Why, it’s Elon Musk, of course — already clinging to Donald Trump like a powdery mildew fungus on a crabapple tree — taking part in a seven-minute congratulatory phone call from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Trump following the U.S. election.

Musk was at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago mansion when the call was received, which — according to “a source briefed on the call” — was described as “positive and cordial.”

Well, isn’t that special!

Actually, yes . . . a cordial conversation between Trump and Zelensky is a good thing, and a hopeful sign for Ukraine. Zelensky later said about Wednesday’s call:

“We agreed to maintain close dialogue and advance our cooperation. Strong and unwavering US leadership is vital for the world and for a just peace.” [Tara John, Victoria Butenko, Nic Robertson and Kristen Holmes, CNN, November 8, 2024.]

But why would Trump put the call on speaker phone so that Musk — not an elected official, or even an appointed anything as yet — could participate? Zelensky is said to have diplomatically thanked Musk for having provided the use of his Starlink internet service throughout the course of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

But therein lies a problem. With all of Musk’s companies’ contracts with the U.S. government — and other dealings with foreign countries, such as the Starlink agreement with Ukraine — are there not likely conflict-of-interest issues to be considered and dealt with before he becomes privy to any potentially classified government information?

And as a simple matter of courtesy, did Trump even think to ask Zelensky if he would agree to have Musk join their conversation? Fortunately, this was a call from the president of a friendly country. What if it had been, say, Vladimir Putin on the other end of that call?

If this is a small sample of the way our country’s business is going to be conducted by the incoming administration . . . well, that makes me . . .

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/9/24