Twitter adopted a 'poison pill' – a limited-duration shareholder rights plan – to protect itself from billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's $43 billion cash takeover offer https://t.co/l2YPMRcdZZ $TWTR pic.twitter.com/aAsq52dKQd
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 16, 2022
A November 2021 post from Roy Edroso, professional Cassandra, is being recirculated around Twitter — “Operation Overlord: Why Elon Musk will run for President”:
Predictions are a mug’s game, as we all know, but I’ll lay one down right now: I think there will be a serious push over the next twelve years (assuming the nation lasts that long) to nominate Elon Musk as a Republican candidate for President of the United States. Since he’s not a native-born American this would require amendment of Article II of the Constitution, so I expect that to happen as well.
You may wonder why the Republicans would bother to elevate someone whose nomination would require all that extra groundwork. First of all, amending the Constitution would not be that big a deal; it’s not as if they respect the thing any more than they do the other instruments of government they’re always fucking with, and they might even enjoy the perverse challenge to put their shit-stains on the old parchment just as a flex; they might make “Let’s Go Brandon” the National Anthem while they’re at it.
My contention is that, from what we know about Republicans, policy no longer has anything to do with their decisions, and they mainly want be represented by someone who fits their idea of American greatness — which, as we see from their current avatar Trump, means their champion must be vicious and boorish and, above all, project a winning air. In my view Musk laps the field…
Musk acts as if the rules don’t apply to him — and he’s right. He was born into huge wealth and his feet have never touched the ground. Thus he goes through life in a way that would be called “blundering,” were it not for the fact that his extreme wealth — far beyond what Trump even pretends to have — insulates him from any possible consequences…
And thanks to his connection with futuristic-libertarian enterprises such as Space X and Tesla, Musk appeals not only to the current Republican base of brute-worshippers, but also to a burgeoning Republican constituency of crypto and NFT dorks. The “weird nerd” defenses of Musk that pop up on the internet whenever their hero is denigrated are at least as voluminous and ludicrously impassioned as that of any pop star “hive.” These are the kind of guys who, when they see a story about a human getting hurt or killed by a self-driving car, side with the car.
And, I believe, these dorks represent a growing cult of young men who have been rattling around incel-pickup artist territory awhile, but have matured — not enough to start making rational, adult decisions, perhaps, but enough to turn away from these childish forms of anti-social behavior toward other, more adult-seeming forms of anti-social behavior that make them feel less pathetic.
And who is better equipped to represent them than the guy who comes at dorkdom from the totally opposite direction — one who is incompetent to observe society’s rules, not because he was bullied in school or fucked up by feckless parents, but because he has never had to bother. He is as dysfunctional as they are, but rich and famous. No wonder they worship him…
— Jort-Michel Connard ?? (@torriangray) April 15, 2022
Proposed 28th Amendment pic.twitter.com/zFRPWdqEfb
— USankMyBattleshipHat (@Popehat) April 16, 2022
/3 And I picked 35 years for parity — any person would have to be a citizen for 35 years to be eligible.
As for concerns that we might foolishly elect some horrific anti-American tyrant who hates our values and kowtows to some foreign potentate . . . . well.
— USankMyBattleshipHat (@Popehat) April 16, 2022
I dunno, have you seen the replies to his tweets
— Snopp Doog (@chrispossible) April 16, 2022
Medium Cool with BGinCHI – International Eco-Lit
JoyceH
Negates the entire article, IMO. These days, I don’t think you could get ANY Constitutional amendment passed. Heck, I don’t think you could get a referendum agreeing that water is wet and the sun is hot passed by the majority necessary to amend the Constitution.
dmsilev
Yeah, getting 2/3s of both houses of Congress and 3/4s of the states to agree on anything is kind of a heavy lift.
Since it’s apparently not at all clear that Musk has the liquid cash needed to buy Twitter (most of his net worth is in shares of Tesla and SpaceX, and the latter especially isn’t publicly traded), this whole thing may just be posturing and dick-waving on Musk’s part. If so, clearly he needs to spend more time in front of that giant glowing dick-irradiator in the Tucker Carlson video people were mocking yesterday.
grubert
Doom-porn.
JoyceH is right
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
Shiny object
Baud
He can be president of Mars.
karen marie
I am screaming laughing on reading the above, while also throwing up my hands at the entire motherfucking brickshitting world.
Can we please load Elon onto a rocket with all his fans and fire it straight into the sun?
Benw
Even the box of rocks is shaking it’s head at the idea Elon Musk will give the Republican base the tingly-toes.
Rand Careaga
Anyone who hasn’t subscribed to Edroso’s substack should do so next week (he’s taking several well-deserved days off beginning Monday). Seriously: the guy is among the most brilliant presences on all of Left Blogistan. You need to read him; you need to send him some coin.
Splitting Image
Between the three most well-known dudebros in the oligarch circle (Musk, Zuckerberg, and Bezos), Musk is the one I deem most likely to go bankrupt in the nearish future. If Facebook fails, Zuckerberg will probably just shrug and spend the rest of his life playing Civilization as a measly multi-millionaire.
Musk hasn’t the faintest idea how big an idiot he is and will eventually beclown himself so badly that Tesla will oust him to ensure its own survival. He’ll get the funding for another big venture because he’s so rich he’s gotta be smart, and it will fail more surely than his trip to Mars. Then he’ll keep starting other ventures, which will all fail because he’s an idiot.
Edroso isn’t wrong that he’d have a good shot if he were eligible under the rules, but the Republicans aren’t changing the rules for little old him.
mrmoshpotato
@karen marie:
YES!
Ken
Can anyone do that? I’m wondering if I could say I own all ten shares of Ken Inc., which although not publicly-traded, have a value of one hundred million dollars a share. Viola, I’m a billionaire.
Or is this one of those “it’s the bank’s problem” situations, where I can only do that if I’ve scammed a bank into loaning me a few hundred million on the strength of those shares?
ian
Joyce put this best at #1, but anyone who thinks amending the constitution as a no biggie is not a serious observer of modern American politics.
34 States, including the most nativist and conservative states, are going to vote to let furriners run for presidency? I doubt this very much.
Baud
@Ken:
You can do that. You just won’t be able to convince anyone to believe you.
ETA: Except here. We’re very trusting.
Lums Better Half
Who would be forcing the Republicans to amend the constitution? Nominate Dread Lord Musk and let someone try to stop them.
Felanius Kootea
Elon Musk is the sole reason I haven’t bought a Tesla. I’ve wanted a Model X for years but finally had to come to terms with my own hypocrisy, so I sold off my Tesla stock and I’m looking at the Polestar/Volvo electric cars.
kalakal
@dmsilev:
He hasn’t. He’d have sell a lot of Tesla shares which would tank them costing him a lot more than $43 billion. He’d end up losing a ton of money in Tesla (and for Tesla) and getting ousted. He’d then watch as under his inspired leadership Twitter collapses into Gab. He’d be the man that lost over a $100 billion
Baud
@kalakal:
And then he’d blame Biden.
Kay
I no longer say “Republicans won’t….”
They’ll do as much as they can get away with. Would they make an argument that no one has standing to oppose their foreign-born nominee? Absolutely they would. 100%.
Overturning an election is unlawful. Against the law. Yet they had absolutely no qualms about it and will try it again. Where are people getting this idea that there’s some fidelity to “the Constitution” in play here? That doesn’t matter at all. If they don’t like the law they’ll ignore it or break it and the one and only question will be who will stop them.
SpaceUnit
Not sure I agree with the notion that Musk laps the field in viciousness and boorishness. I don’t pay him much attention but he seems more like some rich, entitled douche with too much self-regard. I think Republican voters are going to want a true raging culture warrior to carry their flag.
On the other hand Musk did accuse someone of being a pedophile a few years ago. So he’s got that going for him.
Omnes Omnibus
I think we are in more danger of a mole people/C.H.U.D alliance taking over than Musk running for President.
Baud
@Kay:
I thinks it’s not so much question of whether they would stop themselves for ethical reasons as it is trying to predict how they will exercise their freedom from ethical constraints.
Kay
We need a list of all the things Republicans would never do that they have, in fact, done.
They tried to overturn an election. Ballot access rules are not a concern.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
You say “danger,” I say “in hope of.”
Betsy
Elon is not only arrogant, ignorant, and patronizing, but his “tech” ideas are baloney, too.
Here’s just one great takedown video explaining in laughable, yet practical, terms how washed-up his “hyperloop” concept is.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R6RaoGHZC3A&feature=youtu.be
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: It would probably end better than Musk being President would.
kalakal
@Omnes Omnibus: I for one welcome our new Mole overlords
Another Scott
@kalakal: He’ll need to up his game; Steve Case did worse than that with the AOL/TimeWarner merger.
Tesla has been coasting, and they need to get on the stick or the big auto conglomerates are going to drink their milkshake. Reuters – Mercedes electric car with 1000 km range (620 miles).
Impressive.
Cheers,
Scott.
Hildebrand
Real scientists find Musk infuriating because his companies suck valuable research dollars and public interest – which means he is actively thwarting scientific progress.
SpaceUnit
He’ll need to offer a feature on his Teslas that allows the driver to roll coal.
Kay
@Hildebrand:
But he’s so cool! And rich. Did I mention he’s rich?
Another Scott
@Another Scott: (The EPA uses a conversion that gives 1 gallon of gasoline = 33.7 kWh.)
Liquid hydrocarbons are amazing molecules, but they’re destroying the planet.
Cheers,
Scott.
Lyrebird
Same here, well also I can’t afford a Tesla either.
But hey – have you already looked over the specs of what VW is cooking up? I haven’t read up on the Volvo ones, and I am still dreaming of switching to an electric.
RepubAnon
@Splitting Image: What I could see is the Republicans finding a 35-year old corporation, and running the corporation for president. All this takes is the Kavanaugh Court ruling that as corporations are “persons”, they can run for office. The Republicans could then install someone they worship as CEO – Musk, Putin, whoever…
Cameron
Is Musk the bro that was trying to pitch underground highways? I remember a few months back that some rich asshole was trying to persuade a few cities/counties to try it – here in FL, which is probably the very last state in the country where you’d want to put something underground.
Omnes Omnibus
@Lyrebird: The Volvos seem to be getting good reviews from car people. FWIW
Omnes Omnibus
Let’s grant for argument’s sake that nothing is off the table for the GOP to try. Is this anywhere near the top of the list of things we should be worrying our pretty little head about?
Felanius Kootea
@SpaceUnit: That would be Peter Thiel (ETA – the raging culture warrior part), but thankfully he has all the charisma of a wet snot rag. He’s done enough damage advising Zuckerberg/Facebook and Trump as well as sucking up federal, state, and local government contracts for Palantir.
Odious racist asshole who thought apartheid was the best thing for South Africa. It’s interesting that both he and Musk grew up there and are now US billionaires.
Cameron
@Felanius Kootea: He’s also J.D. Vance’s owner, I believe.
Kay
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’m not worried about it. I don’t care if he buys Twitter either. But they don’t care if it’s against the law and their supporters won’t care, at all, that Elon Musk makes electric cars and electric cars are “liberal”, anymore than they cared that Donald Trump is from NYC and was once pro-choice. The old rules don’t apply to that side.
Felanius Kootea
@Lyrebird: Ooh – I hadn’t seen the Volkswagen electric specs. Mercedes has them all beat for range on a single charge though.
I was also looking at the Lucid Air, which has an impressive 520 mile range, but don’t want to give a Mohammad bin Salman-backed venture any money. Aargh.
laura
Our billionaire overlords are a passel of guys so seemingly brilliant in possibly at least one area of expertise, but otherwise so lacking in the things that make a real boy and watching them try and compensate for the absolute absence of authenticity makes me sad and angry and So Very TAX THE IDLE CAPITIPAL OUT OF ALL THEIR SOFT PINK PALMS
And wowza, watching Tucker Carlson’s latent homosexuality and cinema auteur shenanigans is something.
Dan B
@Lyrebird: We’ve leased Nissan Leafs for 6 years, a new model every two years. The latest are great. They’re not as high powered, high torque, or long range as high price vehicles but they are superior to almost every ICE vehicle, except for range but that is also changing with next year’s Leaf.
Hyundai Ionic is promising. Polestar has the same range as Leaf, as I recall. Watch for the $7,500 rebate. Subaru EV, made by Toyota, still has it but Toyota’s nearly identical EV does not anymore. The Subaru EV is a “crossover SUV” so is largish but not too much. Range is 250, but don’t quote me.
Jeffro
@Omnes Omnibus: amen.
next!
Dan B
@Cameron: Yep, The Boring Company. There are some places where it might make sense. Boston is one but that will never happen: See recent tunnel nightmare.
Dan B
@Omnes Omnibus: Hertz has leasing plans for a batch.
Kay
@laura:
They should just give him Twitter. As a reward for his potential genuis. God, I hope someone isn’t telling him NO. That’s tragic. What’s the hold up? Laws.. and stuff? Clear out the red tape and satisy his demands or he’ll withhold his “innovations”.
SpaceUnit
@Felanius Kootea:
Definitely agree about his lack of charisma. Again, I don’t pay him much attention but I can’t imagine he has what it takes to pull off the big energized hate rallies.
Yutsano
@Felanius Kootea: VW is releasing an electric mini-bus next year. Right about the time my car gets paid off. Hmm…
Dan B
@laura: The porn awards (porn oscars?) should nominate Tucker’s ad for a special homo-thrills and chills award of the month.
Compensating or has his id finally broken through?
Dan B
@Kay: I, for one, don’t want Trump and the other fascist boys and girls having free rein on Twitter.
Dan B
@Yutsano: My partner lusts after the VW EV Van but he lusts after the Tesla Y more.
Kay
National correspondant for the Washington Post. Mike Lee’s mistake was not coming out publicly for overturning the election. They would have bought it, based upon how “smart” they think he is. The insurrection just didn’t have enough backers they admire and find credible. One or two more prestigious conservatives on the anti-democracy side and they all would have been on board.
“Who can tell if there’s fraud? Surely we should look at it”
debbie
@Kay:
That’s what I wish they’d called him out on: his “innovations.”
Kay
@Dan B:
I can’t really think about it because the whole thing is based on the lie that they are somehow “silenced”.
How much more could we possibly hear from them? They’ll be screaming at 11 instead of 10? One more Tucker Carlson tips the scales?
Mallard Filmore
@Kay:
Baby snatching (at the southern border).
Poe Larity
@Another Scott: Mercedes doesn’t make pickup trucks that Real Men drive.
Suzanne
Living among lots of white Catholics is weird during Lent/Easter. They’re all about their damn fish fry and my neighborhood page currently has multiple threads about hambones.
I really need a stay-in-bed vacation. The kind of vacation that does not involve pants.
Kay
@Mallard Filmore:
Sitting attorney general who is a criminal? That’s Tuesday in Right wing land. I’m surprised he hasn’t thrown his hat in the ring for 2024. They re-elected him. Unless and until he is literally dragged away in handcuffs he will be a respected member of the “conservative movement”. Even then! He could just go out on the grift circuit. Whole second career.
Poe Larity
Someone turn on the DougJ Bat signal. His favorite intellectual venue, TED, has posted Edgelord Elon’s latest interview:
https://www.ted.com/talks/elon_musk_elon_musk_talks_twitter_tesla_and_how_his_brain_works_live_at_ted2022
Craig
@Another Scott: This is reason that Benz, BMW, Honda, Toyota race. Specifically Le Mans. To stress test their electric and hybrid technology. Tesla’s big push has been to develop and extend the Supercharger network. As you say, the need to step up their game.
Craig
@Omnes Omnibus: Nope.
Anon
Anne. With a lot respect. This is just a troll article and very poorly researched. IMHO the Balloon Juice front page deserves better.
Martin
@Ken: The problem is that Musk doesn’t value SpaceX – the VC community does. While the stock isn’t publicly traded, venture capital is getting a share of the company in exchange for the money they give Musk, and while it’s not as reliable as the stock market at valuation, it is a recognized form of valuation.
So the value of SpaceX is based on the series M valuation from Mar 2020.
So yes you could do that, but you’d need some external form of valuation.
Dan B
@Kay: Trump. Musk wants Trump on Twitter.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Suzanne:
What would Baud do?
Kay
@Poe Larity:
They went to Cleveland to find people who are mad about the name change. “Are old white people HAPPY?” That’s the question the NYTimes seeks to answer. So far? No, they are not happy. Not one bit. But luckily there are 15,000 stories detailing their many, many grievances so we’re aware of it and can maybe change the name back.
Lyrebird
@Omnes Omnibus: Thanks, good to hear! And as far as prioritizing worries, most of what I have read from Edroso has been satire or something like that.
@Felanius Kootea: Thanks again for giving me a longer list of models worth finding out about. I can’t remember which Japanese company was offering the combo of an EV and a backup battery to run your house. Could be great, but it sounds very complicated.
@Dan B: Thanks! Good to hear your ongoing experience with a budget-friendly option.
Kay
@Dan B:
I haven’t decided if Trump is good or bad for us on Twitter. There was a huge anti-Trump movement. Really successful, in practical terms. He’s a horrible, mean spirited person. Arguably the more of him that filters down to normies the better.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Splitting Image: Here is how goes down for the tech bros
Musk is arrested after raping someone during stockholder’s conference call. His defenses will be “but I was too busy for romance.”
Zuckerburg will be found dead in in a South San Fransisco hotel and in fact have been a robot all along.
Bezos will escape off into space using rocket after nerve gassing everyone working for Amazon.
Gvg
The republicans will not try to amend the constitution for musk. All the attention whore magas and leadership, actually all want to be President themselves. They may act all worshipful of Trump now, but they really all want to succeed him. Why would they enable a competitor?
burnspbesq
Given his attitude toward compliance with the securities laws, Elon is at least as likely to do time as any member of the Trump family.
Dangerman
Musk won’t ever be President even if they changed the Constitution. The Rights fascination with Musk begins and ends with the desire to get the Orange One back on Twitter. They don’t give the least bit of a shit about electric cars. SpaceX holds mild interest to them but because it knocks Bezos down a notch or 2.
Martin
So, here’s my simple take on Musk.
SpaceX is remarkably good. Bold decision making, willing to take risks, and willing to test ideas to the point of failure. The various test rocket failures are a feature. It’s good. They learn a lot doing that. Compare to SLS that has cost roughly double the entire amount of money poured into SpaceX during its entire history and is now being rolled back in the VAB because they can’t successfully test it.
Tesla. Musk is good at designing a car, and terrible at designing a factory to build cars. Very different skills. And designing a car is pretty fucking easy. Building one car is something that people do as a hobby all the time. Building 500,000 quality cars in a year is extremely non-trivial. Musk has largely failed at this mostly because it’s not interesting to him, and he won’t get the fuck out of the way for the experts from Toyota or wherever to do it. Its valuation isn’t based on Tesla being exceptionally good, but based on the rest of the auto industry being in a terrible state, leaving Tesla as the only thing in this $2T market worth investing in. The underlying problem is the auto market is fucked, and investors have no idea how it will get untucked so they don’t know where to park their money. A lot of investor pain lies ahead.
Note that SpaceXs whole business model is the opposite of Teslas – its about making fewer and fewer rockets, not more and more. That leans in well to their strengths.
Musk is a smart guy, and more than that, he’s willing to take chances, which is a HUGE problem in the US economy. Additionally, he prioritizes time to market, because he’s fundamentally a tech guy which both cuts across most of the rest of the US economy and causes him to make bad timeline predictions when his ideas intersect with the pace of the US economy.
Musks biggest problem is that he doesn’t respect when permissionless innovation should be pursued, and when it shouldn’t. Tesla’s self driving is a prime example – when it goes wrong, people die. That’s absolutely the wrong place. But autonomous rocket landings out in the middle of fucking nowhere? Sure, knock yourself out so long as nobody can get hurt. As such he fits much too well into the sociopathic gazillionaire supervillain role.
Dan B
@Craig: I hate Musk but he has managed, with good managers, to deal with supply chain issues that are going to be very difficult for every other manufacturer according to many top analysts.
Chetan Murthy
@Gvg:
A party dedicated to the idea that there are no “collective action problems” (problems for which solving them requires each actor setting aside personally winning maximally): I can’t see them solving the collective action problem of “our best Presidential nominee is somebody who is currently ineligible, and we can fix that”. [not that I think Musk is a good choice — just that they couldn’t bring themselves to do it.]
burnspbesq
@Dan B:
Model Y is the most overpriced vehicle currently on sale anywhere in the world. And I say that as a Porsche Taycan owner.
At $34k net of tax credit, the VW ID.4 is the best value in the US EV market.
burnspbesq
@Martin:
SpaceX is guilty of multiple felony violations of Federal environmental laws, and more counts can be added to the indictment every day it operates.
Do you care?
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: Trump is bad for us on Twitter because when he was on, it was his direct conduit to getting whatever his brain farted out directly into the mainstream media. His tweets were considered newsworthy just by existing and it meant his lies and delusions became things that were out there in the aether, being considered. When they pulled him, more than when he actually left the White House, it really felt like his power suddenly deflated.
Kent
On the other hand, Musk is the only one who actually makes real shit. The other two are just parasites.
Chetan Murthy
@Matt McIrvin: Thank you, yes, I agree with this, too. The entire media environment changed the day Twitter booted his orange ass.
Kent
The upcoming Nissan Ariya also looks extremely promising at a Tesla replacement.
Dan B
@burnspbesq: Logic? Budget? I’m loving our Leaf. We drive a couple hundred miles a month. How many hundred dollars per mile is it with a Tesla Y? Might as well buy a Space X rocket.
Kent
You can claim whatever you want. I can claim my kid’s painting I have on the fridge is worth $50 million. But none of it means anything until you have cash in hand.
On the other hand, there are systematic ways to value a company like Space-X in terms of revenues, profits, costs, future contracts, etc. Even if it isn’t publicly traded, it is still worth a shitload of money. I would be willing to bet that a Space-X IPO would generate hundreds of billions of dollars if not more.
Dan B
@Kent: We’ve watched videos on the Ariya. It’s much more tan we need but my partner believes we need something that could used as a truck. We need to rent for the four times a year we need a truck, and… we already have a truck but my partner dreams of selling our truck.
Decisions, decisions.
Danielx
If one saw Elon Musk on television or video clip without hearing or knowing who he is, I have to think most folks’ reaction would be “rich asshole”, or variations thereof.
Wag
so long as said furrier is a white South African supporter of apartheid, absolutely they’ll vote for him.
Kent
We need a good high clearance snow vehicle because we live in a snow zone and do a lot of skiing. Plus my wife needs to be able to get to work in absolutely any conditions as a physician. My wife’s 2014 Highlander serves that purpose now but has 100,000 miles on it so is good for maybe another 5 years or so before it starts getting sketchy for mid-winter jaunts deep into the wilderness. So I’m only starting to think about future replacements for it. The Ariya looks to be a good EV replacement for the Highlander.
Myself I drive a 2015 Prius and will drive it into the ground before getting whatever small EV is the current one to get when that happens in 10 years or so.
moops
Roy has gone in for clickbait fantasy land with this one.
If we change the Constitution it will not be for idiocy like this, both side are united in that sentiment. There was a window for Arnold, but that has closed.
Musk just doesn’t have it in him to attack minorities with real hate in his heart. He has that detached apartheid racism. That is insufficient for the GOP base.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’m focusing my anxiety on the CHUD/mole people alliance. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
JoyceH
My take on a couple things. First, I don’t think Musk ever intended to buy Twitter. I think he bought a big chunk of stock, claimed he wanted to own the company to get a lot of people to buy shares to force him to buy them out, drive up the price – and then he sells his shares and pockets the profit.
And anyone who thinks a completely unregulated and unmoderated social media environment is a good thing is obviously too young to remember the long, slow, repulsive demise of Usenet, done in by trolls.
H-Bob
Why does the Constitution need to be changed? Elon and the Rs will assert that Obama wasn’t born in the U.S. and why do Democrats and minorities get special treatment and the punditklatura will regurgitate that nonsense.