By Jenaro Villamil Rodríguez. SPR Informa. Mexican Press Agency
The world—and migrants—already know what happens when billionaire Elon Musk threatens to divide and fracture the Trumpist bloc and hints at releasing compromising files about his former friend Donald Trump involving figures tied to sexual abuse.
The spectacular and scandalous rift between Trump and Musk on June 6 led to the most aggressive and militaristic outburst by the U.S. government against Latino migrants in emblematic cities such as Los Angeles, and against Iran in the Middle East—under the flimsy pretext that the Islamic nation had advanced in developing nuclear weapons posing a threat to Israel, the U.S.’s unconditional ally.
An expert in dramatizing aggression and inflating his achievements, Trump sparked a wave of protests between June 6 and 8 over the use of National Guard and Marines to pursue undocumented migrants in Los Angeles, Chicago, and other “sanctuary” cities standing up to ICE abuses.
We already know what this led to: a wave of protests in 2,100 U.S. cities that culminated in the #NoKings movement on Saturday, June 14—Armed Forces Day and Trump’s birthday.
Between 5 and 10 million protesters mobilized in large, medium, and small cities across the United States to stand up to Trump’s autocratic excesses. The images from Saturday through Sunday were impressive: 200,000 people took to the streets of Los Angeles, 10,000 in New York, 30,000 in Dallas, 30,000 in Chicago, and tens of thousands more in this resurgence of peaceful civic protest.
Amid these internal upheavals in the United States, Israel unilaterally bombed Iran on Friday, June 13, under the pretext of a “preventive strike”, which killed over 200 civilians in the Ayatollah-governed country.
Benjamin Netanyahu argued that Iran was “months away” from developing a nuclear weapon—the same claim Tel Aviv made in 1984, 2015, and 2019. Without any solid evidence, Israel built up a tailor-made threat, while its military continued to shoot civilians in Gaza, where more than 56,000 people have been killed by the “beacon of the free world” in the Middle East.
Trump feigned “surprise” at such a grave and blatant violation of all international norms.
Iran’s response was swift. It demonstrated that Israel’s famed “Iron Dome” air defense system is vulnerable. For the first time in many years, Israelis felt the same fear as the residents of Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, or Iran—countries Tel Aviv has brutally attacked.
Trump played dumb, then tried to cover it all up. He said Washington would decide within two weeks whether to defend Israel. He skipped the G-7 summit on Monday, June 16, but by Saturday, June 21, he was launching B-2 missiles at three alleged Iranian nuclear facilities (Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan). This unnecessary skirmish cost the U.S. military over $300 million. On Monday, June 23, Trump declared “peace” between Israel and Iran, but a leaked Pentagon document revealed there was no evidence any nuclear sites in Iran had been destroyed.
The military clash between the United States and Iran was temporarily suspended. Trump then used the NATO summit to blackmail and pressure his European allies to increase their defense budgets. But in the last three days, he concentrated his energy on pushing through the “Big, Beautiful Budget,” which threatens to reignite the true war that placed his presidency under fire.
On Tuesday, July 1, the U.S. Senate approved a budget that threatens to explode the national debt by between $3.3 trillion and $5.3 trillion, due to increased military spending, reduced tax revenues, and drastic cuts to health, education, and social programs for vulnerable populations.
“We are facing the most expensive law since the 1960s,” researcher Jessica Riedl of the conservative Manhattan Institute told The New York Times, warning that the debt could grow to twice the size of the U.S. economy over the next 30 years.
Billionaire Elon Musk broke his fragile truce with Trump and vowed that if the budget passed, he would fund the creation of a new political party called the “United States Party.” He warned lawmakers: “They will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.”
Starting Sunday, June 29, Musk launched a barrage of posts on X (formerly Twitter) warning that the approved budget would compromise the future of the U.S. economy, prop up “old industry,” and slash support for the “industry of the future”—especially sectors where Musk has major investments such as Tesla, SpaceX, and Starlink.
Trump couldn’t resist. On the night of Monday, June 30, he fired back at his former $300 million donor from 2024:
“Elon may have received more subsidies than anyone in history—by far—and without those subsidies, Elon would probably have to shut down his business and go back to South Africa. No more rocket launches, satellites, or electric car production—our country would save a fortune. So much money to save!”
For now, Musk is staying one step ahead of Trump’s predictable behavior. Trump just boasted about a new Alcatraz-style prison for undocumented migrants. On X, Musk posted:
“Eliminating funds for enforcing contempt orders from federal courts is the true heart of this spending bill.
“In theory, it aims to deport illegal immigrants—but obviously, it also opens the door to many other abuses of presidential power. Should this be allowed?”
Seventy percent of his 490,000 poll voters said “No.” Thus, Musk is joining the “No Kings” protest against Trump. The paradoxes of the American far-right.
Related: The U.S. Authoritarian Decline and Immigration as Enemy, Symbol, and Tool
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