A French politician has mock Elon Musk as a “jester high on ketamine,” and compared Donald Trump to Nero.
Claude Malhuret also called the world’s richest man a “traitor” for abandoning Ukraine, in a speech discussing discussing European support for the nation.
“Washington has become Nero’s court, with an incendiary emperor, submissive courtiers and a jester high on ketamine in charge of purging the civil service,” Malhuret said in a speech
ADVERTISEMENT
Malhuret, leader of the center-right party, The Independents, called Trump a dictator, and said, “We were at war with a dictator, we are now at war with a dictator backed by a traitor.”
In the past week alone, Trump has cut military aid to Ukraine after berating President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House and floated lifting sanctions on Russia, even as Ukraine continues to fight off Russian invasion.
The “traitor” referenced in Malhuret’s speech, Musk, was once a vital backer of Ukraine. The billionaire has since flipped, and echoed Trump’s rhetoric after last week’s Oval Office meeting, accusing Zelensky of wanting a “forever war” in a post on X.
Malhuret, wearing a pin showing Ukraine’s national flag, referenced Musk’s ketamine use, which the billionaire has admitted to using every other week to treat what he called a “negative chemical state” in his brain.
The Daily Beast has contacted Musk for comment.
Republicans—the “submissive courtiers” in Malhuret’s image of an unhinged court—have largely taken a backseat in Trump’s second term. As Trump has carried out legally questionable executive actions and orders firing FBI executives and federal prosecutors, Republicans have stayed mum.
Trump set the tone early in his term, making clear that GOP lawmakers who don’t submit to him will be cast aside.
A White House official put it bluntly in January, telling NBC News that Senate Republicans should “advise and consent, not advise and adjust.”
Nero ruled Rome from AD 54 until AD 68, entering myth for purportedly fiddling while the city burned. He committed suicide after being declared a public enemy by the senate.
