Video taking off 6.7x its usual first day

Putin's praise for Musk puts Starlink control under scrutiny

The Ring of Fire's Josh Gay connects Putin's remarks to reported drone restrictions in Ukraine and SpaceX's American defense contracts.

Channel:

The Ring of Fire Story of October 30, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 236,414 views a day, 6.7 times a normal first day on this channel (35,407).

Elon Musk Is DESPERATE After Putin Just Sold Him Out...

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0:52Putin says Russia maintains close contact with American partners, including Musk, on space-related matters.
2:00Gay examines reported Starlink restrictions affecting Ukrainian interceptor drones and reporting on Musk's contacts with Putin.
4:40SpaceX's U.S. Space Force contracts bring American defense dependence into Gay's argument.
7:06Gay argues that an unelected individual holds too much influence over warfare and foreign policy.

A compliment becomes a question about power. Josh Gay opens The Ring of Fire's commentary with Vladimir Putin calling Elon Musk a genius, then examines how much influence a private technology provider can exercise over military operations.

The video drew roughly 131,000 views in nine hours, an unusually fast start for the channel's regular-length uploads. Its central development is Putin's public assertion that Russia maintains close contact with American partners, including Musk, on space-related matters. Archival footage shows Putin discussing Russian satellite capabilities alongside Starlink.

That brings Gay back to the reported restrictions affecting Ukrainian interceptor drones, a subject we examined earlier, as we reported here. He discusses reporting that Starlink capabilities were limited and that Donald Trump intervened to restore them, alongside earlier reporting about Musk's contacts with Putin.

Gay then turns to the other side of SpaceX's role: its substantial American military contracts. The description also points to Senator Richard Blumenthal's demands for answers about the company's actions in Ukraine.

The argument is about accountability, not simply the warmth of Putin's words. By the closing section, Gay is questioning whether decisions with consequences for warfare and foreign policy should rest so heavily with someone outside elected government. His blunt formulation: "Nobody elected Elon Musk."

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The facts

Channel: The Ring of Fire
Subscribers: 1,370,000 ▲ 10,000 this week
Channel views, last 7 days: 2,256,731
Channel views, pace per day: 298,129 (on a normal day: 270,327)
Video published: October 29, 2026
Video views so far: 130,614 (less than a day online)
Video views, pace per day: 236,414

The numbers

The Musk-Putin commentary is running well ahead of the channel's usual start for regular videos. Its comment section has also already exceeded the channel's usual full first day.

the video's first day

usual first day here

35,407

this video

236,414

subscribers

1,370,000

▲ 10,000 in the last 7 days

total views

1,561,865,251

views per day

298,129