Trump Crashes Out at 10 PM, Musk Flies to Beijing, and the Fed May Raise Rates — Your May 13 Briefing

4 viral-potential topics for your May 13 Twitter/X session: Trump's midnight Truth Social meltdown, Musk's Beijing trip + Grok chaos, The Rock's R-word controversy, and the CPI shock sending markets toward rate-hike pricing.

Good morning. Here's what's dominating US social media right now and exactly how to exploit it before the rest of the timeline wakes up.
Today's 4 topics:
  • Trump's late-night Truth Social meltdown (50+ posts, racist videos, fabricated quotes) — and then his "I don't think about Americans' financial situation" quote before boarding Air Force One
  • Musk's insane week: Beijing on Air Force One, Starship launches next week, Grok crashing in the charts, Altman testifying Musk wanted OpenAI for his kids
  • The Rock used the R-word at Kevin Hart's Netflix roast and the NBA is in full chaos
  • Hot CPI killed rate-cut dreams, Bitcoin bounced anyway, and Congress is trading on Polymarket

Topic 1: Trump's 50-post late-night crashout — and his most quotable quote in months

Around 10:15 PM ET on Monday, Donald Trump started posting on Truth Social and didn't stop for hours. By the time his spree wound down in the early hours of Tuesday, he had shared or reposted more than 50 times 1 — an AI-generated image of Obama, Biden, and Pelosi bathing in a sewage-filled Reflecting Pool ("Dumacrats love sewage" 2), calls to arrest Obama, Biden, Hillary Clinton, James Comey, John Brennan, and Jack Smith, and a fabricated quote attributed to Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) demanding Obama return $120 million from Obamacare.
Kennedy's response when asked about it: "I didn't say that. I don't know the basis of it." 1 The quote came from a satire website. CNN's Daniel Dale verified it. Trump posted it anyway.
Trump and Obama side-by-side
Trump and Obama side-by-side
Interspersed with the Obama attacks were videos of Black people — a convenience store theft clip, a Black DoorDash driver accused of eating a customer's food ("Always scheming"), a Black man knocking over a waiter's tray ("I wouldn't call him a man... I'll call him what he is, a POS!"). The New Republic documented the pattern in full. 3
Then, before departing for China on Tuesday morning, a reporter asked Trump to what extent Americans' financial situation was motivating him on the Iran negotiations. His answer:
"Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters when I'm talking about Iran is they can't have a nuclear weapon. I don't think about Americans' financial situation, I don't think about anybody."
4
This landed while gas averages $4.52/gallon 4 and April CPI came in at 3.8% — higher than expected — with the Iran war pushing energy and food costs up.
Why this goes viral: The quote is a direct gift. It's unambiguous, it's in his own words, and it contradicts what most Americans think a president should say. The posting spree layers on the "unhinged at 10 PM the night before a major state visit" angle. The two stories together — "I'll post racist memes at midnight but I won't think about your grocery bill" — are a single devastating thread waiting to be written.
Post angles:
  • Hot take: "Trump said the quiet part loud. 'I don't think about Americans' financial situation, I don't think about anybody.' $4.52/gallon. 3.8% inflation. This is the most honest thing he's said in years — and it's disqualifying."
  • Poll: "Trump on Americans struggling with Iran war costs: 'Not even a little bit.' Is he being refreshingly honest or dangerously out of touch?"
  • Meme thread: Screenshot the quote + gas price stat. Caption: "He literally said this. No spin needed."
  • Hook for engagement: "The president just told you he doesn't think about your finances. Not once. Not a little. What do you say to that?"

Topic 2: Musk's week is completely unhinged — Beijing, Starship, Grok crashing, Altman in court

While Trump was posting sewage memes at midnight, his top ally was in the air.
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Musk confirmed he's part of Trump's 17-CEO delegation to China for the first US presidential summit with Xi Jinping in nearly a decade 5, alongside Tim Cook (Apple), Larry Fink (BlackRock), and Jensen Huang (Nvidia — added last-minute after Trump called him Tuesday morning when he learned Huang wasn't on the original manifest 5). The agenda: trade, AI, Taiwan, and the Iran war.
Elon Musk and Jensen Huang
Elon Musk and Jensen Huang
Meanwhile, back on Earth — and in court — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was testifying in Musk v. OpenAI about the time Musk suggested OpenAI should pass to his children. Altman quoted Musk saying: "Maybe OpenAI should pass to my children." 6 He also testified that Musk "had at one point required Greg and Ilya to make a list of the researchers and list out their accomplishments and stack rank them and take a chainsaw through a bunch." 6
Musk responded with his own product news:
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The problem with "Grok is #1": Apple App Store AI app rankings tell a different story. ChatGPT is #1, Claude is #2, Gemini is #3 — and xAI sits at #20, below Google Maps. Grok monthly downloads fell from 20M+ in January to around 8.3M in April, a 73% drop from peak. 7 The reason this matters beyond bragging rights: analysts at 24/7 Wall St. estimate that if Grok fails as a product, it could shave up to $160 billion off SpaceX's valuation ahead of its IPO — currently targeting a $1.5–2 trillion range. 7
Starship Flight 12 is scheduled for May 19 using the newly unveiled V3 design 8 — that much is real and significant. And separately, WSJ reported Google and SpaceX are in advanced talks to launch orbital data centers as part of Google's Project Suncatcher, with the goal of putting TPU-equipped satellites into orbit by 2027. 9 Google CEO Sundar Pichai said orbital computing "could be the normal way to build data centers" within a decade. 9
Why this goes viral: The contrast is the entire story. Musk is on Air Force One to Beijing, Starship is launching next week, he just rented out his Colossus-1 supercomputer to Anthropic (his old nemesis), and he's tweeting "Grok Voice is #1" while in the App Store it ranks below Google Maps. Altman is simultaneously destroying him in court with the "give it to my kids" testimony. There's enough here for five different threads.
Post angles:
  • Contrarian hot take: "Grok is ranked #20 in the App Store — below Google Maps. Musk is tweeting 'Grok Voice is #1!' from Air Force One on the way to Beijing. This is the biggest disconnect between Musk's social media reality and actual product traction right now."
  • Engagement thread: "Things Elon Musk is doing this week: ① Flying to Beijing with Trump ② Starship launches in 6 days ③ His AI app ranks #20 in the App Store ④ Sam Altman is in court saying Musk wanted to give OpenAI to his kids. Normal week."
  • Hook: "Sam Altman just testified Elon Musk wanted OpenAI to pass to his children. This is currently happening in a San Francisco courtroom while Musk is tweeting from Air Force One."

Topic 3: The Rock said the R-word and the NBA is in chaos

At Netflix's live Roast of Kevin Hart at Kia Forum on Sunday night, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson used the R-word twice while going after NBA star Draymond Green (Golden State Warriors). His joke, documented by Cageside Seats: "Of all the cool-ass Black names you could have, that is the laziest fing Black name I've ever heard. Because all you did was put a 'D' in front of Raymond. That's fing r*****ed." 10
Dwayne Johnson at the Kevin Hart Roast
Dwayne Johnson at the Kevin Hart Roast
Backlash spread fast on X and TikTok — a Netflix Sports TikTok clip of the moment hit 169K+ likes. 10 Comedian Sheryl Underwood defended him on TMZ, arguing: "Sometimes political correctness does not fit in comedy." 10 The internet was not fully persuaded.
On the NBA side: the Oklahoma City Thunder completed a playoff sweep of the LA Lakers, ending LeBron James's 2026 postseason run — and the discourse about his legacy is back in full force. Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio Spurs) was controversially ejected in Game 5 despite his side winning; he posted 25.0 PPG, 13.3 RPG, 5.3 BPG across the games he played to completion. 11 Nikola Jokic was fined $50,000 after a brawl with Minnesota. 11
Why this goes viral: The Rock is the rare celebrity who still has a near-universal positive reputation — "America's Nice Guy." That makes controversy exponentially more engaging than it would be for someone already polarizing. The R-word debate cuts across disability advocates, comedians, and the "comedy has no rules" crowd. Combine it with the LeBron legacy discourse and you have two separate culture-war threads for the price of one.
Post angles:
  • Hot take / debate starter: "The Rock used the R-word at a roast. The internet is split: is he getting canceled for a comedy show moment, or should he know better? The fact that we're debating it is the entire point."
  • Poll: "The Rock used the R-word at Kevin Hart's roast. Your take: (A) It's a roast, anything goes (B) Still not okay in 2026 (C) Context matters — tell me more"
  • LeBron hook: "OKC swept the Lakers. LeBron is done for the year. The GOAT debate is officially back open. Drop your updated rankings."
  • Wemby hook: "Wembanyama: 25 PPG, 13 rebounds, 5 blocks — and his team won the game he got ejected from. The NBA refs managed to make him the story even when he was gone."

Topic 4: Hot CPI killed rate-cut dreams — Bitcoin bounced, Congress banned Polymarket, and crypto just got its biggest legislation yet

April inflation came in at 3.8% year-over-year — above the 3.7% consensus, with core CPI at 2.8% also above expectations. 12 The Iran war is driving energy costs; consumers are paying for it. The S&P 500 fell 0.16% and the Nasdaq dropped 0.71% on the print. 12 Markets are now pricing in a rate hike probability, not a cut — a reversal from where sentiment was two months ago.
Bitcoin dipped to $79,800 on the news, then bounced back to approximately $81,200 by Tuesday morning. 13 Crypto funds took in $858 million in weekly inflows led by $700M+ into Bitcoin products — the largest weekly unwind of Bitcoin short positions in 2026. 13 Total BTC ETF assets under management now top $100 billion.
Two regulatory moves worth tracking:
Senate prediction market ban: The US Senate unanimously passed a ban on all senators and staff betting on Polymarket and Kalshi. 14 Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) said: "I don't believe we should trade stocks at all. It's completely insane." 14 Polymarket publicly supported the ban: "We're in full support of this." 14 NPR previously reported that campaign staffers were routinely using private internal polling data to make "thousands" betting on their own candidates. 15
CLARITY Act: The Senate Banking Committee dropped the full 309-page text of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act ahead of a May 14 markup hearing. 16 The bill would definitively classify digital assets as either securities or commodities and set the rules for who — SEC or CFTC — polices them. Kraken's economic brief called it "the most significant regulatory event for the crypto industry since the GENIUS Act." 17 Over 100 amendments already filed. Banking lobby groups have rejected the stablecoin yield compromise. Polymarket prices the bill's 2026 passage at 60–70%.
And finally: traders on Polymarket ran up $7 million+ in volume betting on how many times Elon Musk would tweet this week. 18 The "120–139 tweets" bucket for the May 5–12 window was priced at ~65% probability. We are living in a simulation.
Polymarket on a smartphone
Polymarket on a smartphone
Why this goes viral: "Fed might RAISE rates" is a shock to anyone who's been hoping for relief. Pair it with "$858 million poured into Bitcoin the same week" and you have a macro contrast that drives both serious finance commentary and hot takes. The Polymarket-trading-Musk's-tweets story is pure absurdist content that works as standalone meme material.
Post angles:
  • Hot take: "April CPI: 3.8%. The market is now pricing in a rate hike. The war is making everything more expensive, the Fed has no room to cut, and Bitcoin still bounced above $81K. We are in uncharted macro territory."
  • Meme / absurdist: "There are people with $7 million riding on how many tweets Elon Musk sends in a week. Polymarket is something else."
  • Commentary hook: "Congress just unanimously banned lawmakers from betting on prediction markets. Because apparently that needed to be said."
  • Crypto angle: "CLARITY Act drops tomorrow for markup. 309 pages. 100+ amendments. This is the bill that decides whether your crypto is a security or a commodity. Thread on what's actually in it: 🧵"
Briefing covers May 12–13, 2026 ET. All times US Eastern.

参考来源

  1. 1CNN: Trump attacks Obama with false conspiracy theories
  2. 2Rolling Stone: Trump Melts Down Over Reflecting Pool Reports
  3. 3New Republic: Trump Accuses Obama of Treason in Unhinged Crashout About Black People
  4. 4New Republic: Trump Says He Doesn't Care 'Even a Little Bit' About People's Finances
  5. 5BBC: Elon Musk and Jensen Huang among CEOs joining Trump on China trip
  6. 6TechCrunch: Musk mulled handing OpenAI to his children, Altman testifies
  7. 724/7 Wall St: Could A Grok Disaster Threaten The SpaceX Valuation?
  8. 8Elon Musk on X: Starship launch next week!
  9. 9TechCrunch: Report: Google and SpaceX in talks to put data centers into orbit
  10. 10Cageside Seats: The Rock faces backlash for using R-word during Kevin Hart roast
  11. 11Yahoo Sports: NBA Playoff semifinal update
  12. 12CoinDesk: Bitcoin back above $81,000 after hot CPI print
  13. 13CoinDesk: Crypto markets stalls before inflation data
  14. 14Fox News / AOL: Senate quietly bans lawmakers from betting on prediction markets
  15. 15NPR: Campaign staffers tell NPR they make 'thousands' betting on their own candidates
  16. 16CoinDesk: Clarity Act unveiled by U.S. Senate Banking Committee
  17. 17Kraken: A packed week economic brief
  18. 18Crypto.News / Bitget: Prediction markets are now trading on Elon Musk's dopamine

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