The on-again, off-again Trump-Musk relationship is back off again

Looks like the Donald Trump and Elon Musk feud is back on again.

Once again, Musk is criticizing Trump’s sweeping One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and now Trump is making noise about having Musk deported.

Their on-again, off-again bromance seemed to be back on again in recent weeks after Musk criticized the bill the first time. After some jabs back and forth, including Musk saying Trump never would have become president without him, the two seemed to patch things up. Or were at least trying not to fight in front of the kids, er, conservatives.

But as the Senate moved closer to passing the bill (which they officially did on Tuesday), Musk once again took to his own social media platform, X, to slam the bill. Along the way, he threatened to fund anyone who ran against GOP lawmakers who supported it.

Musk tweeted, “Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame! And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.”

He also tweeted about starting a third political party, writing, “If this insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day. Our country needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE.”

On Tuesday, Trump was asked about deporting Musk. He said, “I don’t know. We’ll have to take a look.”

That sounds like Trump just talking, but he said something more threatening about Musk. He brought up the idea of turning DOGE — the Department of Government Efficiency, which Musk was in charge of — back on Musk.

Trump said, “We might have to put DOGE on Elon. You know what DOGE is? DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon. Wouldn’t that be terrible? He gets a lot of subsidies.”

The drama certainly will continue on a social media platform near you.

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Moving closer to a deal

This feels like really grim news. By all accounts, Paramount and Trump are very close to settling Trump’s lawsuit against the media company.

By now, you know the particulars. CBS, which is owned by Paramount, and its signature news program “60 Minutes” did a lengthy interview with Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris shortly before the 2024 election. Trump then sued the company, complaining that Harris’ answers were edited in such a way to make her look good and help her win the election.

Trump sued CBS for $20 billion. And while legal experts have scoffed at Trump’s suit, saying he has no case, the two sides have been in discussions for a while now about a settlement. That’s because Paramount is in deep talks to be sold to Skydance in a deal that needs approval from Trump’s Federal Communications Commission.

There are several reports that Paramount really wanted to clear this Trump suit out of the way before a shareholders meeting today. And the two sides have jointly asked the judge in the case for a stay until Thursday.

So it appears a settlement is imminent.

But any settlement feels like a blow to journalism. CBS News and “60 Minutes” did nothing wrong, and yet it would appear Paramount is giving in for business reasons. And, at the end of the day, Trump and conservatives will claim victory and claim that it’s proof that the media is biased against him — even if there is no apology and even if the settlement is only $20 million or so.

In his Status media newsletter, Oliver Darcy wrote that the seven correspondents of “60 Minutes” — Lesley Stahl, Scott Pelley, Bill Whitaker, Anderson Cooper, Sharyn Alfonsi, Jon Wertheim and Cecilia Vega — sent a letter to Paramount’s top executives about a potential settlement.

Darcy wrote, “They pointedly expressed concern that Paramount is failing to put up a fierce and unrelenting fight in the face of Trump’s lawsuit over the program’s Kamala Harris interview, which has been widely denounced by the legal community as baseless, according to the people familiar with the matter. They said Trump's allegations against the storied program are false and ripped his lawsuit as baseless. And they warned in no uncertain terms that if Paramount were to settle with Trump, it will stain the reputation of the company and undermine the First Amendment.”

Fact-checking Ron DeSantis

During an “Alligator Alcaraz” press conference (more on that in a second) Tuesday in Florida alongside Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he didn’t hear from then-President Joe Biden following Hurricane Helene last year. That appears to be a lie.

DeSantis was praising Trump to reporters, saying that Trump is always available to help governors. He then said, “We did Hurricane Helene last year. You didn’t hear from the president at the time then.”

But after Hurricane Helene, as Mediaite’s Tom Durante noted, DeSantis was on Fox News in the wake of the late September hurricane and criticized then-Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. DeSantis said on Oct. 1 of last year, “She has no role in this process. I’m in contact with the president of the United States. I’m in contact with the FEMA director.”

At the time, Biden praised DeSantis’ work, saying, “I talked to him again yesterday and I said, ‘No, you’re doing a great job. It’s being, all being done well. We thank you for it.’ Every governor, every governor from Florida to North Carolina, has been fully cooperative and supportive and acknowledged what this team is doing. And they’re doing an incredible job. We’ve got a lot more to do.”

Biden also tweeted on Oct. 7 that he spoke with DeSantis and Tampa Mayor Jane Castor.

It also should be noted that Biden made two visits to Florida last year to survey storm damage. DeSantis chose not to meet with him. Politico’s Zach Montellaro wrote last Oct. 13, “Ron DeSantis skipped meeting with Joe Biden on Sunday, the second time in as many weeks that the Republican governor did not meet with the outgoing Democratic president while in Florida touring storm damage.”

Good work by Durante to note that DeSantis’ praise of Trump on Tuesday included what seems to be a false claim by DeSantis.

Speaking of that ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ presser …

As I mentioned, Trump was in Florida with DeSantis and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to visit the migrant detention center in the Everglades.

Mediaite’s Zachary Leeman wrote about it in “Top 5 Most Absolutely Bonkers Moments From Trump’s Visit to ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’”

Among those bonker moments? Trump threatened to have New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani arrested if Mamdani becomes mayor and defies Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He called former President Joe Biden a “son of a b----” and, of course, he threatened the media.

Trump was unhappy with CNN’s coverage of immigration. He’s specifically upset about CNN’s report on an iPhone app that alerts users to ICE agents in their area.

Noem told reporters, “We’re working with the Department of Justice to see if we can prosecute them for that.”

Trump border czar Tom Homan has also called for the DOJ to investigate CNN.

To be clear, CNN didn’t come up with the app. It merely reported on it.

CNN said in a statement, “This is an app that is publicly available to any iPhone user who wants to download it. There is nothing illegal about reporting the existence of this or any other app, nor does such reporting constitute promotion or other endorsement of the app by CNN.”

Trump is also upset with CNN for breaking the story last week that an early intelligence report suggested the U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear program wasn’t as damaging as Trump originally claimed.

Trump threatened CNN over that story, too, saying, “They may very well be prosecuted also for having given false reports on the attack in Iran. They were given totally false reports. It was totally obliterated.”

Also, be sure to check out PolitiFact’s Maria Briceño, Louis Jacobson and Amy Sherman with “Fact-checking Trump at Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz about immigration, One Big Beautiful Bill.”

Consuming and avoiding news

Are you worn out by the news? Do you purposely avoid the news? Is it irresponsible to stay away from the news? Can you consume news without becoming overwhelmed?

These are just a few of the questions we try to address in our latest episode of “The Poynter Report Podcast,” which is out today.

My guest is colleague Ren LaForme, Poynter’s managing editor. And together, we try to figure out how you can be a good citizen by staying informed without having it negatively impact your mood and mental health.

LaForme says on the podcast, “There's a couple of ways we can approach this, but I would start with the very simple advice of — you don't need to engage right away. Because of the nature of attention spans on the internet, news organizations have gotten really good at sending you a ping (or a) push notification. ‘There's bombers heading towards Iran!’ I'm like, ‘Oh my goodness, I have to read that right now.’ But realistically, is there anything you and I could do about that right now? Not really. That is important news to read, but when that news came through for me last weekend, I was about to sit down for dinner with a friend I hadn't seen in six months. So I resisted that urge and put my phone back in my pocket. I think that if you are feeling overwhelmed with the news, that is the single most useful piece of advice you could probably take away from this podcast.”

But it’s far from the only advice we give.

Surely, you are going through similar feelings, and we went into a deep discussion on how we can stay informed without getting overwhelmed.

Aside from watching on YouTube, you can also find the podcast on Apple, Spotify, and most places where you find podcasts.

A day that nearly changed America

There’s a new book coming out next week from Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and Isaac Arnsdorf: “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America.”

On Tuesday, The Washington Post ran an excerpt: “July 13, 2024: How Trump’s near miss coincided with Biden’s last stand.”

July 13 is the day Trump was shot at a rally in Western Pennsylvania by a would-be assassin.

If you like behind-the-scenes political stuff, this is an interesting excerpt from what looks like what might be an interesting book.

MSNBC moves

MSNBC made some notable hires on Tuesday as the network continues to get ready for its eventual split from NBC News.

Vaughn Hillyard, who has been a White House correspondent for NBC News, will become MSNBC’s senior White House correspondent. Laura Barrón-López was also named a White House correspondent. She most recently was a White House correspondent for the “PBS NewsHour” and a political analyst for CNN.

David Noriega, a national correspondent for NBC News, will be a Los Angeles-based correspondent for MSNBC. And Marc Santia, a reporter at NBC 4 New York, has been named an investigative correspondent.

Media tidbits

• Semafor’s Max Tani tweeted Tuesday: “Axios is changing its editorial policies to be more friendly to AI use. In a recent note to staff, Axios said it was revising its AI language.” Tani quoted from the staff note: “The new language replaces our original framing which was centered on how everything we do 'will be written or produced by a real person with a real identity. There will be NO AI-written stories.' That was written years ago and was unnecessarily limiting as we've learned more about what AI tools can and can't do."
• The New York Times’ Michael G. Grynbaum has a new book coming out called “Empire of the Elite: Inside Condé Nast, the Media Dynasty That Reshaped America.” Here’s an excerpt that ran in the Times: “The Concorde-and-Caviar Era of Condé Nast, When Magazines Ruled the Earth.”
• After a four-month search, The Dallas Morning News has named Colleen McCain Nelson as its next executive editor. She replaces Katrice Hardy, who left to become CEO of The Marshall Project. Nelson currently serves as executive editor of The Sacramento Bee, and is McClatchy Media’s California regional editor. She is also a former Morning News reporter, where she was a part of a team that won a 2010 Pulitzer Prize in editorial writing. The Morning News’ Javier E. David has more.
• The Virginian-Pilot’s Sandra J. Pennecke with “Editor-in-chief position eliminated for The Virginian-Pilot, Daily Press.”
• News inside The New York Times: Metro editor Nestor Ramos has been named national editor. And Monica Davey, who has spent 22 years on the national section as a correspondent and editor, is going to take on the newly created role of national managing editor. Here’s the official Times announcement.
• The Indiana Daily Student’s Hayden Kay with “It’s time Vogue took risks again.”

Hot type

• For The New York Times, David Stout with “Jimmy Swaggart, Passionate Televangelist Ousted by Scandal, Dies at 90.”
• Wednesday was Bobby Bonilla Day. Baseball fans know what that means. Back in 2011, the New York Mets bought out of the contract of the former all-star and, because of deferred payments and some unusual circumstances, the deal pays Bonilla $1,193,248.20 every July 1 through the year 2035. On Tuesday, Bonilla, now 62 and out of the majors since 2011, picked up another check. So here’s a fun story to go along with all this: The Washington Post’s Kent Babb with “The player and the life insurance agent behind Bobby Bonilla Day.”

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Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected].

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