3 ms·

Wealthy individuals have always influenced politics, we just talk about it a lot more now.

• davidw 3y ago
  Yes, of course they have, but I guess I just discount that more when it's "I want tax breaks for the wealthy like me". It's regular old self-interest on their part. Some of the stuff he's on about... it's much broader (and nastier, IMO) than that, and since he bought Twitter, he gets to broadcast it far and wide so that people are sure to have seen or heard about it. As opposed to having dinner with his congressperson or more traditional ways the wealthy might lean on things.
• ttfkam 3y ago
  Pretty sure John D. Rockefeller talked politics. William Randolph Hearst had his own newspaper and gave rise to the term "yellow journalism". Henry Ford was a fascist, complete with glowing admiration for Hitler. Wealthy individuals have always opened their mouths, were quite loud, and quite often spewed sewage through said orifices. Far too many equated economic success with comprehensive intelligence and expertise in all things. Musk is nothing new among the extremely wealthy, but has the potential to do just as much damage to the social fabric as his predecessors.