8 ms·
I typically like Elon about 70% of the time, but I need to agree here. I don't quite understand how he suddenly got so much influence.
by tryptophan 2y ago
I typically like Elon about 70% of the time, but I need to agree here. I don't quite understand how he suddenly got so much influence.
- orwin 2y agoHe always had it? Money give influence naturally. I've listened to a history podcast about the robber barons and how following the backlash and dismantlement of the Standard oil, industrialist started buying articles, sometime even newspapers to sell their stories, and in the US, it worked wonderfully. You still have the brand "Quaker" that was born at the time, and probably a dozen other, where they manipulated their own famillial history to build an image, and hide the fact that children died in their mine or that they just had 20 redneck strikers killed. It's not as bad today, but building a personal brand by buying puff articles, fondations. Buying goodwill and influence was always present since at least that time (Honestly, Berkshire Hathaway made at least some of its money on WB reputation, so tech billionaires are not the only kind of CEO who do it)
- sangnoir 2y ago> He always had it? Money give influence naturally. Not as much as he has now: he was famously frustrated by the California state government's Covid lockdown mandates, and was pretty powerless against them. That frustration is probably what led him to buy influence in the Trump campaign,and later administration. Money can take you so far, political power will take you further for imposing your will on others. The "Shock-and-awe"/blitzkrieg strategy is another force-multiplier. By moving much faster than the bureaucracy and legal system can respond, the question on whether he has the power or authority to do the things he's doing may become moot.
- johnnyanmac 2y agoI'm not going to be as extreme as saying "california has integrity". But California was wise to prioritize its people over a robber baron who's just mad his cars weren't selling. He probably still couldn't buy off CA to this day. Switching to a side of fellow billionaire politicians was simply a way to be among his own people, with similar levels of empathy for the working class. >By moving much faster than the bureaucracy and legal system can respond, the question on whether he has the power or authority to do the things he's doing may become moot. I think long term someone is going to shut down his shenanigans for good. Maybe even Trump himself will throw him under the bus. But I do wonder how deep he can get and what his consequences are. Like, could he simply leak government data to Russia/China and only get away with a fine? He's not military, but Court Mashals have given the death sentence over much more mild causes.
- UltraSane 2y ago" By moving much faster than the bureaucracy and legal system can respond, the question on whether he has the power or authority to do the things he's doing may become moot." This is a risky strategy if it is later determined that Musk broke laws with DOGE and is arrested and convicted.
- munificent 2y agoThe strategy has worked just fine for Trump for the past decade.
- packetlost 2y agoUntil he's pardoned by the president.
- all_usernames 2y agolol. Trump has immunity, and can also pardon
- UltraSane 2y agoMusk can be convicted AFTER Trump isn't president.
- staticautomatic 2y agoExcept there’s a line of cases basically saying you can’t do something unlawful and then quickly stop in order to make the legal controversy go away.
- scarface_74 2y agoYou act as if Trump will obey a court order.
- staticautomatic 2y agoI’m not acting as if anything. I’m simply pointing out that there are also rules for mootness.
- sangnoir 2y agoThe current doctrine is those - and any other - rules don't apply to the president in his official capacity. SCOTUS declared that it's legal when the president does it.
- mattmaroon 2y agoHe founded (for some definition) the two most impressive American corporations of the century and tweeted a lot to build a direct connection to people.
- lightbendover 2y agoYou may be referring to PayPal as one of those companies, but in case you’re not: Elon did not found Tesla.
- Fnoord 2y agoHe didn't found PayPal either. He founded X.com, and they happened to merge with Confinity who owned the brand PayPal. Confinity existed before X.com (and had better brand recognition with PayPal), and if Musk would've had it his way, PayPal as brand wouldn't exist post-merge; it would have been called X.com.
- mattmaroon 2y agoI said "for some definition" because according a legal settlement he made with the others, he did found it.
- scarface_74 2y agoWhat’s impressive about Tesla? It’s already being outcompeted by companies in China, losing market share, and the other manufacturers are catching up. Besides that, he’s pissed off the demographics most likely to buy Teslas. It’s not like most Trump voters are buying EVs
- diogocp 2y ago> What’s impressive about Tesla? The fact that it's worth more than all the other automakers combined. > the other manufacturers are catching up Re-read what you wrote, and consider how preposterous it is that automakers founded more than a century ago are now "catching up" to a company that sold its first car in 2008.
- Trasmatta 2y agoHe spent $44 billion on his own personal propaganda machine, and then used even more money to purchase the US presidency
- fastball 2y ago[flagged]
- Slow_Hand 2y agoWhether he was serious about buying Twitter or not, he put himself in the position where he was legally required to complete the offer to purchase. Nobody forced him into that blunder.
- fastball 2y agoI didn't say anyone forced him to make the original offer.
- hypothesis 2y agoHuh? Some magic mushrooms forced him to make a bid to buy Twitter? Give the guy some agency!
- AnimalMuppet 2y agoWho knows what prompted him to make the bid. The judges forced him to follow through on it when he was trying to get out of it.
- asadotzler 2y agodo you understand how bids work?
- AnimalMuppet 2y ago"Bid" was hypothesis's word, not mine, so whatever "gotcha" you think you're springing on me, send it elsewhere. Yes, I know how bids work, at least approximately. It wasn't a bid in the strict sense. It was an offer to buy, which Twitter accepted, and then Musk tried to withdraw the offer (because of too much of the traffic being bots, IIRC). The judge did not allow Musk to withdraw, because there was no such "subject to" in his offer.
- jredwards 2y agoI liked Elon until about 2018. Since then he's gradually degraded from "interesting founder" to "guy who picks fights about weird topics on the internet" to "absurdist oligarch actively working to destroy institutions which support average Americans." I certainly suspect that there were always elements of what he's become that just weren't as publicly apparent.
- m_fayer 2y agoI really like “absurdist oligarch”. “Rich awkward joker” also comes to mind.
- beAbU 2y ago"Trolling Edgelord" comes to mind for me. It's as if all this is one big joke to him, and he gets a kick out of everyone being upset by his antics.
- akudha 2y agoWhat did you like about him until 2018? He is not some visionary or genius or even smart. Neither is/was he a decent person to deal with (read up on his PayPal days). He is however, extraordinarily ruthless and thin skinned. So what is it that you saw in him that you liked him?
- dialup_sounds 2y agoCirca 2010 he still had the image of being an outsider and optimist instead of whatever we've got going on today.
- creato 2y ago(Not OP) I liked his willingness to invest so much in exciting, lofty goals (Tesla, SpaceX). Twitter wrecked his mind. I'm not talking about buying it, I'm talking about being such a heavy user of it.
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
- dyauspitr 2y agoI liked Elon 90% of the time 5 years ago. Now honestly I don’t want him to build a whites only mars base.
- electriclove 2y agoDo you really think it will be whites only?
- laerus 2y ago[flagged]
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- doodlebugging 2y agoI'll bet there will be lots of non-white applicants for positions as laborers helping them carry their travel bags to the launch pads.
- bayarearefugee 2y agoI'm sure they will carve out exceptions for Uncle Toms like Vivek Ramaswamy, but if they get too uppity they'll be tossed out the airlock.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- moogly 2y ago> Now honestly I don’t want him to build a whites only mars base. I do because the Earth would be rid of him and we could maybe have at least 1 slow news day.
- dyauspitr 2y agoThis might be the worst cost benefit tradeoff I’ve heard of.
- ls_stats 2y ago>I typically like Elon about 70% of the time >I don't quite understand how he suddenly got so much influence. then you don't know much about him
- fuzztester 2y agono, rather, GP tryptophan doesn't know much about {him|her|it}self.
- enumjorge 2y agoAlmost everything that is happening in US politics was telegraphed beforehand if you were looking carefully enough. If Musk's current level of influence and his actions are a surprise to anyone, I'd politely suggest that they augment their sources of information.
- senordevnyc 2y agoSince you’re ahead of many of us, can you let us know what happens next?
- lesuorac 2y agoThis [1] should give you another 150 days of predictions. [1]: https://www.project2025.org/playbook/ https://www.project2025.org/playbook/
- d0gsg0w00f 2y ago[flagged]
- rorylawless 2y agoIf pre-Musk twitter was in the hands of censorship, what is it now? By all accounts it is a bot-infested echo chamber for his own bizarre obsessions where dissent is quickly stamped out.
- pfisch 2y agoOh, I didn't realize he freed twitter from the clutches of censorship...
- nkozyra 2y agoYep, and he defeated the bots. No more bots on Twitter.
- esskay 2y agoTwitters got more censorship than it ever had, and what's left is a cesspool of porn, conspiracy theories, elon ass lickers and spam.
- jaybrendansmith 2y agoHe is breaking the law, full stop. Sorry but you don't get to do that in a Republic without consequence. Process matters when it comes to regulation, because without it you get unchecked power and tyranny.
- rurp 2y ago
- starchild3001 2y agoHe's only 50% evil :)
- calebio 2y ago> I don't quite understand how he suddenly got so much influence. memetics
- oulipo 2y ago[flagged]