yeah but also people voted for the guy after Elon said he’s officially buying him and jumped around like a reanimated troglodyte to celebrate his purchase.
anyone with a second brain cell could tell that he would be in charge even if he weren’t doing it so publicly.
Remember: it’s not just trump and musk to blame, the entire Republican party is responsible for supporting all this.
If you want to do a bit of Both-Sides-ism, big chunks of the Dem Establishment have also been very friendly with Elon. FFS, he didn’t have any trouble landing contracts under the Biden Admin. And he led Gavin Newsom around by the nose with his Hyperloop promises for nearly a decade.
But I’d say the more pervasive concern is how heavily leveraged Elon’s businesses are with respect to his Saudi creditors. And that’s the real snarl at the end of this problem. The US has made the Saudi Royal Family such an enormous nexus of dollar inputs and outputs that Aramco might as well be a second Federal Reserve.
Our addiction to fossil fuels is driving significant chunks of our bad policy, both domestic and foreign. And while you can wax poetic about Americans “not voting for this”, there’s a deep socio-economic bond between American industry and cheap oil. Americans “vote” for the Saudis with their labor hours and their consumer spending on a daily basis.
And to a lesser extent, the corpo Dems for their pissweak “opposition”.
It’s amazing that destruction of his reputation is going to go down in history as surpassing his destruction of the Twitter brand.
He’s buying the means to determine how history books are written.
His reputation was and is being a scammer who got lucky.
I think the bigger historical footnote will be that he was allowed anywhere near a government in the first place
You have to have a good reputation in order for it to go down. He was always perceived as capitalist scum
He was always perceived as capitalist scum
He was regularly lauded as “One Of The Good Ones” as recently as Trump’s first term. The Electric Car Guy. The Hyperloop Will Be The Best Form of Rail Transit Guy. The We’re Going to Mars Guy.
He’s a carnival barker, but its absurd to say he only gulled the conservatives. Liberals have been falling for this man’s schtick for decades. Right up there with Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and George Soros as an obscenely wealthy gremlin we were all supposed to trust.
All he needed to do was stay quiet and get rich via multiple companies, maybe keep pushing electrification and renewables, and most of society would have kept considering him the real life Tony Stark pushing humanity forward.
The US especially has no trouble idolizing flawed people as long as they have lots of money and/or high-visibility accomplishments.
If Musk does have one exceptional skill on top of his good fortune in life, it seems to be finding promising companies and taking credit for their shit. And it totally would have worked for him. But no, being a mustache-twirling nazi-saluting villain gets you more attention.
Nah, we hated him for that. Under what corporate media rock do you live in?
No, I remember the time when people went all “he’s like the next Steve Jobs!” and meant that in a good way
I’ll be the first to admit I liked Elon when I first heard about him. I was uninformed and now that I’ve been informed I can’t tolerate him or his egregious actions done on my/our country. FUCK ELON AND FUCK TRUMP 🖕🖕🖕🖕
Only fringe capitalist assholes (most likely his sockpuppets or people he paid) said that
If Elon Musk had suddenly died days before he accused that diver who saved those children from that cave of being a pedophile, he would’ve been remembered as the real life Tony Stark that never got the chance to bring us to a new golden age. But now he’s viewed as a shitty James Bond villain.
Tony Stark is an asshole lol. He is the villan
Yeah, most of us didn’t vote for Trump either. We need to reform the elections to establish an actual democracy
hmmm this was clear as day before the election… so a more accurate headline would be “the majority of people who voted, voted for Elon… the majority of the rest couldn’t be bothered”
Putting that aside, I am holding predictions until the Feb 05 marches and I am willing to give the dormant populous of the USA a couple more weeks to go on a general strike and stop this madness… but it increasingly seems the people in the USA are now too numb, too busy, too stressed out, too ignorant to realize they are sheep being taken to the slaughter house
That’s just it. Most people are too numb, busy, stressed or ignorant. I reckon it’s by design
I’m not in the US, but the news coming out almost daily since Trump took office has been pretty worrying to me. I encourage everyone to watch and spread this video: How Tech Billionaires Plan to Destroy America. I feel like a tinfoil hatter but, what’s laid out in the video is very convincing after just a couple weeks into Trump’s presidency.
Yeah as a non-American, it certainly does look from the outside as if a ketamine-fuelled Nazi is going around just taking over government offices largely unopposed.
Yeah, watching this unfold makes me wonder just how useless things like a constitution and laws and due process really are in every other country. Because apparently none of those things actually matter and some rich asshole that wasn’t elected can seize power tomorrow if they want. While no one does anything about it. Makes it all seem like a big joke.
It’s the result of over 50 years of chipping away at all the anti corruption laws. Trump wouldn’t have been able to do this with the laws put in after Nixon, but there’s been a concerted effort to overturn all of it through the Supreme Court.
You should listen to the Masterplan podcast that lays it all out, if you haven’t yet.
I disagree there, they are still breaking laws, like what Musk is doing at Treasury, but there is no one enforcing the law. No one (Founding Fathers) accounted for Congress and the Supreme Court being so captured that they would do nothing to threats like this.
That is a huge difference from Nixon. His own party turned against him quickly when the evidence showed the illegal actions were connected to him directly. The modem Republicans never will do that to Trump or things he commands.
Yeah it’s crazy to me, over 300 million citizens in the US alone, but just a handful of billionaires is all it takes to destroy democracy and the government. It honestly feels like violence will be the only option to get at these billionaires as it seems there is no longer any way to cripple them financially. They are completely fearless in their meddling.
Americans irl are a bit different than americans in the movies…
I think that nobody is brave enough or desperate enough to be willing to lose their life (yet)
But they knew the close relationship, the money spent, the egos of all involved. How did they NOT see this coming? I hate to say it but it was inevitable that something bad was going to happpen, maybe not as fast as it has, but it was clear a vote for Trump was a vote for Musk.
I think less people actually knew than we think. Sure they saw Musk on stage with their mango mussolini, but they couldn’t put two and two together.
Yeah, it’s a bummer but I think many comments are giving the American public too much credit.
The combined effects of “decent white Christians simply vote Republican” and “super rich white man good, two super rich white men better” probably count for a majority of trump’s votes.
To be fair Elon was announced at the RNC aka the Break The Grindr party. Everyone was bummed that JD Vance had an Indian wife and he was barely a 6 (tho the talking heads kept shameless commenting how hott he was). All the pussy dried up and then Trumps crew started showing Musk off. He’s been a lovely item ever since. Guy is swept up in what little glamour there is for those swamp monsters. Now his tanks are tanking. The kardassians curse strikes again.
And letting a thin-skinned, Ketamine-fueled, video-game cheating, Nazi apologist billionaire take over the machinery of the United States is not something that anyone voted for.
mother jones throwin hands.
I hate how ketamine is always catching strays over this idiot’s behavior…
The best part is every one of those adjectives is also a hyperlink.
I assure you that some people did in fact vote for that.
absolutely. I know some of the more virulent ones. “rocket man good”
jfc
Wonder what they’ll think the minute they get ruined by something he does.
Nothing that shows any self-reflection
bingo.
It will be “I didn’t vote for THIS!?”
Then, if we even still have elections, they’ll vote for Republicans again.
Ketamine-fueled
That’s the important part. We have an adderall addict and a ketamine addict running our government.
This really isn’t the important part though… I would say their beliefs and their actions are far more important.
Maybe we just need to convert the white house into a wellness farm so they can be reparented.
So, literally Hitler
Hitler (speed addict) was actually in charge. In this case, the speed addict has given the reins over to the guy taking shit that makes you hallucinate.
Not enough IMO, he’s no apologist after that Nazi Salute he did
the line between nazi apologist and nazi is there isn’t one.
He didn’t seize control. He was given it by the President. I figured the article would cover the nuance the headline missed, but it didn’t.
And then I see others here making the same point and getting downvoted.
The problem is Trump and the very best people he is once again bringing in.
He purchased it from the president.
Well, purchased it from the person he made president.
Wait, how does Putin fit in this scenario?
Damn straight! They voted for the other self-interested, erratic megalomaniac.
Deport Elon Musk
This isn’t an deportation level crime. This is “hang for treason” crime.
More like a: “let’s see if the peasants care and are willing to do anything about it and worst case, he’ll get a pardon” crime.
Elon Musk should be deported to ADX Florence or Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp
Nah. Seize his assets, but make him stay here. Make that Nazi bastard experience life the American Way™ - living paycheck to paycheck at a minimum wage job (cause the moment his net worth guess to zero, his political influence does as well - another trademarked advantage of American living).
Pipe dreams. Billionaires have beat the system. They’ll never be on our level, even after “losing” everything.
It sucks. But unless some external force is involved, they’ll never ever face repercussions for any of the bad they’ve ever done. This is the system they’ve built and designed for themselves.
Ummm…yes? Duh, even??
He’d still be a celebrity, a couple of talk show invitations and he’d be better off than the bar majority of Americans. Not to speak of other opportunities he’d have.
Zero assets? Yeah, I really doubt that. He’s not smart. And his popularity? You think any of these sociopaths in power actually like each other? Not a chance.
The moment there’s no chance of material gain by sucking up to him, he’d be tossed aside.
I really wish we’d stop hero worshipping the most worthless fools amongst us.
Oh, I love that idea. Actually, first give him some time, where he gets to work for less than minimum wage at a totally shit job.
Then release him, with the criminal record. See how he does…
I really don’t think it’ll work. Americans absolutely love their celebrities. Elon musk will never be poor, people will just give him money for existing.
Heh. I see what you did there…
Debone Elon Musk
Deport Elon Musk back to hell
Let him ‘occupy Mars.’
I’m 100% okay with using tax dollars to strap this fuckface to a rocket launching him at Mars
I was thinking of making bumper stickers for that. But someone already even has the domain for that…
To Mars.
Yes they did. Musk and Trump literally campaigned together, Musk was on-stage next to Trump at multiple rallies where he spoke too. It was clearly reported during the election that Musk was spending hundreds of millions of dollars to get Trump elected.
Here’s an article from September (before the election) with Trump saying he’d create DOGE and have Musk lead it. https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-elon-musk-government-efficiency-commission-e831ed5dc2f6a56999e1a70bb0a4eaeb
Anyone who voted from trump and didn’t expect this is either lying, or intentionally being ignorant.
You and I are paying attention at a level of detail that almost no Americans do. It would merely take an ordinary level of ignorance to be unaware of this.
American ordinary level of ignorance is too damn low…
American Ignorance is willful
You probably mean high. Their ignorance is too high. Their awareness is too low.
Hey now - give them some credit. They’re 100% aware of what Fox News and other media outlets that seem them too “liberal” as Fox News are telling them!
They’re fucking morons.
It’s odd though. The it guy at the company I work for is a trump fan, and he’s not stupid. I don’t understand this world anymore.
I retreat into my own world now.
resisting propaganda isn’t about intelligence. it’s about raising empathetic children
The Smithsonian Institution needs more funding so it can build museums outside of DC and its surrounding areas. It’s a way to combat ignorance.
not just because of that. the smithsonian represents a massive collection of our culture that the government has gathered so that we don’t have access to it. much of it the prizes of the 2-3 genocides our government has inflicted
My best friend’s husband is also. Along with my dad. Both said they just wanted lowered taxes. I cannot begin to describe how intelligently fucking stupid these people are.
Selfishness is the cause there. “I just want lower taxes” as they ignore all the horrendous stuff Trump says/does just so they can have more money for themselves.
Big “I got mine, fuck you.” energy there.
Well with the Republicans new tax plan they’ll get increased taxes and all the horrible shit that comes with this administration. Hope they’re happy.
Yeah, you get your lower taxes, and then you just have to use some of the money you got to keep and some extra to pay for all the services you got for free. That’s the bargain Americans already made for health care, and now they’ll get it with food safety, the environment, the weather, etc.
Correct. Really enraging behavior to see on display but Americans are mostly deeply selfish.
The MAGAs and Trumpists just need a reality check from the administration itself that they can’t hide or pretend. Something like WaterGate
We had J6, FFS. The most filmed crime in history. The biggest investigation in history.
Did not fucking matter. Idiots like Watters brush that off by saying the terrorists there on that day were “overcharged” and, therefore, their pardon is justified.
lol that’s not going to happen. The train has left the station and everyone with the capacity to choose to get off has already done so. Stop hoping for a moment that will never come.
Hard agree. My mom is not the most politically literate person, and never cared much about tech, EVs, or space flight, but this summer out of nowhere she started talking about how great this Musk guy was and all his business accomplishments.
The Trump voters have been have been fully prepped on how to feel about Elmo for quite some time now.
Elect a puppet, get a puppet. If anyone looked at Trump’s bankroll for the election and thought, “Wow, what a bunch of great people donating for a better tomorrow,” you are out of your fucking mind.
In this administration the Elongate will happen
But it can also be called as:
- Elon Files
- XGate
- X Files
- DOGEGate
- DOGE Files
- MagaGate
- MAGA Files
- TrumpGate
- Trump Files
I’m sure Matt Taibbi will be right on top of that.
I read that as more of a “stretched neck” vibe then a political scandal that ended with a conservative pardoning a president of all his crimes
