"Weirdo billionaire"
Only 1,443 days to go...
As I am sure you all remember, we lived through 45’s presidency with management by Tweet. Using Twitter to communicate, the Depraved Grifter told egregious lies- including the whopping #BigLie; demonized the press, whose news reporting he disliked; insulted both world and US political leaders; used the platform for basic HR tasks like systemically firing Rex Tillerson, Mark Esper, John Bolton, Christopher Krebs, et al; and kept his followers’ phones pinging at all hours of the night with his moronic, unrelenting grievances. The news media, in turn, dutifully analyzed and reported his nonsense and kept us all on edge. No one in his administration seemed to have the capacity to take his phone away from him.
By that time Twitter had become a center for partisan attacks and insults — but at least it did have some moderation. They were making attempts to remove misinformation posted by election deniers and conspiracy theorists. I had already learned how block things, I didn’t want to see, like the “@realDonaldTrump”.
Which brings me to Elon Musk.
Several years ago I heard the word “elonmusk” bantered amount. Thinking it was some sort of new aftershave, I asked, “What is elonmusk?”
Candidly, after the dot-com bubble burst in the early 2000s, I had lost all interest in Silicon Valley personalities. And I have been driving a Prius for a long time, which is my attempt at helping reduce carbon emissions. I have zero interest in cars, satellites, spaceships, etc. So clearly, I wasn’t tuned into the growing phenomena of Elon Musk. It really wasn’t until a few friends bought a Tesla, that was even clued into this guy.
Two days after the attempted January 6th coup and unprecedented attack on the US Capital, Twitter permanently barred Trump from its service “due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” effectively cutting him off from his favorite megaphone.
Like Trump, Musk was habitual and provocative user of the Twitter and had toyed with the idea of owning it. A little over a year later on January 31, 2022, Musk began purchasing Twitter stock becoming its largest shareholder by April. On April 14, 2022 Musk made an unsolicited offer to Twitter to purchase the company. Though the offer was made to company management, the bid was described as a hostile takeover attempt because of the implied threat to purchase the outstanding stock if management declined.
Musk said he aimed to make Twitter a "platform for free speech around the globe," hailing free speech as a "societal imperative for a functioning democracy." Critics noted that he showed more interest in altering Twitter's moderation policies than in fighting censorship.
Eventually, he succeeded in his takeover, eventually rebranded and renamed the platform, “X”. As soon as Musk bought Twitter, I signed off permanently and never looked back.
Over 6,000 employees were let go during Musk's takeover of Twitter, reducing the workforce by nearly 80%. The Trust and Safety Council, the group overseeing platform safety, was disbanded. Due to content moderation concerns, many traditional advertisers and brands reduced or paused spending on the platform, so X has increasingly relied on ads from riskier crypto and gambling concerns. X has faced legal challenges over layoffs, unpaid bills, and content moderation.
Reputedly the platform has now become a cesspool of vitriol. Several accounts previously banned for antisemitic remarks were reinstated, including conspiracy theorists and white nationalist figures. There has been reported a significant increase in antisemitic posts and hate speech after Musk took over. Some studies suggest a more than 50% rise in antisemitic content on X. Musk himself has been criticized for amplifying antisemitic conspiracy theories, including tweets that played into long-standing antisemitic tropes.
Also there has been a rise in pornographic material. Many users report an increase in porn bots and spam accounts, especially in replies and trending topics. While X has emphasized crowd-sourced fact-checking, critics argue it’s an ineffective replacement for active moderation.
Also, since taking over Twitter, Musk has personally censored things he doesn’t like -- so much for it being a platform for free speech. While Trump is using his Truth Social these days, Musk has taken over Trump’s Twitter routine by bombastically spreading misinformation using X as his bullhorn. Sadly, X continues to be a source of “news” for many low information voters.
Of further concern,
Musk - a private citizen - injected himself on the side of the Russians by secretly ordering his engineers turn off his company’s Starlink satellite communications network near the Crimean coast and disrupted a Ukrainian planned attack on the Russian naval fleet.
In addition to Starlink, SpaceX is intwined with NASA, which makes him a major government contractor. Needless to say, he has a huge conflict of interest being involved with the US government now.
Elon Musk spent $277 million to back Trump and other MAGA candidates
etc.
Well, Elon Musk is now our unelected ______________ (fill in the blank). The euphemistic description might be Presidential Advisor.
Ironic that the anti-immigration President, who promotes America First, has encouraged a South African immigrant to lead a coup and take over the US government.
According to the US Code:
§2384. Seditious conspiracy
If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.
Hum…
Thought for the day…
“The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy.” ~ Montesquieu
What I read every day…
Quote of the day:
“I’ve been getting a lot of calls over the past few days, and the interesting thing is none of them are about Donald Trump. They’re all about Elon Musk. My constituents, and a majority of this country, put Trump in the White House, not this unelected, weirdo billionaire.”
~Rep. Jared Golden
What I’m reading today…
Most in new poll disapprove of Musk’s role in Trump administration
In the survey from Quinnipiac University, 53 percent of respondents said they are not in favor “of Elon Musk playing a prominent role in the Trump administration,” while 39 percent said they are in favor of the Tesla and SpaceX CEO playing a prominent role in the Trump administration.
Elon Musk Is Putting the Entire Government “Into the Wood Chipper”
While public backlash may mean little to the (theoretically) lame-duck president and his unelected wrecking ball, it could at least have an effect on the elected Republicans who enable them. If Trump and Musk can claim they’re acting on a mandate, there’s virtually nothing they won’t be able to get away with. If it’s clear the administration is overstepping the authority the public granted it, though, there may be at least some incentive for Republicans to pump the brakes.
The ‘Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly’ of the United States Government
Elon Musk is not the president, but it does appear that he—a foreign-born, unelected billionaire who was not confirmed by Congress—is exercising profound influence over the federal government of the United States, seizing control of information, payments systems, and personnel management. It is nothing short of an administrative coup.
A New Kind of Coup: Trump and Musk are Updating the Autocratic Playbook
It seems like the plot of a political thriller. We are living through a new kind of coup in which Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, has taken over the payment and other administration systems that allow the American government to function, and has locked out federal employees from computer systems. Many of Musk’s collaborators in this endeavor previously worked for his private companies and/or helped him take over Twitter.
Elon Musk and the League of Shadows
The vigilante occupies a romantic place in the American psyche. We think of Batman. But Musk isn’t fighting supervillains. He’s running around smashing windows and breaking things. He’s using his vigilante powers to vandalize the Constitution and the federal government.
Bullies, Criminals and the Fight for America
It’s hard to grasp how this is legally possible, especially in this lawless moment, since Musk is ultimately just a private citizen with no power confirmed by Congress. Rather than simply suggest this is criminal behavior, we might more accurately describe it as a coup by a billionaire oligarch who wants to subvert the functioning of government and grab as much private power and control as his ally in the White House will permit. So far, that amount appears to be as much as he wants.
Whatever your politics, President Trump has said and done a thousand things that should make it impossible to admire him as a person… Elon Musk has achieved a similarly vile orbit—lying with abandon, making common cause with racists and lunatics, and pointlessly defaming ordinary people—it seems, just for the fun of it. Both men are conspicuous for the degree to which they still resemble children, having retained a juvenile sense of entitlement, recklessness, and self-absorption.
Trump and Musk’s dismantling of government is shaking the foundations of US democracy
President Donald Trump has tapped Musk, the world’s richest man, to take on inner workings of the world’s oldest democracy, and so far the results are stunning, if not alarming and unlawful, being challenged in dozens of court cases nationwide..
Elon Musk Wants What He Can’t Have: Wikipedia
Wikipedia is certainly not immune to bad information, disagreement, or political warfare, but its openness and transparency rules have made it a remarkably reliable platform in a decidedly unreliable age…one of the most notable things about the site is how it has steered relatively clear of the profit-driven algorithmic mayhem that has flooded search engines and social-media platforms with bad or politically fraught information. If anything, the site, which is operated by a nonprofit and maintained by volunteers, has become more of a refuge in a fractured online landscape than an ideological prison—a “last bastion of shared reality.” And that seems to be precisely why it’s under attack by Musk.
Stop Worshiping the American Tech Giants
It should be no surprise that our big tech firms are at risk of being surpassed in A.I. innovation by foreign competitors…. Over the last decade, big tech chief executives have seemed more adept at reinventing themselves to suit the politics of the moment — resistance sympathizers, social justice warriors, MAGA enthusiasts — than on pioneering new pathbreaking innovations and breakthrough technologies.
What I am watching…
Things I read everyday….
I read Letters from An American everyday, so I am no longer going to reference it in my Substack posts. Heather Cox Richardson’s newsletters are fabulous, so I encourage you to subscribe on your own.
I’m also a big fan of The Bulwark. I started subscribing to it shortly after I discovered it in 2019. The Bulwark was founded to provide analysis and reporting in defense of America’s liberal democracy. That’s it. That’s the mission. I find their podcasts and articles thoughtful and helpful in making sense of what is going on with the US.
