Trying to read this Nic, but gosh... I asked Perplexity to summarise for me...
Do you think it missed any key points?
## Summary of "What really happened between Donald and Elon" by Nicholas Gruen
Nicholas Gruen’s article, "What really happened between Donald and Elon," explores the high-profile public fallout between former U.S. President Donald Trump and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, analyzing both the immediate drama and its broader implications[1].
**Key Points:**
- **The Trump-Musk Breakup:** Gruen recounts the recent, highly publicized feud between Trump and Musk, which erupted after Musk criticized the Trump administration’s signature legislation, the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," for its projected impact on the U.S. national debt. Musk’s call to "kill the bill" prompted a sharp response from Trump, who expressed disappointment and suggested their relationship was over[1][2][3].
- **Escalating Insults and Financial Fallout:** The spat quickly devolved into mutual insults on social media. Musk claimed credit for Trump's 2024 election victory and accused Trump of ingratitude, while Trump implied Musk’s opposition was self-serving, tied to the loss of electric vehicle tax incentives for Tesla. The public feud triggered significant financial consequences: Tesla’s market value dropped by $152 billion, and Trump’s cryptocurrency, TrumpCoin, lost over $100 million[3].
- **Policy and Power Struggles:** Gruen situates the Trump-Musk conflict within a broader context of elite influence over policy. He notes that Musk, as both a major political donor and a White House advisor, wielded unprecedented influence, but the partnership soured over legislative priorities—particularly those affecting Musk’s business interests and the national deficit[1][2][3].
- **Broader Implications:** The article reflects on the volatility of alliances between powerful business figures and political leaders. Gruen uses the episode to illustrate how elite interests can quickly shift, destabilizing markets and public policy. He also touches on the dangers of governance driven by elite consensus rather than expert advice, and the risks when major decisions are shaped by personal feuds rather than public interest[1].
- **Meta-Commentary:** Gruen’s writing style is characteristically wry and self-aware. He frames the Trump-Musk saga as an example of how complex systems—political, economic, and social—can be disrupted by the unpredictable dynamics of personality and power. He also critiques the "systems" or "complexity" lens often used to explain such events, suggesting that sometimes chaos is just chaos[1].
**Conclusion:**
Gruen’s article is not just a blow-by-blow account of the Trump-Musk breakup, but a meditation on the fragility of elite alliances and the unpredictable consequences of their collapse. He warns that when elites fall out, the ripple effects can be swift and severe, affecting everything from financial markets to the machinery of government[1][2][3].
So James Carroll's "Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right" is nominated for a Hugo for Best Related Work and it is so profoundly badly written that it should have no chance. But a) Mike Glyer said it was an important book so who knows b) in the footnotes there is an article presumably written by a human: Stephane Francois "Guillaume Faye and Archeofuturism" in "Key Thinkers of the Radical Right: Behind The Threat To Liberal Democracy", ed. Mark Sedgwick (New York: Oxford UP, 2019)
Trying to read this Nic, but gosh... I asked Perplexity to summarise for me...
Do you think it missed any key points?
## Summary of "What really happened between Donald and Elon" by Nicholas Gruen
Nicholas Gruen’s article, "What really happened between Donald and Elon," explores the high-profile public fallout between former U.S. President Donald Trump and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, analyzing both the immediate drama and its broader implications[1].
**Key Points:**
- **The Trump-Musk Breakup:** Gruen recounts the recent, highly publicized feud between Trump and Musk, which erupted after Musk criticized the Trump administration’s signature legislation, the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," for its projected impact on the U.S. national debt. Musk’s call to "kill the bill" prompted a sharp response from Trump, who expressed disappointment and suggested their relationship was over[1][2][3].
- **Escalating Insults and Financial Fallout:** The spat quickly devolved into mutual insults on social media. Musk claimed credit for Trump's 2024 election victory and accused Trump of ingratitude, while Trump implied Musk’s opposition was self-serving, tied to the loss of electric vehicle tax incentives for Tesla. The public feud triggered significant financial consequences: Tesla’s market value dropped by $152 billion, and Trump’s cryptocurrency, TrumpCoin, lost over $100 million[3].
- **Policy and Power Struggles:** Gruen situates the Trump-Musk conflict within a broader context of elite influence over policy. He notes that Musk, as both a major political donor and a White House advisor, wielded unprecedented influence, but the partnership soured over legislative priorities—particularly those affecting Musk’s business interests and the national deficit[1][2][3].
- **Broader Implications:** The article reflects on the volatility of alliances between powerful business figures and political leaders. Gruen uses the episode to illustrate how elite interests can quickly shift, destabilizing markets and public policy. He also touches on the dangers of governance driven by elite consensus rather than expert advice, and the risks when major decisions are shaped by personal feuds rather than public interest[1].
- **Meta-Commentary:** Gruen’s writing style is characteristically wry and self-aware. He frames the Trump-Musk saga as an example of how complex systems—political, economic, and social—can be disrupted by the unpredictable dynamics of personality and power. He also critiques the "systems" or "complexity" lens often used to explain such events, suggesting that sometimes chaos is just chaos[1].
**Conclusion:**
Gruen’s article is not just a blow-by-blow account of the Trump-Musk breakup, but a meditation on the fragility of elite alliances and the unpredictable consequences of their collapse. He warns that when elites fall out, the ripple effects can be swift and severe, affecting everything from financial markets to the machinery of government[1][2][3].
[1] https://nicholasgruen.substack.com/p/what-really-happened-between-donald
[2] https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2025-06-05/trumps-breakup-with-musk-devolves-into-a-war-of-insults
[3] https://www.wired.com/story/musk-trump-breakup-tesla-stock-price/
[4] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/us/politics/doge-wilson-center.html
[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myFFDZwfGFM
Looks like it's bullshitting you from start to finish.
It's JORDAN Carroll, my apologies
So James Carroll's "Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right" is nominated for a Hugo for Best Related Work and it is so profoundly badly written that it should have no chance. But a) Mike Glyer said it was an important book so who knows b) in the footnotes there is an article presumably written by a human: Stephane Francois "Guillaume Faye and Archeofuturism" in "Key Thinkers of the Radical Right: Behind The Threat To Liberal Democracy", ed. Mark Sedgwick (New York: Oxford UP, 2019)
(I am getting the feeling that for a normal year, not the unspeakable Puppies ones, the whole category is going to be below average)