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CNBC was left holding the bag on Friday when Elon Musk abruptly backed out of a live, heavily promoted interview moments before it was set to air, as SpaceX shares slid below the price of their first public trade.

The network had spent the morning teasing the sit-down, billed as Musk's first television interview since SpaceX went public. Anchor Scott Wapner threw to correspondent Julia Boorstin at the Allen & Co. gathering in Sun Valley, Idaho, to explain why it suddenly wasn't happening.

"We've been promoting this exclusive interview that Elon Musk was expected to give to our Julia Boorstin, which is now apparently no longer happening. I want to bring in Julia Boorstin, who's been in Sun Valley. Julia, do you want to explain to us exactly what happened here, as this was imminent?" said Wapner.

"Yeah, we were expecting to start an interview with Elon Musk right now at noon Eastern. We just got word that he has to postpone," Boorstin replied, adding that the network hopes Musk will offer a new time.

Boorstin noted that SpaceX shares were trading below the level of their very first trade and well off the highs the stock reached after its record June debut. As she spoke, shares were off nearly 3% at around $148. SpaceX priced its IPO at $135 and opened at $150 on June 12 before surging in its opening sessions, then slipping back below that opening level as it was pulled into major market indexes.

She said there was plenty she had hoped to raise, including Grok 4.5, the AI model Musk's company launched Wednesday, and how SpaceX is holding down customer prices as component costs climb. That thread would have followed a CNBC interview a day earlier with OpenAI's Sam Altman about efficiency gains in his company's newest models.

Wapner called it an unfortunate development and said the network would report any update.

Trump shared a video from Michael Savage calling for the U.S. to criminalize and deport "hardcore communist bastards" like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani

The post Trump Boosts Right-Wing Pundit Calling for ‘Hardcore Communist Bastards’ Like Mamdani to Be Deported first appeared on Mediaite.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered mandatory testosterone screening for all active-duty service members 30 and older, framing the program in a video posted Wednesday as essential to keeping troops on the "leading edge of lethality."

The new screening will be added to the annual health assessment soldiers already complete each year, Hegseth announced on his official X account.

Service members under 30 may request the test voluntarily, according to the video, while those over 30 will not have a choice. If a deficiency is found, testosterone replacement therapy — a medical treatment to restore hormone levels — remains optional.

"The High-T Department of War," Hegseth wrote on X alongside the video.

"This initiative — it's not about artificial enhancement," Hegseth said in the video. "It's about restoring and optimizing your natural capabilities."

The announcement is the latest in a string of body-focused mandates Hegseth has imposed on the force since taking office, Newsweek reported.

Last September, he assembled hundreds of generals and admirals at Quantico to declare the Pentagon's softer era finished.

"We're empowering drill sergeants to instill healthy fear in new recruits," Hegseth told the assembled brass. He also codified mandatory daily physical training for every service member and imposed the "highest male standard only" for all combat roles, acknowledging the change would push women out of those jobs.

Those same Quantico memos cut cybersecurity and privacy training requirements — even as Wednesday's order adds a new medical test to the annual calendar, Hegseth's office confirmed.

Last September, he also declared "no more beardos" and banned most shaving exemptions. But during a June visit to a Navy ship, he found multiple sailors still wearing beards and left the vessel pressing officials to enforce the policy more aggressively, CNN reported.

Sailors with razor bumps — a painful shaving condition that affects an estimated 60 percent of Black men — face discharge if they cannot resolve it within a year, the Navy announced this month.

"We owe our warriors the absolute best medical care in the world," Hegseth said in Wednesday's video, "and this program delivers on that obligation."