Bulwark Takes - Trump & Elon’s Most Unhinged Press Conference Yet

Episode Date: May 30, 2025

Sam Stein and Will Sommer break down the surreal Trump–Elon press conference that covered Elon's ketamine allegations, strange gifts, DOGE's "accomplishments," and an awkward farewell that raised more questions than answers.

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tender, juicy, and its own sauce. Would you look at that? Well, you can't see it, but trust me, it looks delicious. New Mcrispy strips, now at McDonald's. Hey guys, it's me, Sam Stein, managing editor at The Bullwork, and I'm joined by Will Summer to discuss Elon Musk and Donald Trump's press conference that just concluded. I guess this is the farewell press conference for Elon. It was, it was, it was weird. It was, you know, I mean, wouldn't that sum up his whole term in the administration? I mean, it, it, my thought was like, you know,

this is just how it began. Elon is being weird. He's wearing a weird shirt, you know, like a t-shirt in the white house. He's kind of looming over Trump at the resolute desk. I mean, that's, that's his thing, I guess. He is. Yeah that's, that's his thing. I guess he is. Yeah. No, that is his thing. We're going to get into some of the moments, although it's tough to figure out actually if there was any news there.

All right. So yeah, like the, I just got off to a bizarre tone from the jump because Trump took a laptop out and decided to play a CNBC clip from the inflation news this morning and then just sort of sat there with that kind of, kind ofeshire cat grin on his face listening to it as the laptop pointed out at the press and then it just got weirder from there. What were your highlights? Were there highlights? I think there's mostly low lights.

Low lights. I mean, you know, if you consider a guy having to face the press the same day, the New York Times comes out with an article about his bladder issues. I would say that's the article about his bladder issues. It talks about the bladder issues. I don't know if the article was about the bladder issues. There's several other headlines. So yeah.

So obviously, you know, to the, you know, on Friday, the New York times has an article saying, you know, Elon is, is rolling on Ketamine nonstop. He's, he's like a, he's like a downtown man, Manhattan girly, right? And he's going wild for K. And among the other issues that frequent ketamine use causes is bladder issues. And they say he's saying it's affected his bladder. Then later on they're like, here's probably, it's like a bladder control thing or maybe bladder pain. And so then someone gets up there and says, hey, one of the reporters says, what's going on with you and all the ketamine?

It was Peter juicy. Yeah. So Peter juicy gets up there and he says, what's going on with all the ketamine and Elon clearly has, I would say a rehearsed response where he goes, Oh, the New York Times. Isn't this the fake news? New York Times for Russian gate. And they're going to have to give back their Pulitzer. I don't want to talk about that. Okay. Hold on. Let's pause. Cause that was a horrible.

Elon impression has got to be one of the worst. We We're gonna play the actual clip now and then you can judge I'm not even gonna say anything more about it. It was so bad It's a New York Times report today that accuses you of blurring the line between It's a new is New York Times. Is that the same publication? That's got a Pulitzer Prize for false reporting on the Russiagate. Is it the same organization? I think it is. I think it is.

I think the judge just ruled against New York Times for their lies about the Russiagate hoax. And that they might have to give back that Pulitzer Prize. That New York Times, let's move on. Okay. Next question. All right. So yes, clearly rehearsed, uh, definitely different accent than what will offer it up, but close enough, I suppose I was a little, I gotta be honest, I'm not, I

don't want to be too critical of the press, but I thought Deuce, he got steamrolled there and then the fact that he just then went to like pure catnip for Trump. I think what he asked about, like, uh, I have some of the, some of the ones here. He asked about Emmanuel Macron being hit in the face by his wife. This week there was a video on board a plane that showed the first lady of France slapping her husband, Emmanuel Macron. Do you have any world leader to world leader marital advice? He asked about AutoPen and whether Jill Biden should be investigated by members of Congress.

Do you think that Dr. Jill Biden should also have to come in and testify about what she did or didn't do? She asked about Democratic consultants telling Democrats to act more like, you know, men. What do you think about the Democratic Party plan to avoid being swept away from every battleground state again by spending $20 million to study how to speak to American men? And then he asked about Pete Diddy and whether Pete Diddy deserves a pardon. You mentioned once in 2012 that Diddy was a good friend of yours. Back then, he has since found himself in some very serious legal trouble.

Yeah, that's true. Would you ever consider pardoning him? It was just like, you know, I don't know. It felt a little weak, honestly. I agree. Although wasn't it interesting that Trump said, yeah, maybe I'd pardon Pete Diddy. Well, nobody's asked. You had to be the one to ask Peter, but nobody's asked. But I know people are thinking about it. I know they're thinking about it. I think people have been very close to I know they're thinking about it. I think people have been very close to asking. It's not a popularity contest though.

I don't know. I would certainly look at the facts. Yeah, but that's such, that's just classic Trump, right? It's like, he's never, he never rules out anything. He's like, I'll look into it. He's like, I haven't really thought about that question. Don't ask me that question, but I'll look into it. Never ruling it out fully, which normally would be a big red flag, but not for Donald

Trump. Apparently, there were some weird moments other than that he gave you on a key. Did you know what that key was? Yeah, so this is this is interesting. This is kind of like a little Trump signature thing. Oh, there is a story behind. Yeah. So every so often, he gives people a key to the White House. And the interesting thing is he claims this key gives you perpetual access to the White House, even when he's no longer president. Come on. What's interesting about no, this is real. And what's interesting about that too, is he continued to hand them

out when he was not president. Who'd he give them to? So he's given one to the former Prime Minister of Japan, he gave one to Netanyahu. And in the Netanyahu case, he said, you know, and this is worth, you know, eternal access to the White House. One of them was for sale on eBay, which, you know, obviously, well, we don't a close member of the inner circle is what the description was. But you know, if that means you can get eternal access to the White House, I mean, what a steal. Yeah, you might have to get through some security along the way, but could be worth it. That's so weird.

I had no idea what he was doing with that key. It just seems so random. He said, you know, I've given this to a couple people. Elon was looking at it. Elon had some funny facial expressions during the course of this. He looked at the key a little bit quizzically, and then he did that thing where he kind of stares up

at the ceiling and started looking around. And then he had that weird comment about the interior design at the White House. Did you see that one? No, I didn't. What did he say? They were just sort of, he was admiring the gold trimmings and the eagle on the that it was on the ceiling of the Oval Office.

He's like, he's really, you know, uh, the majesty of the, of the room is like been restored is kind of speaking Trump's love language there for a while. By the way, isn't this incredible? Like this incredible, like the, I mean, it's stunning. I think the way that the Oval Office, how the president has just completely redone the Oval Office is beautiful. I love the gold on the ceiling. Thank you.

It's pretty nice. Yeah. They did talk a little bit about Doge. Um, you know, they sort of got into, was it a success? Was it a failure? Elon said, well, you know, it's, think you compared to buddhism is that right buddhism. It's like a to sort of person of buddhism is like a way of life and then he said you know we're gonna build on successes but it's very evident to me that it's a failure and you're clearly knows the failure he said well he'll be around and continue advise. But what do you make of the relationship at this point? You know, it's strange.

It seems like it really like at best fizzled out or, you know, at worst that he's being given kind of like a, all right, get him out of here. Let's give him one more. Goodbye press conference. I mean, this comes, of course, a few days after he criticized the big beautiful bill. I was like disappointed to see the massive spending bill,

frankly, which increases the budget deficit not just decrease it. When they said, Well, Elon, you know, can you tell us about the biggest, greatest cuts in Doge history? And he said, Well, I don't know, we found like some extra Microsoft Teams licenses or some extra software licenses. Like, all right, that's like best 100 couple hundred thousand dollars. That was what it was all about. They went through some other stuff that they're like, all right, that's like, best 100 couple $100,000. That was what it was all about. They went through some other stuff that they're like, there's

some money for like Sesame Street in the Middle East that they got mad at and transgender mice, which is the classic one. $20 million for Arab Sesame Street in the Middle East. Nobody knows what that's all about. Nobody's been able to find it. $8 million for making mice transgender. So they spent $8 million on making mice transgender. And at one point there are some funds for Burma.

$45 million for diversity, equity, and inclusion scholarships in Burma. In Burma. Does anyone know about Burma? And Trump goes, does everyone know about Burma? And it's like, I think people know about Burma? And Trump goes, does everyone know about Burma? And it was like, I think people know about Burma. It's country.

Yeah, we know about it. But he seemed to be like completely thrown off by that. And then he had this quote where he said, they tried to hook up wire to copper and it didn't work and I was just totally lost at that point. They tried to hook up wire to copper and it can't be done. But we have a system that's 48 years old and would have a modern computer hooked into a very outdated computer and they don't hook up. I mean, they didn't hook up. And that really kind of sums up the whole Doge project where there was really

very little effort to explain outside of sort of like culture war, trans stuff, as you mentioned, to justify it. But the thing you mentioned, Elon's facial expressions, I mean, outside of sort of like culture war, trans stuff, as you mentioned, to like justify it. But the thing you mentioned, Elon's facial expressions, I mean, we've got to get into the black eye. Oh, that was my I was gonna say that for last, but since he brought it up, let's play this clip because Elon was sporting just a black eye. And at some point, it got too awkward for the members of the press to not ask about it. And so reporter

just chimes in and then this ensues. Yeah, no, I was just watching around with the Lex and I said, go ahead, punch me in the face. And he did turns out even a five year old punching you in the face actually. That was excellent. If you knew X, I saw his mom right now. That was excellent. If you knew X, I saw his mom right now.

Okay, so you're you're you're a father and I'm a father I have a five year old. As Elon said, I have never once told my five year old, hey, do you just want to punch me in the face? I don't know. Maybe that makes me weak. Maybe I should try it. But I don't want to try it. They kind of hurt hurt you enough on their own, you know, in turn clambering the this is one of the strangest excuses I've ever heard. Oh, you think it's a ruse? Oh, absolutely. I mean, this happens every so often in public life is like a someone, a politician shows up with like a big black

eye and they have to explain what happened. Like famously Harry Reid had a big black eye and he said, well, I had this exercise band and it broke in the eye. And Republicans were like, well, I think he got beat up by the mafia. But in Harry Reid's credit, I mean, that seems like something that could happen. You'll get hit in the eye.

But Elon just saying, I asked my- Harry Reid lost his eye. Like it was like pretty bad. It was like a very significant injury. This was not quite at the level, but go ahead. Sorry. Well, but I mean the idea of just saying, oh, shoot, I hurt my eye somehow. I need to explain it. I'm going to say I asked my son to punch me as hard as he could in the eye.

Like that's a very good excuse. It just doesn't strike me as credible. Like I'm never going to tell my kid to punch me in the face. And then it turned out he was stronger than I thought. Yeah. Oh, shoot. Like even if he wasn't strong, like why do you want I kid to punch me in the face. And then it turned out he was stronger than I thought. Yeah. Oh, I would shoot. Like, even if he wasn't strong, like, why do you want? I don't punch. Don't punch me in the face.

I don't want it. Well, leave the eye alone. Yeah. Yeah, punch me in the shoulder. Like, just not my face. It just doesn't make sense. But I guess it's like a sort of an interesting illustration of the entire Elon Musk episode where it

was just like self-inflicted facial wounds. All right. Any other final thoughts? Are we this chapter of Elon? I don't think it's the last one, but, um, I don't know. I've been thinking a lot about sort of what it says on a larger scale about DC and, and, and these tech giants and Trumpism and, and all that. And I don't know.

Do you have any sort of big picture thoughts on this? You know, I feel like like this, him leaving now sort of illustrates how weird it all was. Like, I feel like when we were in it, you know, and it was like, you say that in the past tense. Well, well, you know, I mean, you're right. I mean, the Elon age may not be over. But but the I don't know.

You know, it's hard. It's really hard to say. I mean, I don't know, it's hard, it's really hard to say. I mean, I don't know if this represents like the Trump administration coming to, I hate to say reality, but sort of to like a more, you know, pushing out Elon and sort of like the Doge era is closing. And now we're getting into more like, you know, let's spend let's spend in a Republican way. Yeah, no, I think that's right. I think it's like he represented this sort of this ideal that they had in mind that like, you know, the tech giants who, you know, could transform Twitter could do the same for government. And because it's a magified version of it, they were embracing it. And in reality, it's just it's all you know, it's just like with Bon Gino and them It's like once they get into the trappings of power like oh my god This is actually hard work and like that was and actually I don't want to give away your next false flag

But this is again another example of them coming and be like, you know, it is a lot of technical work There's so many line items and it's like yeah government work is fucking hard and it's not glamorous and Even if you've like launched a bunch of rockets into space, it doesn't mean you're equipped to do this. And I think that's been humbling in addition to getting punched in the face by your child. All right, Will, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Appreciate that you endured that. I was expecting fireworks. You enjoyed it. Okay, good. You're a sadist. All right. Thank you guys for watching this. Appreciate you watching our feed and subscribing to it. When everyone's chasing the same finance positions, chartered business valuators stand out. CBVs are an elite group of trusted professionals doing everything from deal advisory to litigation support to succession planning. CBVs are a preferred hire in investment banking, private equity, consulting, and many other areas,

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