so ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming walter isaacson and mike duffy. mean the life of. start. hi michael. came all the way from missoula. well, some events matter. this is one. yes, you're welcome. thank you for coming. and thank you, walter, for coming. thank you. we're here to talk about the new elon musk book by walter. this is an important one. sorry, i'll get used to it. i've read this book. i love it. i, i don't know. i didn't know very much about elon musk when i started reading it. now i feel like i know a great deal. it's hard for me to imagine going forward without having read it now that i've read it. so i recommend it. walter, talk to us first about your arrangement with musk, how it happened, how you found out that it happened, and whether your relationship with him about writing the book changed over the course of writing it. you know, i always like doing people who are pushing the edge of innovation and elon musk. he was bringing us into the era of electric vehicles and he was bringing us into the era of space travel again, space adventur

michael: walter isaacson, ladies and gentlemen. please join me in thanking him for coming. [applause] walter: that went fast. >> south dakota governor kristi noem was confirmed by the senate as president trump's -- >> in south dakota i think for a democrat to be elected and even for republicans, you need to be a little bipartisan and work together. south dakota's very populist. people think it's very conservative and it's really not. my last race when i ran for governor 3 1/2 years ago, i only won by three points and it was against a guy who was a bernie sanders supporter. it's very much a state that can go back and forth and tom was being -- was the majority leader, very influential. i cared about farm bills. i cared about tax reform. and was somebody who didn't complain about things. i tried to show up and be a part of the solution and i think he appreciated that. he had a leadership camp every year that he would host for new leaders in the state, that he thought had potential to serve and he did invite me to that one year. and i went. it was in the black hills for a weeke

musk biography has said that the ceo of tesla will go too far when it comes to the conflicts walter isaacsonear. business correspondent, isaacson discusses what the trump administration means for elon musk�*s business it cuts both ways, i,mean,. ,, a , , two years ago. in my book, i show exactly how he has an algorithm so he can manufacture a million electric vehicles when general motors so, you pull him away from that, on the other hand, by being in the administration, whether the national highways safety board or the other regulatory agencies, he gets to barrel forward. stock, which is what it is, it is stock that will involve ai, robotics and self—driving cars. but can the richest man in the world avoid such big to heading up doj and being in charge of cutting government no, i don't think that, if you had to list the trades he is going to push limits, he is going to break limits, and it is going to cause some problems, but it is we had been a nation of risk—takers and we became nations with more referees than risk takers, more builders than risk—takers and maybe it will be interesting, i

walter isaacson says that while elon musk has extraordinary power to influence us president donald trumpld ears 60. ears ao. in m been two years ago. in my book i show how he has an algorithm —7 he can manufacture a million so he can manufacture a million electric vehicles general electricevehicles when general can basically do none. motors can basically do none. so, you pull away from that, on the other hand by being in the whether the administration, whether the national highway safety board �* the 77 �* the othef 7 7 �* the othef regulatory7 he gets to 7 he gets to b7arrel agencies, he gets to barrel forward. i think people are valuing the company, partly as a tax it is that a tax stock, it is stock that will ai, robotics and drivin- cars. 7777— 7_ w 7 �*dri man in7the world avoid big conflicts of interest hi7s ' 7 his business empire to from his business empire to heading up in charge of cutting spending? l government spending? no, i don't - that. _ government spending? no, i don't - that, if _ government spending? no, i don't - that, if. had i don't think that, if you had to list tr

walter isaacson, who wrote a biography of musk, told amna nawaz back in 2023 that musk had a difficult- struggling with autism spectrum disorder, being repeatedly bullied, and dealing with an allegedly emotionally abusive father. >> those demons, the dark things about being bullied as a kid, having psychological problems with his father, turn into drives too, drives that get him to be the only person who can get astronauts into orbit from the united states, or reuse rockets and land them, or bring us into the era of electric vehicles. but it also makes him a dark and mercurial character, and sometimes a crazed character at times. william: musk moved to the u.s. for college, where he studied physics and economics, but building web-based products including an online banking service is what earned him his first real fortune. he was around this time that he turned his sights into two very different fields. the nascent electric car industry, and the decades-old competition to conquer space. musk quickly became a groundbreaking pioneer in both. >> and launch of the space x falcon 9 rocket. w

. >> and walter isaacson's biography, when he was having his first dance with his first wife, elon musk whispered in her hair, her ear, don't forget, i'm the alpha in this relationship. so that's something that we should keep in mind. with democrats out of power in washington, the trump resistance is focused on the courts over congress. but can the judiciary handle the sheer scale of plans coming out of the white house? that's next. >> the last. >> thing you think. >> is someone's going. >> to pass away. >> everybody watched him become this force. >> none of us is perfect, though. we lived. >> it. >> in a way that the world. >> watched the finale. >> of kobe the making of a legend tomorrow at nine on cnn. >> nice going lou. >> nothing like a little confidence. >> boost to help ease you back into. the dating scene. >> of course. that also includes having a smile. >> you feel good about. fortunately, aspen. dental specializes in dentures and implants made just for you with affordable options and flexible ways to pay. and now they're $0 down plus zero interest if paid in full in 18 months.

washington, d.c., if you want to understand elon musk, the bible that people are reading is walter isaacson's book about elon. it's 600 pages, so it's a long, long slog to get through. but it's well written and, um, he what he's doing is sort of almost exactly what he did at twitter. and the chapters about twitter apply directly to his approach to usaid, which is to go in and fire an enormous amount of people. it remains to be seen, of course, whether those firings will hold up, hold up to legal scrutiny. but like, this is what he has done in other places. and he's been pretty successful doing it. i mean, there was a mandate for change and to shake things up. and even if, even if down the road, judges decide that this is not something you can do, i think almost every person in america will have learned that donald trump came to town. there's a new sheriff in town, and things are going to be much different. and that's that is the future. that's what he's trying to get across. and he's been successful. >> at it. i mean, my question is, do we want do we want this applied to, you know, a mistake

he has been quoting walter the biographer of elon isaacson, the biographer of elon musk, saying thatwhat leon —— demon mode which is what he was like he took over twitter. was like when he took over twitter. he has office in the west wing he has an office in the west wing and the main is in the and the main. eeeretien is in the. the and the main. eeeretien is in the the musk eisenhower ware operates the musk army. these are 20—something —year—olds from silicon valley 71 f " milken”; f with and on. have passes evidently don't have security passes they are interviewing quite agd chey are interviewing ouite �*federal saying, senior federal employees saying, what are you _ whgtiareyou doing? reaction to all of this is job. some reaction to all of this is this. representative al green, who's from texas, supported moves to the white house. green, to newsnight. thank you for having me. think is not — newsnight. thank you for having me. think is not even _ newsnight. thank you for having me. think is not even dry _ think is not and you want to sack donald trump. well, let's take a look at wh

isaacson. here is part of a discussion on that book. >> walter, talk to us first about your arrangement with elonusk, how it happened, how you found out that it happened, and whether your relationship with him about writing the book changed over the course of writing it. >> you know, i always like doing people who are pushing the edge of innovation and for elon musk, he was bringing us into the era of electric vehicles and he was bringing us into the era of space travel again, space adventure. i thought, that is really cool. we had a mutual friend who put us together on the phone and we talked about an hour and a half and i said, look, i would love to do this but not based on interviews. i want to be by your side and spend weeks on end, you know, just living in the airstream trailer in texas near his launchpad, a walk in the factory lines with him he he said, fine. you can be with me all the time. nothing is off-limits really. i said the other thing is no control over the book. i'm not even going to send it to you first. i don't even know if he has read it. he said fine. i said, ok. that is prett