Elon Musk's $2.4 Billion Starlink Coup

After promising to recuse from conflict-of-interest DOGE work, Musk initiates full-scale conflict-of-interest contract takeover

Does everyone remember that joint "interview" Sean Hannity did with Donald Trump and Elon Musk a few days ago?

If you need a refresher, Hannity asked Elon about potential conflicts of interest between DOGE and Elon's businesses and how he would handle them if a conflict arose. The answer went like this:

ELON: Well–

TRUMP: He won't be involved!!

ELON: Yeah, I'll recuse myself if it is a conflict–

TRUMP: If there's a conflict, he won't be involved.

ELON: Yeah.

TRUMP: I mean, I wouldn't want that and he won't want it.

ELON: Right. And— and also, I’m getting a— sort of a daily proctology exam here. You know, it’s not like I’ll be getting away from something in the dead of night.

A savvy reader will probably guess that that's foreshadowing for the story that comes next: a HUGE conflict of interest that Elon definitely doesn't recuse himself from and ends up with boatloads of money in his pocket.

Here's what happened...

In March 2023, Verizon won a massive $2.4 billion contract with the FAA to design, build, integrate, and operate a new communications system across the National Airspace System (NAS), including providing Air Traffic Management across the 29 million+ square miles that make up the U.S. national airspace.

Now, remember last week when we covered that story about Trump and Elon tweeting out misinformation about the Reuters news outlet getting a $9M contract from the Defense Department to "spread propaganda" when the actual contract was with the Reuters Special Services LLC cyber security company to protect AGAINST propaganda?

And remember how that original disinformation that Trump and Elon shared was started by a political hack named Mario Nawfal? Well, Nawfal is back at it again.

It started with an Elon tweet:

"The Verizon system is not working and so is putting air travelers at serious risk"

Nawfal responded to Elon's comment with a longer message where he invents whole cloth some “establishment outrage” for reasons he also just made up:

STARLINK COULD REPLACE VERIZON—AND THE SWAMP IS PANICKING

The FAA is on the verge of canceling Verizon’s bloated $2.4 billion contract and handing it to Starlink—a move that would bring faster, safer, and more reliable air traffic control services.

And guess who’s furious? The establishment. They’re shrieking about “conflicts of interest” because Trump and Elon are putting efficiency over corruption.

Verizon’s system? Outdated and expensive. Starlink? Faster, cheaper, and proven. SpaceX engineers are already fixing the FAA’s mess.

The real “conflict of interest” is how the old system still exists. The same grifters who let U.S. infrastructure rot now cry foul when someone actually fixes it.

Elon is right: Verizon is putting air travelers at risk. And Washington just hates that they’re losing control."

Elon then responded back to Nawfal:

"To be clear here, the Verizon communication system to air traffic control is breaking down very rapidly. The FAA assessment is single digit months to catastrophic failure, putting air traveler safety at serious risk.

The Starlink terminals are being sent at NO COST to the taxpayer on an emergency basis to restore air traffic control connectivity.

The situation is extremely dire."

There was just one problem with all this hand-wringing hoopla:

The communication system that was "breaking down" and "on the verge of catastrophic failure" was the old L3Harris system that Verizon was set to replace, NOT the new Verizon system which wasn't even operational yet.

Elon even admitted this in a followup tweet after Twitter users mercilessly ripped him for lying about Verizon:

"Correction: the ancient system that is rapidly declining in capability was made L3Harris. The new system that is not yet operational is from Verizon."

So, to summarize where we are: Verizon signed a contract with the FAA to replace outdated L3Harris systems with new Verizon systems, but those changes aren't operational yet. The L3Harris systems that are failing (allegedly) were erroneously blamed on Verizon, prompting Nawfal and Musk to suggest that Starlink step in and "fix" this "very dire situation Verizon is causing," which Verizon is actually fixing, not causing.

However, with all the fake [Musk-generated] outcry about how Verizon is botching this whole systems implementation, the FAA is now close to canceling Verizon's $2.4B contract and awarding it to...STARLINK!

So, it turns out that not only is Elon NOT recusing himself from obvious conflicts of interests when they organically arise, he's actually instigating bogus causes-for-removal of his chief rival so he can swoop in and steal their contract.