Elon Musk in the Oval Office
The News Agents - USA
Global
4.3 • 719 Ratings
🗓️ 12 February 2025
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Elon Musk has been holding court in the Oval Office. With Donald Trump by his side and his own toddler on his shoulders, he spoke to a press pack - justifying the gutting of federal agencies, DOGE plans to revolutionise government, and the mistakes he admits they’ve made along the way.
Meanwhile, Trump has called for a reigning in of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act so that American businesses can offer backhanders if they need to. Is he Making Bribery Great again?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Newsagents USA podcast is brought to you by HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity. |
| 0:09.2 | This is a global player original podcast. |
| 0:12.7 | At a high level, if you say what is the goal of Dojo or, and I think a significant part of the presidency is to restore democracy. |
| 0:23.6 | This may seem like, well, are we in a democracy? |
| 0:26.2 | Well, if you don't have a feedback loop, |
| 0:27.7 | okay, we'd have to, if you, if you, |
| 0:31.2 | sorry, tell you gravitas can be difficult sometimes. |
| 0:36.5 | So if there's not a good feedback move from the people to the government, |
| 0:43.8 | and if you have rule of the bureaucrat, if the bureaucracy is in charge, |
| 0:48.6 | then what meaning does democracy actually have? |
| 0:51.8 | That is the unelected billionaire, standing in the Oval Office, |
| 0:57.5 | holding court to journalists, |
| 1:00.7 | with Donald Trump at his side and a fidgeting toddler by his knees. |
| 1:07.2 | He's telling us what democracy looks like. |
| 1:10.6 | So the easy joke is the toddlers have taken over the White House, but we're not going to make that joke. |
| 1:18.0 | Instead, though, there is a fundamentally much more serious question about accountability, |
| 1:23.9 | about what Donald Trump and Elon Musk are doing |
| 1:27.5 | and whether they are just simply ignoring the law of the land. |
| 1:34.8 | Welcome to the Newsagents USA. |
| 1:42.5 | It's John. |
| 1:44.0 | It's Emily. |
| 1:44.5 | And I was utterly transfixed watching the parade of Elon Musk, ex his son, as opposed to the social media platform, and Donald Trump, this trio sitting there in the frame as the snow is gently falling outside the Oval Office and thinking, |
... |
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