What Do Elon Musk and Pete Hegseth Have In Common?

4.22.25

Happy Tuesday and welcome back to Common Sense. We are proud to be your source for news and analysis on the circus that is American politics and entertainment.

White House looks for replacement for Hegseth as defense secretary…NPR is out with a trio of stories on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and was the first outlet to report the White House search for a replacement. “The White House has begun the process of looking for a new leader at the Pentagon to replace Pete Hegseth, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly.” Military lawyer disputes Hegseth’s claim that he didn’t share war plans… Hegseth “pushed back Tuesday on the latest revelations that he shared military attack plans on his private phone with his wife, brother and personal lawyer… But the details he shared, two hours before airstrikes hit in Yemen, almost certainly were classified, according to retired Marine Lt. Col. Mick Wagoner, who was a military lawyer for 17 years and deployed to four war zones. Top defense Dem calls for investigation… “Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, is calling for the Department of Defense to expand its existing evaluation into” Hegseth's “use of Signal, which he has used to share sensitive military operations… ‘This is just a complete meltdown of common defense and it endangers our national security,’ Reed told Morning Edition.” Reed is the top Democrat on the defense committee.

So much for draining the swamp. K Street flourishes under Trump… Politico reports, “Donald Trump’s return to Washington lit a new fire under an already-hot lobbying market, but no firms experienced a bigger boon in the first quarter than those with close ties to the president, according to a POLITICO analysis of disclosure filings. Lobbying revenues were up nearly across the board during the first three months of 2025 for many of K Street’s top shops, as Trump steamed into office and immediately began pumping out executive orders, targeting perceived enemies and moving to upend global trade and geopolitical alignments before sometimes retreating abruptly.”

America needs bigtime diplomacy now more than ever, but Rubio offers big cuts… CBS News reports, “Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday announced a ‘reorganization’ of the State Department, with plans to make staffing cuts and consolidate domestic offices. The cuts aren't happening immediately, but a senior State Department official told reporters that Rubio's announcement sets forth a road map for future cuts, and Congress has been notified to set the process in motion. The senior official said State Department undersecretaries for the various bureaus must in about 30 days present a plan on how they will eliminate positions. Rubio reposted ‘X’ posts in which Free Press journalists said the move would entail closing 132 offices, moving 137 offices elsewhere, and directing undersecretaries to reduce personnel by anywhere between 15-17%. Another senior State Department official told reporters on Tuesday that the personnel reduction would be 22%.”

RFK Jr. weighs ending Covid vax recommendation for children, but also looks to phase out artificial dyes from food supply… One bad thing and one good thing today from our non-medically trained Health & Human Services Secretary. Kennedy “is weighing pulling the Covid-19 vaccine from the government’s list of recommended immunizations for children, two people familiar with the discussions told POLITICO. The directive under consideration would remove the Covid shot from the childhood vaccine schedule maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and widely used by physicians to guide vaccine distribution, marking Kennedy’s most significant move yet to shake up the nation’s vaccination practices.” Meanwhile, NBC News reports, Kennedy “said Tuesday the government will phase out all artificial dyes from the food supply by the end of next year — a swift timeline that could meet resistance from the powerful food industry. Under the plan, the Food and Drug Administration will give the food industry roughly two years to transition from petroleum-based synthetic dyes to natural alternatives.”

Photo by Ed Us on Unsplash

Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy: After Tesla profits drop 71% in Q1, Musk told shareholders his time at DOGE will drop significantly next month. Tesla still has shareholders? HA! ABC News reports, Tesla's profits fell 71% over the first three months of this year, a company earnings release on Tuesday showed. The company's performance fell short of analysts' expectations. The decline coincided with a sales slump and stock woes at the electric carmaker, and comes amid worldwide protests against CEO Elon Musk over his role in President Donald Trump's administration. Total revenue decreased by 9% from one year earlier, to $19.3 billion, while revenue derived from car sales plunged 20% over the first three months of 2025 compared to a year ago, the earnings showed. CNN, meanwhile, reports, “Musk told Tesla investors on Tuesday that he would scale back his efforts at (the) Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to a day or two a week starting sometime next month. ‘Starting next month, May, my time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly,’ Musk said during a Tesla earnings call.”

Today’s Furry Friend

Meet Buford, a working pup who joined a search party for a 2-year old lost boy and returned home a hero.

Today’s Buzz

Abbot Elementary creator Quinta Brunson was afraid she’d have to sit with Trump at the Super Bowl after seeing Secret Service agent… Entertainment Weekly reports, “For Quinta Brunson, the worst part of Super Bowl LIX wouldn’t have been her beloved Philadelphia Eagles losing to the Kansas City Chiefs, it would’ve been having to sit next to President Donald Trump during the big game. The Abbott Elementary creator, 35, revealed on Monday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live that she was ‘scared’ that she’d have to sit next to a certain someone ‘who is currently running the country’ at the major sporting event after spotting multiple Secret Service members on her way to her suite. While Brunson did not explicitly name-drop Trump during her story, the 78-year-old Republican made headlines that February when he became the first sitting president to ever attend the game. ‘When we got there, we were walking to our suite and I see a Secret Service person and I was scared, because they said that somebody was gonna be there who is currently running the country,’ Brunson said.”

Thank you for allowing us to help make sense of the chaos. Tune in tomorrow evening for the next edition of Common Sense.