A blockbuster story in the Wall Street Journal tonight by Alexander Ward, Natalie Andrews, and Josh Dawsey says that it was billionaire Elon Musk who ordered Space X to slow down its service in Ukraine, rendering some drones that stopped incoming missiles and others aimed at Russian targets useless.
asserted
that → say → targets
The reporters say it is unclear if Musk operated without input from White House officials.
uncertain
Musk → say → officials
Some of their sources say he did; others say he coordinated with multiple senior officials, including Trump.
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he → say → Trump
According to Jennifer Jacobs of CBS News, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared to try to dismiss the slowdown as a business decision: “We haven’t pulled anything back.
uncertain
We → accord → anything
There are terms of service that ultimately need to be complied to.
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that → be → service
And that’s where Starlink has the option to make those decisions, but nothing’s changed from our view.
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nothing → ’ → view
We haven’t made any directives or anything like that.”
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We → make → that
He added: “[W]e wish the Ukrainians, obviously, success.”
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He → add → success
After the slowdown caused a public uproar, the Wall Street Journal reporters write, representatives from SpaceX, the parent company of Starlink, called the White House to coordinate messaging to say that Starlink and the administration had agreed to the slowdown ahead of time.
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Starlink → cause → time
Musk’s decision to change the course of a war with “a seeming flick of a switch,” taking it upon himself, with or without the complicity of White House officials, to reverse the foreign policy of the United States of America for the benefit of Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, is a stunning assumption of power reminiscent of Revolutionary War general Benedict Arnold’s weakening of the Americans’ defenses and draining of supplies at the strategic fort at West Point to enable the British to capture it before he was discovered and defected to the British Army.
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he → change → Army
Another lens through which to see this story is the apparent eagerness of White House officials to turn Musk into a scapegoat for a decision they were happy to endorse until it blew up in their faces.
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it → see → faces
A New York Times story by Tyler Pager suggests a different leak from the White House.
uncertain
story → suggest → House
Pager relates that billionaire Venezuelan banker Julio Herrera Velutini wanted a presidential pardon.
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Velutini → relate → pardon
His family hired Alina Habba, a former Trump lawyer who at the time was working at the Justice Department, as general counsel at a company, Concord Partners, that was launched by Herrera’s daughter, has no public profile and whose business is unclear.
uncertain
business → hire → profile
Just weeks after she began to work for Concord Partners, Trump granted Herrera a full pardon.
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Trump → begin → pardon
Habba denied having any role in the pardon and refused to describe her work for Concord Partners, but Pager reports that “[p]eople familiar with Ms. Habba’s contract said they believed that she was brought in to help with Mr. Herrera’s push for a pardon and expressed surprise at the scale of the compensation.”
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she → deny → compensation
Thomas Frank at Politico received a recording of a speech Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Cameron Hamilton gave today at a private conference in Little Rock, Arkansas, in which he said the Trump administration plans to shift responsibility for disaster management to the states.
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administration → receive → states
Hamilton’s speech built on an internal memo from October 15, which Frank also covered, that said the administration seeks to turn disaster response over to local and state government, thereby “reducing federal dependency.”
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administration → build → dependency
“Federal dollars should be building greater capability, not creating greater dependency,” Hamilton said today.
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Hamilton → build → dependency
Today Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan of the New York Times reported that sources have told them that Trump wants to move the press out of the White House and that Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency who has pushed to go after Trump’s political opponents for mortgage fraud, is one of those pushing the idea of restoring the press briefing room to its original form as a swimming pool.
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who → report → pool
Another is Boris Epshteyn, the lawyer who has pushed the lawsuits the president has launched against journalists.
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president → push → journalists
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had the pool installed because swimming helped strengthen his muscles, weakened by polio.
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swimming → have → polio
President Richard Nixon had it covered over and turned into a briefing room to accommodate the growing White House Press Corps.
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it → have → Corps
Haberman and Swan note that forcing the press out of the White House would be “highly symbolic.
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forcing → note → House
These four stories, just from today, encapsulate the administration’s betrayal of U.S. national security, its corruption, and its disregard for the welfare of Americans.
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stories → encapsulate → Americans
It’s not a great record to run on, and the leaks from the administration show that at least some insiders are aware of how unpopular and dangerous that record is.
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record → ’ → administration
And so, Trump is pulling out all the stops to keep Democrats from winning control of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections.
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Trump → pull → elections
In what appears to be a transparent attempt to shore up wavering support from a constituency that until recently was one of his most loyal, Trump announced yesterday that the Agriculture Department would provide $8 billion to help farmers slammed by the high cost of diesel.
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Department → appear → diesel
Kevin Draper of the New York Times reported that rates of payment will be announced next month, and the money will come no sooner than late November or early December, well after the election.
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money → report → election
Trump announced the prospective payments at an event for Republican senator Roger Marshall of Kansas, whose reelection campaign is facing a strong challenge from Democrat Adam Hamilton.
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campaign → announce → Hamilton
Meredith Lee Hill and Grace Yarrow of Politico report that Marshall had asked Trump for the program.
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Marshall → report → program
Republicans like Marshall are hoping Trump’s announcement will help stop the flow of voters away from the Republicans and toward the Democrats in the farm states.
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announcement → hop → states
Representative Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin, whose reelection is uncertain given the strength of his Democratic challenger Rebecca Cooke, said: “This will go a long way to making sure the folks that feed us have it a bit easier when they most need it.”
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they → give → it
But Trump officials told Hill and Yarrow that the fund Trump intends to use for the payments—a taxpayer-funded account in the Department of Agriculture—doesn’t have enough money in it to make the payments.
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Trump → tell → payments
Either Congress will have to add more to it, or the administration will have to take the money from a different program.
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administration → have → program
Top agricultural groups say farmers need at least $50 billion to make up for the impact of tariffs, disasters caused by weather, and the high cost of fuel and fertilizer caused by the war on Iran.
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farmers → say → Iran
Trump told the Kansas audience at the announcement that if they reelect Marshall, he will also allow year-round sales of gasoline containing 15% ethanol, a big deal for corn growers.
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he → tell → growers
But, he added, “if Adam Hamilton is in, I’m not doing it.
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I → add → it
Still, Democrats are not letting the White House change the subject from its betrayal of Ukraine.
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House → let → Ukraine
This morning, Representative Jim Himes (D-CT) posted a video, saying he had just gotten off a phone call with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky and a number of other representatives and senators.
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he → post → representatives
…and 11 more, not listed.
The Aporia
