Emptywheel Fridays (Big Bad Breakup Episode)

Every Friday, Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel.net) and I get together to recap some of the big news of the week and, frankly, it's usually a depressing job. Today, though, we were able to have a few laughs at the expense of two utterly despicable characters - Donald Trump and Elon Musk. That's because of their very public, very childish big, beautiful breakup yesterday.

But we also did the responsible thing and point out the questions that journalists should be asking instead of just exploiting the spectacle.. Most notably, the national security risks of the president having given Musk virtually limitless access to very sensitive personal data of all Americans and unfettered control over so many aspects of our government.

And although Elon Musk might be physically gone from the government, his DOGE boys and computers remain, and his access to all that data is a big question mark.

We also talked about Trump's meeting with German Chancellor Frederick Merz, phone calls with Putin and Xi, tariff deals and legal woes and more...

A programming note... our show time is moving! Beginning Monday, June 9, this show will go live on YouTube and at nicolesandler.com weekdays at 3pm ET/ noon PT. We'll still be here Monday through Friday, but a couple of hours earlier. You can also get the program posted at nicolesandler.com delivered to your inbox by subscribing at nicolesandler.substack.com.

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