How did you spend the day after Christmas? Maybe you caught up with family or friends, ate some leftovers from the day before, or binge-watched the latest season of HBO's "The White Lotus." Dmitry Medvedev had other ideas for the day. The former Russian president and current Kremlin official wrote a 10-part Twitter thread making predictions for 2023. They include: the collapse of the European Union, Germany and "outcast" countries of Eastern Europe becoming a "Fourth Reich," and a U.S. civil war. He predicted that Elon Musk would become president after this civil war.

Musk responded to this missive by saying, "Epic thread!" He later clarified, "Those are definitely the most absurd predictions I’ve ever heard, while also showing astonishing lack of awareness of the progress of artificial intelligence and sustainable energy."

Musk may have been trolling. But what is more important is that Medvedev appeared to be appealing to Musk's ego with the prediction that he would become president.