The Art of the Smear: Head of NASA and Top Dems Demand Investigation of Elon Musk

From PJMedia.com

Here’s how you play the hit-piece game: First, you develop a “hook” that’s challenging and/or impossible to substantiate — like, perhaps, what’s discussed during the private phone calls of a reclusive world leader and a very busy billionaire. Then you plant the story somewhere in the media.

Don’t automatically blame the journalist who breaks the story, by the way. His source could be a government official with all the credentials in the world. (In certain situations, the journalist would be derelict in his duties if he didn’t tell the world.) 

Of course, if you’re an unethical government official, that gives you an enormous amount of power.

But what kind of story should we create? Here, content and positioning are critical.

It’s gotta be something that casts your enemy in a negative light, but you can’t accuse him of anything outright illegal. Nothing too outlandish. If it’s just an “accusation made, accusation denied” kind of deal, the shelf-life is too short. And anything outlandishly fabulist is too easy to dismiss. 

That’s not the sweet spot for Dark PR.  

Instead, a legally vague situation — where everything sounds dark, traitorous, and sinister, but the legality isn’t exactly open and shut? 

Eureka!

Look, if you accuse someone of shooting a gun or stealing a car, either they did it or they didn’t. There’s nothing to debate — nothing for TV’s talking heads to talk about. And that’s no good. We want to keep this thing alive and kicking! 

But nebulous, murky legal situations? Involving famous people? That has legs, baby! Legs that Tina Turner in her prime would envy!

This brings us to our item of the day: Elon Musk, who recently endorsed you-know-who, was the subject of a Wall Street Journal “exclusive” today: “Elon Musk’s Secret Conversations With Vladimir Putin.” And right beneath the headline: “Regular contacts between world’s richest man and America’s chief antagonist raise security concerns; topics include geopolitics, business and personal matters.”

The five(!) WSJ writers don’t reveal their source. They even note, “Knowledge of Musk’s Kremlin contacts appear [sic] to be a closely held secret in government. Several White House officials said they weren’t aware of them.”

But that last line was the tipoff.

In my opinion, the WSJ just revealed its source: It came from the White House.

Otherwise, the reporters would write, “All White House officials we spoke to said they weren’t aware of them.” Or “No White House officials we spoke to were aware of them.”

I think their language gave them away.

So that’s my suspicion: This came from the Biden-Harris White House.

We absolutely know the source wasn’t Musk (duh). The quintet wrote, “Musk didn’t respond to request for comment,” which wouldn’t have been necessary if he was the source in the first place.

I’m also guessing the source wasn’t Vladimir Putin. If you haven’t noticed, he doesn’t talk to the media a whole heck of a lot (he’s sort of a dictator). And the last time he had ANY dealings with the Wall Street Journal, he unjustly tossed the reporter in jail.

Trust me, of all the publications in the world, the Wall Street Journal isn’t the one he’s gonna trust to leak to!

So if it didn’t come from Putin and it didn’t come from Musk, where did it come from?

Well, I’ve already laid my cards on the table. You decide on your own.

For now, let’s focus on the fallout: Bill Nelson, the head of NASA, immediately called for an investigation. 

“I think it should be investigated,” Nelson told Semafor. “…If it’s true there have been multiple conversations with Elon Musk and the president of Russia, then that would be concerning, particularly for NASA and the Department of Defense.”

Not to be outdone, the House Armed Services Committee’s leading Democrat demanded an investigation as well. 

“We should investigate what Elon Musk is up to to make sure that it is not to the detriment of the national security of the United States,” said Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.).

The Democrats in the Senate also joined the fun.

“Elon Musk — who has billions in contracts that support some of our most sensitive military operations — reportedly has an open line to Putin,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senate Armed Services Committee. “In the interest of our national security, the Department of Defense must investigate this and evaluate how it relies on commercial services like Musk’s.”

Actually, Sen. Shaheen didn’t “say” any of that. In the irony of ironies, she tweeted it.

Elon Musk—who has billions in contracts that support some of our most sensitive military operations—reportedly has an open line to Putin.

In the interest of our national security, @DeptofDefense must investigate this and evaluate how it relies on commercial services like Musk’s. https://t.co/DC3oDu01JS

— Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (@SenatorShaheen) October 25, 2024

Now, is it illegal for Elon Musk to speak to Putin? I’m unaware of any law prohibiting an American citizen from communicating with foreign leaders.

Does it violate Musk’s government contracts? Beats me. Unless you’ve read the contracts, you don’t know either. Honestly, I’d be surprised if it did: I’d assume Musk speaks to a lot of world leaders, both directly and indirectly. (And if President Biden wanted to give him a ring, I’m sure Musk would answer, too.)

But does it look bad? Of course! 

And that’s the whole point.

Welcome to the world of Dark PR.

All articles possibly rephrased by InfoArmed.com