Welcome to the beat. I'm Ari Melbert. The week is ending like it began. Another setback for President

Trump as his rush to try to rule without governing leads to having his plans trimmed,

dropped, or outright blocked. Trump began the week backing down from his threatened trade war

and ends it with another court ruling trimming his efforts to govern without law or Congress. A judge pausing parts of the

attack on USAID, that plan appears to have been mostly hatched, not by Trump, but by someone who

claims to wield powers on the president's behalf, Elon Musk, leading to this New Time magazine

cover with the arch reference to him behind the resolute desk

appearing to be some kind of president in his own Oval Office.

This is striking. It follows other covers and commentary that have made similar points.

You're probably familiar.

Early on, right before the inauguration, you had the New Yorker magazine cartoon showing Musk,

not Trump, getting sworn in with President Trump. You can see the tuft of blonde hair in the

cartoon being sort of pushed out of the frame. Now, Politicos know that when time runs a cover like

that, it can be the kiss of death for Trump allies who are stealing

its press or perceived as such. In fact, just last night we showed you the first term Steve Bannon

time cover, which stoked a rivalry. That was before this new red time cover was published. I have more

on the politics of that at a moment. While any potential vibe shift

here against Musk matters, because his actions are impacting real people, his standing to claim

authority on behalf of Trump does turn on and require his ongoing proximity or alliance with Trump.

And right now, Musk's efforts to gut the aid agency to oust staff are ongoing. Courts could later

roll some of this back and some things are being trimmed as I mentioned. But meantime,

Musk's push, well, it already has the agency's name being scrapped, literally pulled down.

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