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Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · 5d

Will be on tonight talking shutdown

11thhourmsnbc.bsky.social @11thhourmsnbc.bsky.social · 5d

TONIGHT: We approach the third day of the government shutdown – Trump threatens sweeping layoffs – & the potential risk for the economy as the shutdown drags on.

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Elon Musk’s SpaceX Took Money Directly From Chinese Investors, Company Insider Testifies

Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · 5d

man www.propublica.org/article/elon...

The newly unsealed testimony marks the first time direct Chinese investment in the company has been disclosed, raising new questions about foreign ownership interests in one of America’s most importan...

www.propublica.org

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Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · 6d

If you want to understand what where this shutdown is headed this, and the guy behind it, this is worth revisiting

Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 6d

If Russell Vought had escaped your attention so far, my Businessweek colleague @chafkin.bsky.social wrote a great profile earlier this year that gets into what exactly his whole deal is. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

The Real Mastermind Behind Trump’s Imperial Presidency

Elon Musk is the face of DOGE, but Russell Vought is the brains. He’s been planning such a crusade since well before Project 2025.

The Real Mastermind Behind Trump’s Imperial Presidency

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Reposted by Max Chafkin

Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 6d

If Russell Vought had escaped your attention so far, my Businessweek colleague @chafkin.bsky.social wrote a great profile earlier this year that gets into what exactly his whole deal is. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

Elon Musk is the face of DOGE, but Russell Vought is the brains. He’s been planning such a crusade since well before Project 2025.

The Real Mastermind Behind Trump’s Imperial Presidency

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Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · 8d

gift link here www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

Elon Musk is the face of DOGE, but Russell Vought is the brains. He’s been planning such a crusade since well before Project 2025.

The Real Mastermind Behind Trump’s Imperial Presidency

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Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · 8d

sharing this story i wrote for @bloomberg.com from april, www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

Elon Musk is the face of DOGE, but Russell Vought is the brains. He’s been planning such a crusade since well before Project 2025.

Tesla Is Urging Drowsy Drivers to Use ‘Full Self-Driving.’ That Could Go Very Wrong

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Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · 11d

this smacks of desperation: tesla is quietly marketing its supposedly "full self driving" software as worth buying if want to drive drowsy, when thats the time you'd least want to use it www.wired.com/story/story/...

The company’s FSD tech doesn’t actually self-drive. Experts say that advising customers to switch it on when they're drifting between lanes is exactly the wrong move.

www.wired.com

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Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · 14d

Thanks James!!

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Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · 16d

Omg this cover

Reyhan Harmanci @harmancipants.bsky.social · 16d

New @wired.com cover!!!! It's the Politics Issue

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Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · 19d

New ep! How to fix the fed with Rohit Chopra, and a look at the salary cap scandal that everyone in sports is talking about podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Is the Fed Really That Independent?

Podcast Episode · Everybody's Business · 09/19/2025 · 36m

How an Enron Parody Turned Into a Financial Mess of Its Own

Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · 20d

Went into this story thinking it was a profile of two brilliant pranksters—Connor Gaydos and Peter McIndoe of Birds Aren’t Real fame. They started Enron as a satire of greed and corporate buffoonery. But those things aren’t as easy to defeat as you might imagine. 🎁 www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Some performance artists bought the name for peanuts and concocted an elaborate caricature of corporate excess. It didn’t go as they planned.

Peter Thiel Tries On the Antichrist for Size

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Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · 22d

Will be talking fed, ai, among other things tonight on MSNBC

11thhourmsnbc.bsky.social @11thhourmsnbc.bsky.social · 22d

TONIGHT: The latest on the investigation into Charlie Kirk’s assassination – the Epstein Estate turns over more documents to the House Oversight Committee - & more.

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Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · 28d

Thank you so much Hilary!!!

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Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · 28d

about the antichrist www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

A series of lectures will likely be less about theology and more about political grievance.

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Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · 28d

Thanks Richard!!

Business News Podcast · Updated Weekly · Bloomberg Businessweek brings you a smart and fun chat show about all things...business. Hosted by award-winning business and economics journalists Max Chafkin...

Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · 29d

Big news! My book, The Contrarian,
is finally in paperback! Updated and with a new introductory essay about Silicon Valley and Trump. Find it at your local bookstore, or online

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Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · Sep 5

new ep is a good one! @weisenthal.bsky.social (of Odd Lots) on trump and the market, @samsanders.bsky.social (of the Sam Sanders Show) on kpop and hollywood. Listen SUBSCRIBE tell us what you think!!! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Everybody's Business

Tesla's Master Plan, Part Quattro

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Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · Sep 3

This was a fun episode!

Dana Hull @danahull.bsky.social · Sep 3

Today on ELON INC, @chafkin.bsky.social and I chat with Craig Trudell about Master Plan Part 4, which is all about Optimus and feels like it was phoned in and recycles photos that were already in Tesla shareholder decks

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

Podcast Episode · Elon, Inc. · 09/02/2025 · 26m

The Case for Being an AI Hater. Or at Least a Skeptic

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Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · Aug 22

new episode w/@svaneksmith.bsky.social features a conversation with @deenashanker.bsky.social on the awesome power of the phrase "Live Mas," a conversation with @edzitron.com on why AI sucks, and a conversation with my 8 year old son on why Labubu sucks (ymmv). www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Billions of dollars have been invested in artificial intelligence. But the returns have been middling at best.

The Hater's Guide To The AI Bubble

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Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · Aug 22

if you haven't read it, ed's post on this is worth your time www.wheresyoured.at/the-haters-g...

Hey! Before we go any further — if you want to support my work, please sign up for the premium version of Where’s Your Ed At, it’s a $7-a-month (or $70-a-year) paid product where every week you get a ...

www.wheresyoured.at

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Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · Aug 22

great conversation in this ep with @edzitron.com making the case for AI hate and explaining why the current bubble threatens then entire economy. SUBSCRIBE podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...

Everybody's Business

Business News Podcast · Updated Weekly · Bloomberg Businessweek brings you a smart and fun chat show about all things...business. Hosted by award-winning business and economics journalists Max Chafkin...

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Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · Aug 20

Wasn’t 5 supposed to be literal God?

FinTwitter @fintwitter.bsky.social · Aug 20

OPENAI CEO SAM ALTMAN CONCEDES GPT-5 WAS A MISFIRE, BETS ON GPT-6

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Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · Aug 20

This is obviously dangerous, but it’s not limited to therapy. Applies to pretty much every job tech companies are selling AI as a 1:1 replacement.

Casey Newton @caseynewton.bsky.social · Aug 19

Chatbots can provide something *like* therapy, but it's not the genuine article — so I think it's good more states are cracking down on how companies present them www.platformer.news/ai-therapy-p...

A Stanford University study, covered in Ars Technica last month, found that therapist-branded chatbots from Character.AI and other providers can encourage delusional thinking and express stigma toward people with certain mental health conditions. But one of its co-authors, Nick Haber, argued that AI likely does have positive applications to therapy, including in training human therapists and in helping clients with journaling and coaching.

That strikes me as true — and still not quite enough. Part of the problem here surely relates to language: the words "therapy" and "therapist" connote a level of trust and care that no automated system can provide. Tools like ChatGPT can clearly provide a convincing therapy-like experience — even one that has therapeutic benefits — but should never be mistaken for the genuine article.

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Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · Aug 20

See you tonight!

11thhourmsnbc.bsky.social @11thhourmsnbc.bsky.social · Aug 20

TONIGHT: More states send their national guard troops to D.C. – major retailers warn they may raise prices due to Trump’s tariffs.

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