Latest / Elon Musk Podcast / Russia Wants Musk to Dig “Putin-Trump Tunnel” to Alaska

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Russia Wants Musk to Dig “Putin-Trump Tunnel” to Alaska · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:01
  Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Elon Musk
• 0:04
  Podcast. This is a show where we discuss
• 0:07
  the critical crossroads that shape SpaceX, Tesla X, The
• 0:11
  Boring Company, and Neurolink. I'm your host Will Walden.
• 0:15
  Vladimir Putin and Russia want to build a tunnel linking
• 0:20
  Siberia and Alaska, and it wants Elon Musk's Boring Company to
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  dig it. Kremlin officials floated the $8
• 0:28
  billion proposal this week, suggesting a new physical link
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  between Russia and the United States through the Bering
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  Strait. And the idea, buried in
• 0:38
  geopolitics and logistics, comes with a wild twist.
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  Moscow wants to name it after Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
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  Now, the concept of a Russia to America tunnel has existed for
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  decades, but this latest version brings fresh urgency.
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  Kremlin's special envoy Alexander Roy Yazanov delivered
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  the plan to U.S. officials as a diplomatic overture, framing the
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  tunnel not just as infrastructure but as a symbol
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  of cooperation and peace. He called it the Putin Trump
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  Peace Tunnel. How the name signals in Moscow's
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  political intentions are loud, and the engineering feat is also
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  very loud. It's a giant project, and Russia
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  wants Elon Musk involved. Imagine that, one of Trump's
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  buddies to be involved in this process.
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  Officials see this tunneling startup, which is Boring
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  Company. It's been around for a little
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  while. It's going to be central to
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  building a link, setting its experience in underground
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  transport infrastructure. Now the route would stretch
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  nearly 100 kilometers under the Bering Strait between Russia and
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  Alaska. It would move both passengers
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  and cargo via high speed rail using electric train similar to
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  those Musk once pitched for his Hyperloop ideas.
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  Moscow claims it's prepared to fund half the cost in hopes
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  private US capital will cover the rest.
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  That framing places pressure on American firms and potentially
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  the US government to take a position.
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  And so all its construction would involve building support
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  infrastructures across remote Arctic terrain on both sides,
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  with few existing roads, rail lines, or utilities anywhere
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  near the proposed path. Nothing like this has been done.
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  The engineering challenges are immense.
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  The Bering Strait is seismically active, with shifting ice
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  sheets, extreme cold, and a narrow window for construction
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  each year. Any tunnel would need to be
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  completely sealed from water intrusion and designed to
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  withstand tectonic activity. Now, unlike Musk's existing
• 2:46
  Boring Company tunnels under Los Angeles or Vegas, this product
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  would push technical limits far beyond anything Elon and the
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  company has ever attempted to do so far.
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  There are also serious political consequences.
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  The US and Russia remain locked in conflict over Ukraine.
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  Cyberattacks, sanctions and building a physical connection
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  between the two countries, particularly one branded with
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  the names of Putin and Trump, would provoke backlash in
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  Washington and among US allies. The project risks becoming a
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  political litmus test rather than a genuine infrastructure
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  project to link the two nations. Ryazanov, who's a long time
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  Kremlin insider, pitched the idea as a peace initiative, but
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  the underlying goal appears more complex.
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  Russia officials described it as part of a broader Arctic
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  development strategy when they could help connect Russia's
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  resource rich Far East with global trade routes.
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  The tunnel would form a northern gateway to Eurasia, giving
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  Moscow another way to bypass Western control, sea routes and
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  air corridors. That is why they want to build
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  the tunnel, not because they want to be friends with the
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  United States, but that is the reason.
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  Northern gateway to Eurasia and that would give Moscow a way to
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  bypass western control. Sea routes in air corridors
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  don't fall for their BS people. The Trump connection complicates
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  matters further. Naming a tunnel after a former
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  U.S. President when he's out of
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  office. He'll be out of office in a
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  couple years by the time this project actually gets started.
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  It entangles the project with American domestic politics.
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  Trump praised Putin's leadership style and called for improving
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  US Russia relations, but any official endorsement of the
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  project could fuel accusations of foreign interference or
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  foreign influence seeking. And the Boring Company hasn't
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  commented yet, of course, because they just kind of
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  learned about this. And Musk has maintained lines of
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  communications with leaders all over the world, Russia, China,
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  often positioning itself as a techno neutral figure.
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  He just wants to do the business in those countries and that's
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  it. Doesn't want to do the politics.
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  But look at his ex profile. You'll see he does the politics.
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  He's also publicly supported building futuristic
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  transportation systems in extreme environments.
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  Think about Mars. This could actually be a really
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  good testing ground for Elon and Mars because as we all know, if
• 5:20
  Elon builds something, it's not just for Earth.
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  Tesla vehicles were designed for Earthlings, but they are
• 5:31
  designed well. They're learning how to build
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  them for Mars by building them for Earth.
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  Also SpaceX, of course. I mean, they make rockets that
• 5:40
  are going to go to Mars, right? When they bought Solar City,
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  they need solar panels on Mars because there's no way to make
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  any sort of energy on Mars without sun power.
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  And of course, there's very limited sun power compared to or
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  solar power compared to the United States, which is the hub
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  of Elon's solar projects for Tesla.
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  Also battery power, great for long term Mars habitation.
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  And on top of that boring company.
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  You need to dig holes under the surface of Mars because the
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  first people that are going to be on Mars won't be living on
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  the surface. Too much radiation right away.
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  So instead of finding lava tubes, lava tunnels, why not
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  just bring the digger there with you?
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  Bring the boring company with you.
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  Now that being said, everything that and of course, like the the
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  Tesla robots, Tesla auto drive, you know, like all this stuff is
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  for Mars. So everything that Elon builds
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  is for the future. And having the Boring Company
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  build this tunnel in every tunnel that's ever been built
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  has been overrun with extra time, extra costs.
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  And if Russia wants to give Elon Musk and the Boring Company
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  billions of dollars to build this thing, they have to realize
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  that he's a businessman first and foremost.
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  He needs that money to continue building things for Mars.
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  But Elon, of course, will take this into consideration.
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  I'm sure he's talked to Putin, maybe not about this, but talked
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  to Putin recently. You know, he wants to build
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  futuristic transportation systems in crazy environments.
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  But taking part in a Kremlin based tunnel, Kremlin backed
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  tunnel actually, at a time of heightened geopolitical tension
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  could bring out the regulators, especially with export controls
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  and national security reviews now very common for any company
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  doing business with Russia. Now, mind you, Elon Musk is part
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  of Trump's crew, even though he's flamed him in the past on
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  X. But yeah, they're still buddies.
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  They're still buddies. Don't let them fool you.
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  And I'm trying to call this down the middle.
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  You know, I'm a skeptic straight up.
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  From day one, I've always been in Elon's corner for building
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  the things that he builds. But he's playing the game here.
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  Elon, Trump, Putin are all playing the game here, the
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  politics game and as such, and this is not about being friends
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  with the US people. If you think it is, think again.
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  Russian officials described it as part of a broader Arctic
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  development strategy going back a little bit, one that could
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  help connect Russia's resource rich Far East with global trade
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  routes. Russia is doing this to make
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  money straight up. They're not doing this for
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  peace. They're not doing this so they
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  can name a tunnel after President Trump or Vladimir
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  Putin. They're not doing this to shake
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  hands in a hug at the end of the tunnel.
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  We're going to get a beautiful rainbow shot of both of the the
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  fearless leaders together at the end of the tunnel.
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  That's not going to happen or that might happen, but it's not
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  for the right reasons. It's because Russia wants to
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  make a lot of money. They want to make trillions of
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  dollars from the resources with the global trade routes and then
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  if they use this tunnel, northern gateway to Eurasia,
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  giving Moscow another way to bypass western controlled sea
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  routes and air corridors. Of course, they don't want to be
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  under scrutiny from the Western civilization.
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  They don't want it from Western controlled sea routes and air
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  corridors. They don't want to.
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  They want to bypass all of that. They want their life to be
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  easier. And the way that Russia is now
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  with US, the the politics with Ukraine, everything, it is under
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  scrutiny for everything. So I don't know what you think
• 9:54
  about this. I want to know in the comments
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  of whatever podcast platform you're listening to right now, I
• 10:00
  want to know what you think of this tunnel between Russia and
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  the US. Is it worth the money for Elon
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  to do this? Is it worth maybe just maybe
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  military think about that invasions through this tunnel
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  instead of Arc etcetera. Is that a possibility?
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  Do they sneak troops through this tunnel sometime sneak, you
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  know, hardware this it's it's almost impossible to get other
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  other troops and gear up there. So we it's, it's obviously this
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  isn't just for fun of it, this is for money.
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  It is a genuine infrastructure plan that could give Russia a
• 10:53
  heads up if anything happens in the United States, but also give
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  them a leg up would trade all over the world.
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  So we know that Trump and Putin, they're kind of buddy buddy, you
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  know, they're kind of friends. So if they work together on
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  this, Trump is doing this because not because he wants
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  peace. He's said so in the past.
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  He's wants, he doesn't want anybody to fight anymore, but he
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  doesn't want anymore wars. He don't want other people
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  killed. But this is strictly because
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  somebody's going to be greasing the pockets of somebody else
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  getting the money somehow. Trump's friend Elon, he's still
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  his friend is going to be making money off of this from the US
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  government and also from Russia. So if they do that, Elon Musk
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  gets his deal, $8 billion. How many, how much money would
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  Elon donate to say a, a rally, a bunch of rallies for Trump?
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  Just think about that. What see what happens after Elon
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  starts getting his $8 billion for this tunnel.
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  I'm not saying it's right or wrong, I'm just saying that's
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  how this administration works and other administrations in the
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  past have worked like this too. So tell me what you think of the
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  comments. I don't like the idea.
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  As you can tell I'm pretty skeptical about it.
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  I think it's sheisty and weird at this point because Vladimir
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  Putin and Russia are attacking one of our allies, yet they want
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  to make a peace tunnel with us at the same time to stop
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  attacking our allies. That would show peace, right?
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  That would make sense. And then maybe when you do that,
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  this could be part of the peace accord that, you know, we'd
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  think about it. It doesn't make any sense right
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  now because they're not our friends.
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  I mean, maybe, you know, try to work with them, of course, try
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  to figure it out. But right now they're attacking
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  one of our allies and an ally of our other allies.
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  And I'm from I'm from the United States, by the way.
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  So yeah, it's some geopolitics going on here.
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  Let me know what you think in the comments.
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  I want to really have a community outpouring here.
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  What do you think? Hey, thank you so much for
• 13:22
  listening today. I really do appreciate your
• 13:24
  support. If you could take a second and
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• 13:42
  support the show even more, go to patreon.com/stagezero and
• 13:48
  please take care of yourselves and each other and I'll see you
• 13:51
  tomorrow.