Is Musk A ‘Menace To Democracies’? What’s His Game Plan?

PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB) – Elon Musk now has an office in the White House. What’s his political game plan? Critics have wondered whether Musk’s support for Trump is just a straightforward commercial transaction, with Musk expecting to receive political favors.

Or does it reflect Musk’s own genuinely held political views and perhaps personal political ambition?

It increasingly looks like the latter.

Musk made a surprise address at the campaign launch for Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as thousands of people gathered across the country to protest the rise of the far-right party.

France’s Prime Minister said that Elon Musk creates a menace to democracies. This, after warning that France and Europe must stand firm in the face of Donald Trump or risk being “crushed.”

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s a roundup of today’s other top defense stories ending the week from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.

Not the President’s Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEFING – the PDB:    

NATIONAL SECURITY

Pete Hegseth highlights ‘Iron Dome for America’, other first priorities as new SECDEF.

Donald Trump has called the rise of Chinese company DeepSeek “a wake-up call” for the US tech industry, after the emergence of its artificial intelligence (AI) model triggered shockwaves on Wall Street.

CATCHING UP TO SPACEX – Chinese launch startup secures early funding to develop a launcher featuring reusable first and second stages.

ARCTIC SECURITY

Denmark has said it will spend $2.05bn to boost security in the Arctic region, in partnership with its autonomous territories Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

An agreement between Finland, Canada, and the US to jointly build icebreakers may hold the key to deeper cooperation between the Arctic nations, as Washington sets out to boost its fleet against similar Russian and Chinese efforts.

HOMELAND SECURITY

The Coast Guard has started flying detained migrants to deportation sites in Texas and California this weekend, in support of a wider operation to deport illegal aliens.

Here are all the military units now deployed to the border for Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown.

PENTAGON WOKE WATCH

The Air Force reinstated a basic training class Monday that was suspended last week for revisions, with its materials on World War II-era Black and female pilots intact but DEI components removed.

Air Force promises it’s ‘faithfully’ executing Trump’s orders. This, after backlash and confusion surrounding the Air Force’s reported takedown of training materials that mentioned the Tuskegee Airmen.

POLITICS

Google Maps will rename Gulf of Mexico as Gulf of America in US after an executive order from Donald Trump.

Trump has said Microsoft is in discussions to acquire TikTok and that he would like to see a “bidding war” over the sale of the Chinese-owned social media app.

FBI insider has come forward with information questioning Kash Patel’s judgment during a sensitive hostage rescue mission days before this week’s confirmation hearing of Patel to be FBI director.

Billionaire investor Scott Bessent confirmed as Trump’s treasury secretary, giving him the delicate balancing act of cutting taxes and curbing deficits while creating tariffs that don’t jeopardize growth.

More than 50 civil career servants and foreign service officers at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) were placed on administrative leave Monday.

US POWER OVERSEAS

Making deals, building corridors: Trump’s Middle East moment to create an economic corridor from India across the Middle East to Europe.

US, Japanese troops to practice reconnaissance during Iron Fist amphibious exercise. At least three U.S. Navy ships and four Marine Corps Ospreys will join the annual exercise next month.

Air Force puts fighters, airmen through dispersal drills in Japan, South Korea during weeklong rehearsals this month for flying and fighting on the move.

The Space Force broke ground on a new ‘Space Campus’ at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar to boost space operations and capabilities in the Middle East.

Carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) pulled into Thailand, on Monday after three weeks of operating in the South China Sea. Meanwhile, the French Carrier Strike Group is operating in the Bali Sea after wrapping up the French Navy-led multinational exercise La Perouse 25.

IRAN THREAT/MIDDLE EAST

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians streamed into Gaza’s most heavily destroyed area on Monday after Israel opened the north for the first time since the early weeks of the war with Hamas.

CHINA THREAT

Chinese cutters, small boats and aircraft blocked a Philippine scientific research mission to the South China Sea features of Sand Cay on Friday.

New rules aimed at exposing foreign (AKA CHINESE) influence over tech companies the Pentagon does business with are at odds with DOD efforts to work with more startups, but there could be a way to do both.

RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR

Sweden seizes vessel suspected of ‘sabotage’ after undersea fiber optic data cable was ruptured in Baltic Sea connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland earlier that day.

Russia says its troops have captured a strategic town in eastern Ukraine as part of a grinding campaign to weaken Kyiv’s grip on the country’s industrial heartland.

NORTH KOREA THREAT

Sanctioned North Korean arms makers find new cover in Russia’s shadow and are even expanding its catalog.

What to expect after South Korea’s impeached ex-president was indicted on rebellion charges. Yoon Suk Yeol has become the country’s first leader to be indicted, less than two weeks after he was the first to be detained.

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

Gunfire crackles in Congo’s Goma, embassies attacked in the capital.

What is happening in eastern Congo, where rebels claim they captured a key city?

Can Turkey’s leader Erdogan forge a new bromance with Trump? His future may depend on it. Recep Tayyip Erdogan has trodden a fine line between the west, Russia and China for more than two decades.

US MILITARY

CRITICAL – The Air Force needs to address its dwindling number of fighter pilots if it wants to remain combat ready.

END of PDB

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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