Caught between a lovers’ spat, Mike Lee has a meltdown. | Opinion | Salt Lake City Weekly

Caught between a lovers’ spat, Mike Lee has a meltdown. 

Smart Bomb: The completely unnecessary news analysis

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Hey Wilson, have you ever had friends who split up? It's horrible for them, of course, but it can also put their acquaintances in a precarious position. Whose side are you on? What did she say? What did he do? Too much information. Yikes!

Well, since the bromance between Donald Trump and Elon Mush exploded, Utah's senior senator has been doing the two-step like only a veteran politician can. “I really like both of them,” Mike Lee said, threading the needle.

Lee has sidled up to both egocentric narcissists—he knows where his bread is buttered. “Who else really wants @elonmusk and @realDonaldTrump to reconcile?” Lee posted. “Repost if you agree that the world is a better place with the Trump-Musk bromance fully intact.”

Musk castigated Trump's “big beautiful bill” as a “disgusting abomination,” because it would add $2.4 trillion to the deficit. The president retorted that Musk had “lost his mind.” On and on the feuding went, getting nastier with each exchange, leaving Lee with an insecurity headache. On the verge of a crack-up, he promised to introduce a constitutional amendment that would remove all members of Congress whenever inflation exceeds 3% or the deficit exceeds 3% of GDP.

Does that mean he doesn't like the “big, beautiful bill?” You're right Wilson, he'll probably vote for it, no matter what. He doesn't want to fall off of Trump's Christmas card list. That would be worse than excommunication—from The Church, that is.

No It’s Not Cold Fusion in a Jar—It Might Not Even Embarrass Us
Well, this is exciting: we're gonna get us an atomic reactor—maybe. The last time there was this much excitement surrounding energy is when the University of Utah announced to the world that we had perfected cold fusion, creating atomic energy without heat.

The U's Stanley Pons and English chemist Martin Fleischmann announced they had created nuclear fusion in a jar of water. Their work had not been peer reviewed, but then-U of U President Chase Peterson didn't care, because it would make us rich and famous—so he announced it to the world.

That year, 1989, the state Legislature quickly appropriated $5 million to create The National Cold Fusion Institute. But alas, neither Pons and Fleischmann nor anyone else could reproduce cold fusion and the University of Utah became the butt of a worldwide joke.

But that was then, and this is now. Gov. Spencer “Can-Do” Cox is bringing in Valar Atomics, a California startup, to build a small modular nuclear test reactor that will eventually produce nuclear power—possibly. One minor holdup, Valar Atomics has not been licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

CEO Isiah Taylor, age 25, says investors have put up $21 million for the project. Fun fact: Thomas is a high school dropout. The proposed small modular reactors are said to be cheaper to build than traditional reactors, but the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis found them “too expensive, too slow to build, and too risky.” WTF—who's going to tell the governor?

Trickle-Down Economics is Back and Better Than Ever
Utah Congressman Blake Moore has some good news about the “Big Beautiful Bill.” Those huge tax cuts for the rich are going to spur economic growth. Where have we heard that before?

How do you spell R-e-a-g-a-n-o-m-i-c-s? Or is it “voodoo economics,” as George H.W. Bush called it?

But we digress. Moore says the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is all wrong when it says the big beautiful bill (BBB) will add $2.4 trillion to the national debt. Moore, the congressional co-chairman of the DOGE caucus, said that Elon Musk is all wet with his recent outburst claiming the bill is a “disgusting abomination” that would bury Americans under even more debt. The BBB, Moore said, would set the stage for $2.5 trillion in economic growth.

Isn't that great, Wilson? Rich folks get a big tax cut and then all that money comes trickling down to the great unwashed. Yes, you and the band are part of the great unwashed.

Of course, 11 million Americans could find themselves without healthcare. Poor kids could go hungry. The national parks would go to hell. A lot of scientific research would come to a screeching halt. FEMA will practically cease to exist. But hey, why quibble about the little stuff when America is going to be great again? Couple the new budget with Trump's tariffs and we'll really be in the pink. Happy days are here again.

Well no, Wilson, we don't know where the Republicans got all those rose colored glasses. But they must be a lot of fun.

Postscript—That's a wrap for another thrilling week here at Smart Bomb where we keep track of the National Guard so you don't have to. Well Wilson, you're old enough to remember the Kent State massacre of May 4, 1970, when the National Guard was ordered to Kent State University in Ohio.

Students had been protesting Nixon's expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia. Some 250 students refused orders from the National Guard to leave the Commons, a large swath of grass on campus near Taylor Hall. Locked and loaded, 96 guardsmen were ordered to advance.

Gunshots rang out, killing four students and wounding nine others. The reaction on campuses around the country was swift and overwhelming. Some 4 million students took part in walk-outs at hundreds of colleges and universities. Eight of the guardsmen were charged with “depriving students of their civil rights,” but were acquitted at trial.

Fast forward to June 7, 2025. President Donald Trump—against the wishes of California Gov. Gavin Newsom—ordered 4,000 National Guardsmen and 700 active duty Marines to Los Angeles where residents were protesting ICE immigration sweeps by armed agents clad in camouflage. The National Guard is normally under the control of the governor of each state.

Newsom had harsh words for the Trump administration: “The federal government is sowing chaos so they can have an excuse to escalate. That is not the way any civilized country behaves.”

Alright Wilson, we know what you and the guys in the band are itching to do. So hit it:

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming
We're finally on our own
This summer I hear the drumming
Four dead in Ohio

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming
We're finally on our own
This summer I hear the drumming
Four dead in Ohio
Four dead in Ohio (Four dead)
Four dead in Ohio (Four)
Four dead in Ohio (How many?)
Four dead in Ohio (How many more?)
Four dead in Ohio (Why?)

“Ohio”—Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

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