One thing about 2024 is that millions of people voted for Trump because of some fantastical nonsense like Trump making them personally rich or Trump ending inflation for good with tariffs, and when they don't get it their little brains are going to be mad and that's an opportunity.
— Max Kennerly (@maxkennerly.bsky.social) December 15, 2024 at 7:21 PM
I get that Dem messaging is ineffective. But just as practice–just to get the old sea legs back–perhaps Dems should start demonizing how the richest man in the world is trying to buy politicians.
Elon
Makes
A
Great
Villain— emptywheel (@emptywheel.bsky.social) December 16, 2024 at 6:59 PM
Trump was right about one thing. Immigrants are taking jobs away from Americans. Elon just took his job. ??
— Alex Cole (@realalexcole.bsky.social) December 20, 2024 at 12:21 PM
"A Christmas Carol" starring Elon Musk as Ebenezer Stooge
— Ragnarok Lobster (@eclecticbrotha1.bsky.social) December 19, 2024 at 10:54 PM
A nerve has been struck. Trump is intimidated by President Elon. Now he has his spokesperson out doing damage control cause Elon is calling the shots.
Trump was silent on the bill until his boss, President Elon, spoke.— Maxwell Frost (@maxwellfrost.bsky.social) December 19, 2024 at 2:09 PM
REP. CASAR: "If Elon Musk is cosplaying co-President, I don't know why Trump doesn't just hand him the Oval Office, or Speaker Johnson just hand Musk the gavel — if they want that billionaire to run the country.”
— The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) December 19, 2024 at 1:24 PM
do it, you stupid motherfuckers
— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) December 19, 2024 at 11:42 PM
permanently attach elon musk’s personal brand to that of incompetent and ruinous house republicans, i fucking dare you idiots to do it
— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) December 19, 2024 at 11:44 PM
Baud
Yeah, the long term benefit of all rigamarole with the bill may be cementing the whole President Musk thing.
Suzanne
Trump’s personal and professional relationships seem to go so well. I’m sure Elmo has no reason to be concerned.
mrmoshpotato
I don’t remember seeing Apartheid Shitstain on the ballot…
mrmoshpotato
@Suzanne: When is Dump going to strip Melon of his citizenship and deport him in a fit of manbaby shitstain rage?
Suzanne
@mrmoshpotato: I don’t know, but when it does, I will be watching, smirking, enjoying a cocktail. I’m a fun drunk.
RevRick
I think the Federalists and Whigs define permanent fringe minority.
Harrison Wesley
@mrmoshpotato: More likely Musk will have Trump deported to a Trump-designated shit hole country.
Steve LaBonne
Elmo got much of what he wanted. Trump not only got bupkis but he was specifically defied by the great majority of the Republican caucus which was still split to an extent that’s going to hamstring them next year whereas the Democratic caucus held firm. None of that is good for Trump or Republicans. You know what? I’ll take it.
Another Scott
Good, good.
Best wishes,
Scott.
ColoradoGuy
I think Trump is physically afraid of Musk. Sounds absurd, but Musk is younger and healthier, the Musk cult is even crazier than the Trump cult, and there’s only partial overlap between the two cults. And Elon has real money, the kind of money Trump and his family of small-time grifters can only dream of.
Trump is suspended between Putin and Musk, and owes both of them big-time. Is he smart enough to play the two against each other?
dmsilev
@Suzanne: Two gigantic egos in the same space. What could possibly go wrong?
satby
Seems like just a couple of months ago that quite a few people were grizzling about how sick they were of reading about Musk whenever AL put a post up tracking his latest capers. Everyone had no idea how sick they’d get of him.
Baud
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
What’s this “trying to buy politicians”? Muskrat is effin’ doing it.
RevRick
So Musk is Stromboli to Trump’s Pinocchio? Kinda fits.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: I am an all person on this one.
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
@Suzanne: Musk is the one co-conspirator Felonious Thunk can’t bankrupt.
Scout211
Some very good news today.
Baud
One take
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
@mrmoshpotato: That’s the beauty of patronage: the strings are always invisible. Until they’re not.
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
@Baud: This wasn’t a victory for governance. This was just one battle between the burn-it-all-down caucus and the nuke-it-all caucus.
Suzanne
@dmsilev:
LOL. Musk has more money, Trump has the nuclear codes. What a shitshow.
Also, saw the news about your dad’s surgery in last nights thread. Very sorry to hear. Fingers crossed that the hip replacement goes well and he’s up and about soon.
KatKapCC
@mrmoshpotato: Maybe it was like a magic eye poster and if you stared at Trump’s name long enough, Musk’s showed up between the letters.
KatKapCC
@Baud: It ought to be all. I don’t care how horrible someone is. Killing them to prove we’re better is ludicrous.
Nukular Biskits
@ColoradoGuy:
Well … on paper, anyway.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: Great.
Nukular Biskits
@Baud:
I can understand the three exemptions … but I’m opposed to the death penalty and think he should include those as well in his commutations.
TBone
Excellent on topic article by Digby
https://digbysblog.net/2024/12/20/100-years-ago-today/
Nukular Biskits
@Scout211:
At least this will have long term benefits.
Steve LaBonne
@Baud: I think Elmo came out considerably better than Donnie. And I think Donnie knows it.
Elizabelle
@Nukular Biskits: me too. Who is Bowers?
KatKapCC
@TBone: “Sadder and wiser”. Ah yes, two ideal traits in a psychopathic megalomaniac. “Good news, folks, the batshit crazy tyrant is now much smarter and also very depressed. We’re all safe!”
BlueGuitarist
notable among the 34 republicans voting no: Scott Perry PA-10, the most likely to be defeated in 2026.
Longer shots: Eli Crane Az-02, Cory Mills FL-07.
KatKapCC
@Elizabelle: Tree Of Life Synagogue shooter.
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
@Elizabelle: 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooter. 11 dead because Jewish. Hard call there.
Nukular Biskits
@Elizabelle:
He’s the guy who killed 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018.
ETA: What @Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq) said.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq):
Precisely. Larry O’ is way off on his hot take on today’s events.
When talking about relative money, this piece from Electoral Vote Dot Com puts it all in perspective:
karen marie
@mrmoshpotato: Would that not be fucking delicious?
Nukular Biskits
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
All the more reason to pass campaign finance reform along the lines of what New Zealand (?) recently did to prevent the wealthy from dominating elections.
TBone
@KatKapCC: as Digby said, it is all so stupid it is hard to believe.
Elno equates Dems with Germany’s AfD in a xit
KatKapCC
@TBone: Yeah. Least shocking endorsement ever.
Elizabelle
Thank you re Bowers.
Also, Roof and Tsarnaev were very young when they murdered. I would not execute either.
Chris
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
Yeah. I suspect we’re not done seeing Musk pushing Trump around, precisely because he’s got so much clout that can be transferred into politics. And because Trump is a congenital coward.
karen marie
@Baud: I’m sorry, WHAT?
“proving billionaires’ influence falters when faced with governance.”
What “governance”? The Democrats had to – yet again – pull Republicans out of the hole they dug.
Why is MSNBC giving credit to the incompetent Republican majority? “Governance,” my fat ass.
dmsilev
@Suzanne: Thank you. Surgery was this morning, went well, though the last message I got he was still a bit under the anesthesia so couldn’t really say yet what the pain level was.
Probably a couple more days in the hospital and then some time in rehab.
TBone
@KatKapCC: hugest platforming ever, also too.
Fuck.
UncleEbeneezer
@Baud: No matter what Biden decides it will be wrong, but also somehow Garland’s fault (even if he rejects Garland’s suggestion).
If Biden pardons Roof, it just shows he sympathizes with virulent White Supremacists and is no better than Nick Fuentes. If he doesn’t pardon Roof, he’s a racist cop, addicted to cruelty and perpetuating the New Jim Crow Police State, no different than Joe Arpaio, really. We will get endless criticisms of Biden/Dems/Garland (at least one FP post, maybe more) either way.
MagdaInBlack
@TBone: I may be confused here: so per Elno, the AfD policies are bad when they’re Democratic policies ( I assume that’s his implication) but those policies are good for Germany now?
Confused, help me understand?
TBone
@MagdaInBlack: it’s not possible for me to explain other than to say it is just more flooding of the zone with cognitive dissonance.
The AfD was too Nazi for Marine LePen, if that helps.
Martin
@MagdaInBlack: Policy doesn’t matter. Who is in power is all that matters.
Jeffro
right??!?
and not even on Day 1…it’s already taken hold on Day -30!
great work, GOP!
Jay
@MagdaInBlack:
Apartheid Clyde has no clue what the AfD policies are.
Felon Musk has no clue what the Democratic Party Policies are.
He’s just shitposting for engagement on his platform.
He’s a needy little boy.
MagdaInBlack
@Martin: That was not my question
Eta: ok, yes it was my question, sorta, TY, sorry to be snippy =-)
Soprano2
@Omnes Omnibus: Biden cannot commute those three. The only upside would be everyone forgetting about Hunter’s pardon.
MagdaInBlack
@Jay: Thank you, that’s the answer that helped.
TBone
@Jay: he’s actually interfering in Germany as he is here.
Chris
@MagdaInBlack:
I mean, this sounds kind of like their approach to slavery.
“Confederate monuments should be preserved because it’s the worst kind of presentism to judge them by today’s standards, as is done by the Democrats, who are bad because they were the party of slavery.”
Jay
@TBone:
Yup, but he’s also outed himself as a Full On Nazi.
Chris
@TBone:
“Too Nazi for MLP” reminds me of those occasions when Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan would do something so horrific that the other one would feel compelled to speak up against it.
Jeffro
…unless, of course, the GOP magically sees the light and decides that hey, this whole campaign finance reform thing might not be so bad after all! maybe we should have limits on what folks can do with those gazillions of dollars!
Don’t say it’s not possible, peeps. They’ll get tired of getting owned, and owned by one of the worst possible people. The ones with half a brain will realize that 1) even if they tow Elon’s line, it’ll never be enough and 2) even if they tow Elon’s line, people (for now) can still vote in the general election and vote them right out of office.
What’s Elon going to do then? Financially support even more right-wing/repellent candidates?
One of the tolerable side effects of having trump as an enemy is that he helps clarify the differences between the parties and by extension, rev up the Dems. Elon looks like he just might do that as well, only on steroids.
Rich2506
Didn’t Elmo once lose a girlfriend to Chelsea Manning? Man, that’s GOT to have messed up his head, badly! You can use all KINDS of supervillain themes with that guy!
MagdaInBlack
@Rich2506: Grimes had a flirtation or something going on with Chelsea, as I recall.
Steve LaBonne
@Jeffro: And after he blew up the original deal that had Trump’s tacit blessing, Trump had to come up with his own demand (debt ceiling) to save face and demonstrate that he is so in charge. And that blew up in his face and he had to swallow a bill that gave him nothing, while demonstrating what Democrats can accomplish when they stand united while Republicans split. We are going to have to learn to take wins like this that are real even if they don’t give us all the emotional satisfaction we crave.
Steve LaBonne
Here’s how it looks to a Guardian reporter.
Beavis C Dawg
I see I’m not the only one here following emptywheel here.
KatKapCC
Last night was the induction for this year’s CA Hall of Fame honorees. It was an all-women slate, and also all posthumous. Pretty solid group and it was very interesting to learn about the ones whose names were new to me.
TBone
Comment lifted from elsewhere regarding the Christmas market attack today in Germany
scav
How sweet to think there are still people devoutly believing in the superior abilities of the very wealthy despite so much recent evidence. Still, soon we will have reached the stage of delivering water to the proverbial horse by means of a fully charged fire hose directed directly to the face. And they signed up for this waterboarding!
TONYG
@mrmoshpotato: I don’t think that Trump will do ANYTHING to upset his “friend” Elon Musk. Like all bullies, Trump is a coward. Musk, as despicable as he is, is the richest person in the world. Trump, meanwhile, probably has a negative net worth. Trump knows the Elon is the guy with the real swinging dick.
Michael Bersin
Late this afternoon the Jackson County (Missouri) Circuit Court enjoined enforcement of a significant number of Missouri TRAP [targeted regulation of abortion providers] statutes and denied the state’s motion to dismiss. In November Missouri voters approved Amendment 3 (as a constitutional amendment) restoring women’s reproductive health and abortion rights.
“….By the language of Amendment 3, the public interest is clear that voters, i.e. the public, intended to create a new fundamental right to reproductive freedom for all Missourians….”
This is this first step in removing criminal penalties and obstructive statutory requirements for abortion in Missouri.
Amendment 3: a number of Missouri’s TRAP statutes enjoined by the Jackson County Circuit Court
Omnes Omnibus
@Soprano2:
Why can’t he? Or are you saying he shouldn’t.
Look, I oppose the the death penalty. I don’t make exceptions. I am guessing that most of the 40 people on federal death row are fucking awful. I just don’t think we should execute anyone.
Another Scott
@Soprano2: “cannot”
?
Is there something about their convictions that would legally prevent Biden from doing so? (As you say, politically Biden’s pardons (even of Hunter) have seemed to be the usual nothingburger to the press, not even outlasting Liz Truss.) Thanks.
We know that Donnie and Bill Barr moved heaven and earth to execute as many federal death row inmates as possible. I think we can very safely assume that any person that Biden does not commute or somehow permanently remove from death row would be executed. It’s long past time for us to permanently end that practice.
My $0.02.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Shalimar
@Nukular Biskits: I’m fine with all, but I think I would still prefer leaving Roof and Bowers for Trump to either execute or pardon. Let him explain why racist mass murderers shouldn’t be executed.
Kay
Anyone who wants to donate to the Amazon strike fund you may do so here.
NYC police are attacking them. They’re going to need bail money.
Bill Arnold
@Rich2506:
Elmo is alleged to have had a ketamine-fueled sexcapade (2021) with RFK Jr’s former running mate: New affair allegations: Elon Musk, Nicole Shanahan took ketamine and ‘disappeared’ at Miami party
Her then-husband, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, was a long-time friend of Elmo.
Mr. Trump is alleged to have pursued sexual encounters with wives of his friends.
Melania, well. Satan only knows what she wants.
Martin
@Jay: This isn’t about engagement. Dude’s worth $300B. He can buy engagement. But he’s disqualified from being President, from real power, and now he’s getting that.
I don’t know why it’s so hard for people to accept that billionaires that have more money than they could possibly spend are now taking the real power. It’s really not any more complicated than that.
Sally
@Omnes Omnibus: I agree – no one should be executed by the State, it’s barbaric.
And no one should lose the right to vote. Two “alls” for me. Or “nones” if you like.
BlueGuitarist
Aaron Fritschner says pediatric cancer research bill passed.
https://bsky.app/profile/fritschner.bsky.social/post/3ldrrvl3efk25
coin operated
@Omnes Omnibus:
co-signed
Steve LaBonne
@BlueGuitarist: Making this an even better day for Democrats.
karen marie
@Jeffro: They’d best do it fast then, because in another four years, the entire GOP will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Musk.
Sally
@Martin: He is clueless and needy, and can buy real power.
Gretchen
@Michael Bersin: great news! Missouri lawmakers have been pretty successful in blocking things voter want like Medicaid expansion.
Another Scott
@BlueGuitarist: Excellent.
There’s a Newsweek story that talks about the pediatric cancer programs that were in the earlier CR. This bill that just passed the Senate had passed the House earlier as a stand-alone bill, but was apparently rolled into the CR because the Senate hadn’t voted on it yet. Sen. Tim Kaine found a way to quickly get it done in the Senate.
Competence matters.
Well done, Team D and Senator Kaine!
Best wishes,
Scott.
frosty
He was most likely in 2024. I’ve been canvassing to defeat him for years, for some great Democratic candidates. He had one this year with universal name recognition and a good campaign. She lost.
Anyway
@frosty: Musk’s huge ~ 400M “investment “ in PA paid off in a big way. Up and down the ticket. Sigh. That’s why I don’t understand the point of the “on paper” comments. Dude’s richer than any of us can imagine…and able to use it to beat the good guys. End of story.
Juju
@UncleEbeneezer: He’s not pardoning them, just commuting their death sentences. They will spend the rest of their lives in federal prison. Commutation is not the same thing as a pardon.
Glory b
@Gretchen: Yes, heaven forbid that they vote for Democrats, who could pass bills with the things they like in them.
Anyway
He knows Ds would let Dotards tax cuts sunset. He knows they’d not roll over for cryptoBros. He knows they’d fight for rights of trans folk etc etc
Michael Bersin
@Gretchen:
It’s a first step in allowing women’s reproductive health care to proceed without government interference in Missouri. The anti-choice right wingnuts will fight this every step of the way.
Soprano2
@Omnes Omnibus: I guess I mean politically he shouldn’t do it. I know he can, but it would be political poison for Democrats if he did.
BlueGuitarist
@frosty:
Appreciate and admire your efforts in PA-10.
PA was heartbreaking this year.
For the 34 Rs who voted no,
average margin of victory: 29 percentage points.
so Perry winning by 1 pt stands out as the best bet for someone in that group who can be beaten.
Navajo leader Jonathan Nez ran better against Eli Crane in AZ-2 than most people expected, lost by 9 points, the second closest.
most of this R group are folks like Scott DesJarlais, the dick who got a patient pregnant, pressured her to get an abortion, and keeps getting reelected as the family values candidate in TN-4, this year by 43 percentage points.
Perry didn’t just win more narrowly than others, also more narrowly than before, even as PA moved several points to the right.
(I was focused further down ballot; none of the 203 PA house seats changed parties.)
Citizen Alan
Citizen Alan
@Rich2506: if rupert murdoch is a bond villain, elon musk is an austin powers villain. Except not remotely funny.
Soprano2
@Michael Bersin: They’ll try to fool voters into reversing Amendment 3 with ballot candy. I hope it doesn’t work. They outright lied that it would let minors get sex reassignment surgery without their parent’s knowledge or consent, so I figure they’re capable of anything.
Omnes Omnibus
@Soprano2: I disagree. Commuting all would be a principled act. Easier to explain and justify than commuting some.
KatKapCC
@Soprano2: I don’t think it would be as toxic as you believe.
From DPIC:
frosty
More narrowly this time because the PA Supreme Court ungerrymandered the districts. This was the year he should have been knocked out – more Dauphin less York. Nope.
Torrey
@Michael Bersin:
Well, actually, the voters intended to restore a pre-existing right that had been taken away. Sheesh.
(And, just to be clear, the blockquote above is from the Jackson County Circuit Court. The previous commenter, Michael Bersin, made that clear, and identified the Court’s decision as restoring rights. I just wanted to bump up the objection to the Court’s poor–nay, downright wrong–word choice.)
Torrey
@Bill Arnold:
Out?
sab
@Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq): Musk wouldn’t be so rich if the US government wasn’t paying him. He is a major national security risk. Can’t we nationalize his satellite company and take it away from him because we need it and he can’t be trusted to allow it to do what we are paying it to do?
sab
@Elizabelle: The Pittsburgh synagogue killer.
artem1s
Might be debatable. How much of his ‘wealth’ is tied to overinflated stock prices the way TCF’s ‘wealth’ was tied to overinflated property values and his name brand?
We all know Tesla’s stock market value is heavily base on branding, not production. How much more of his stock can he afford to sell before someone figures out they are ripe for a hostile takeover? If he continues act erratically, I can see their board doing exactly to Elmo what Apple did when Jobs lost track of the narrative. Then we’ll find out exactly how much his name brand is shoring up their stock price. It’s debatable whether the company can be resurrected now. They are quickly headed toward becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Ford IMO.
Xhitter is, well, going down the toilet and is privately owned and no one really knows whether it’s making or losing money. It’s still underwater from whatever he still owns the banks. There’s no way he could take it public. It’s value is like any other luxury item; it’s dependent on what someone else would pay him for it. He’s never recouping his losses on those ones and zeros. It’s going to end up exactly where MySpace and Second life and a bunch of other failed and now unpopular social media sites have ended up.
SpaceX is only profitable as long as the DoD wants to humor him. They aren’t interested in space tourism or Mars colonization. Those privatization contracts are only due to a couple of TX and CA Reps who want DoD and NASA money to keep flowing into Houston, JPL, and Cal Tech. And it keeps the public interested by hiding it in NASA’s brand. If/when Elon kills a bunch of people NASA’s budget and brand will take the hit. Then the DoD will take control of the tech. The retired generals want their piece of those government contracts and aren’t going to be pleased that he’s trying to skim off the top of their cash cow.
The one thing the world discovered during his first term is that TCF’s brand and ‘wealth’ is all smoke and mirrors. We know everything the TCF touches dies. Looks like Elon is on track to truly exceed TCF in the only thing he’s really good at. As soon as Elon walked out from behind the curtain by buying Twitter, he exposed how much he’s been leaning on the successes and ideas of others. There were signs before that. Making Tesla synonymous with Skynet adjacent AI that tries to kill its drivers by fire and fugly, rusting Clustertrucks. And SpaceX is quickly becoming branded as the plan to run a fleet of B Ark cruise ships with rich asshole passengers who want to invest their life savings and lives in a nine month long one way suicide tickets to Mars.
Again, just exactly how much actual real money does Elon have?
artem1s
@Elizabelle: I would argue the younger Tsarnaev brother got the death penalty mostly because the jury and prosecutor couldn’t exact revenge on his older brother who was the driver behind the bombing. He followed the wrong person and will pay for it the rest of his life whether he’s executed or not.
Another Scott
@artem1s: Like any MotU, Melon uses OPM – other peoples’ money. He puts up magic beans for collateral, and his bankster friends are more than happy to loan him whatever he wants if he’ll pay enough interest, and pay the big upfront fees so the banksters get their bonuses.
:-/
Best wishes,
Scott.
SWMBO
@TONYG:
What happens if SpaceX is defunded? What happens to EM’s vast wealth? Does that mean he has to dig in the couch cushions to pay the debt on Xitter? Trump and Musk have both leveraged themselves into billionaire status? How real is their money?