exchange Commission signed off on the media company’s merger with a SPAC, and now Trump could potentially make billions if the company goes public.
When contacted by the Post some of the parties involved gave sassy responses that did not address the substance of the report:
When The Washington Post asked Musk about the Truth Social call and his other talks with Trump, Musk responded only that he had “never been to Mar-a-Lago,” Trump’s estate in Palm Beach.
Trump Media & Technology Group did not address any of the facts reported in this story when invited to do so by The Post. In an emailed statement, Trump Media spokeswoman Shannon Devine said only, “We heard Trump and Musk were actually discussing buying the Washington Post but they decided it had no value.”
The Trump campaign did not respond at all, but stay tuned. Everything we know about Musk and Trump tells us this won’t be the last word on the subject.
Ivanka Trump at New York State Supreme Court in New York on November 8, 2023. Photo: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Over the past few years, Ivanka Trump has made it very clear that she wants nothing to do with any of the headaches associated with her father Donald Trump’s business and political operations. Ivanka worked in the Trump Organization and then her father’s White House administration for the entirety of her adult life, but she and her husband, Jared Kushner, backed away as his term ended. Then, in November 2022, she skipped her dad’s 2024 campaign announcement and posted a statement online declaring, “I do not plan to be involved in politics. While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena.”
But it turns out she’s not averse to the perks that come with her dad’s political career, like letting his super-PAC cover her legal bills.
Business Insider reviewed Federal Election Commission records and found that Donald Trump’s Save America PAC spent a total of $2.3 million last year for two law firms that solely represented Ivanka:
In 2023, Save America disbursed a total of $1,303,667.11 to the law firm Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders and $1,042,479 to the firm Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel, & Frederick.
Both firms represented Ivanka Trump in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ sprawling lawsuit against the Trump Organization, Donald Trump, his three eldest children, and several executives over its finances. The attorney general’s office alleged that the firm misrepresented its finances to obtain favorable tax, bank-loan, and insurance rates.
The PAC spent another $5.3 million on a law firm that represented Ivanka along with her father, her brothers Don Jr. and Eric, and the Trump Organization. None of the suits that incurred the fees were related to Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign (unless you subscribe to the idea that every bad thing happening in Trump’s life is the result of political persecution).
Trump founded the Save America PAC days after his 2020 election loss, and repeatedly solicited donated by telling supporters that he needed money for “election defense.” But much of the money Trump collected has gone to covering his legal expenses in various cases that have nothing to do with bogus “election fraud” claims. Save America and MAGA PAC, another political group controlled by Trump, have spent more than $50 million on legal fees, according to Business Insider.
It doesn’t appear that Ivanka really needed PAC donor money to cover her $2.3 million legal bills, as she and Jared have an estimated net worth of over $1 billion. And it certainly seems hypocritical for Ivanka to take money from her father’s political action committee after she dramatically declared that she wants nothing to do with politics. But in her defense, even obscenely wealthy people like free stuff. They essentially drove a dump truck full of money up to her house. She’s not made of stone!
Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
Many people are already getting tired of the Taylor Swift–Travis Kelce discourse, though we still have another 12 days to go until the Chiefs play the 49ers at Super Bowl LVIII. But no one is more frustrated by the tale of Miss Americana and her football prince than Donald Trump. All the talk about the pop star’s staggering popularity reportedly has Trump privately fretting over the possibility that he is not the fairest one of all. And the issue isn’t just that someone is getting more attention than he is; it also seems likely that Swift will support his presidential rival, Joe Biden, again, perRolling Stone:
Behind the scenes, Trump has reacted to the possibility of Biden and Swift teaming up against him this year not with alarm, but with an instant projection of ego. In recent weeks, the former president has told people in his orbit that no amount of A-list celebrity endorsements will save Biden. Trump has also privately claimed that he is “more popular” than Swift is and that he has more committed fans than she does, a person close to Trump and another source with knowledge of the matter tell Rolling Stone.
Last month, the source close to Trump adds, the ex-president commented to some confidants that it “obviously” made no sense that he was not named Time magazine’s 2023 Person of the Year — an honor that went to none other than Swift in December.
Trump is famously obsessed with being Time Person of the Year. (While he did actually win this very silly honor in 2016, he later lied about being offered a second title, and had fake Time covers featuring himself in several of his golf clubs). So it’s a safe bet that he’s going to pick a fight with whoever gets the annual Time seal of approval over him.
But Trump’s issues with Swift run deeper. While she initially tried to stay out of politics, she began occasionally speaking out against his policies toward the end of his administration. And in 2020 she endorsed Biden while threatening to vote Trump out:
Earlier this week, the New York Timesreported that Swift is at the top of the Biden reelection campaign’s “wish lists of potential surrogates.” Independent of his relationship with Swift, Kelce has infuriated Trump supporters by starring in advertisements for Pfizer’s COVID vaccine and Bud Light, two of the right’s big culture-war targets.
MAGA World is already having a meltdown over the Swift-Kelce Bowl; various Trump surrogates including Vivek Ramaswamy, Jeanine Pirro, and even the former president’s lawyer, Alina Habba, have gone after the couple in recent days. And according to Rolling Stone, if Swift backs Biden again they plan to wage war against her:
Meanwhile, as Trump has been having a popularity contest with Swift in his own head, others close to him — including GOP operatives, some of his 2024 staff, and Trumpy media figures — have been brainstorming different ways to go after Swift. Since late last year, these Trump allies have repeatedly discussed how to turn the culture-warrior dial up to 11, if she re-endorses Biden this year, the sources recount.
“It would be more fuel thrown on to the culture-war fires,” says an official working on the Trump reelection efforts. “Another left-wing celebrity who is part of the Democrat elite telling you what to think.”
Publicly, members of Trump’s inner sanctum and social circle are already signaling Swift’s prominent position atop their enemies list — a situation that has reached fever pitch now that Swift’s boyfriend will once again be playing in the Super Bowl.
So, to paraphraseThe Dark Knight, let me get this straight. They think that Swift, one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in the world, is so universally beloved that she can swing an election by merely tweeting some positive things about Joe Biden to her 95 million Twitter followers — and their plan is to launch an all-out attack on this person?
