Semi Fired

Elon Musk participated in a fireside chat with the TV host Rob Finnerty during the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md., last week.Credit...Eric Lee/The New York Times

Ready, Fire, Aim sums up this CF of an administration totally clueless on how to do anything with any degree of competency, something similar to how the other "stable genius" in the White House designed the Cybertruck, the only entity capable of surpassing the F35 in terms of how to do something stupendously wrong in the most efficient way possible. 

To whit.

Federal Personnel Office Tells Agencies That Musk’s Directive Is ‘Voluntary’

President Trump said employees would be “sort of semi-fired” or fired if they didn’t comply with an Elon Musk order to detail their work. Some agencies told staff members to ignore it. Federal workers said they didn’t know what to do.

Question, would you know what to do?

It's no secret that we here at Jalopnik have been critical of Elon Musk's stainless steel middle finger to the automotive industry. In fact, we wrote over 60 Tesla Cybertruck blogs in its first year as a real car in the real world.

In the past year the Cybertruck has faced a total of seven recalls, plus a litany of customer complaints and ample bad press from owner crashes and breakdowns. Even many die-hard Tesla stans ended up questioning their loyalty to Musk's vision. Given the vast array of blunders we figured it might be nice to bring some of the Cybertruck's highlights together in one place. Tap or click the title of each fail to read the original blog.

This was one of the most dangerous design flaws that afflicted the Cybertruck in 2024; an accelerator pedal with poorly glued trim that would slide and trap the pedal against the floor, turning the Cybertruck into a 7,000-pound runaway stainless steel death trap. The fix? Rivet the trim piece to the pedal.

How many recalls faced the Cybertruck this year? Seven? Damn. Here's a brief overview of each recall issued throughout the triangular pickup's first year of existence. Click each recall to read the full stories.

Dashboard warning lights that were too small

Unintended acceleration due to throttle pedal issues

Windshield wiper motor failures

Bed trim that kept flying off while driving

Rear-view camera image that took too long to load

Faulty inverter can cause total loss of power

Tire pressure monitor warning failure

Last but not least, the fireside chat with another stable genius.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Rev II