Oh wow, Elon is giving a concession speech in Wisconsin pic.twitter.com/npzAiu3het
— Liam Nissan™ (@theliamnissan) April 2, 2025
BREAKING NEWS: Billionaire JB Pritzker BEATS Elon Musk.
Two billionaires poured money into Wisconsin:
Elon Musk spent $82 Million.
JB Pritzker spent $500,000.
Pritizker’s response? “Elon Musk is not good at this.” pic.twitter.com/jRJlPE0ID6
— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) April 2, 2025
The GOP has no time for luzers, Elon!
Charlie Warzel, at the Atlantic – Elon Musk Lost His Big Bet:
…Given Musk’s heavy involvement—the centibillionaire not only campaigned in the state but also brazenly attempted to buy the election by offering to pay voters $100 for signing a petition from his America PAC opposing “activist judges”—the election was billed as a referendum of sorts on Musk’s own popularity. In that sense, it was a resounding defeat. Musk, normally a frenetic poster, had very little to say about politics last night, pecking out just a handful of terse messages to his 218.5 million followers. “The long con of the left is corruption of the judiciary,” he posted at 1:23 a.m. eastern time.
In the light of defeat, the SpaceX post feels like a glimpse into what could have been for Musk—a timeline where the world’s richest man wasn’t algorithmically radicalized by his own social-media platform. It’s possible that Musk’s temperament and personal politics would have always led him down this path. But it’s also easy to imagine a version where he mostly stayed out of politics, instead leaning into his companies and continuing to bolster his carefully cultivated brand of Elon Musk, King of Nerd Geniuses.
Unfortunately, he surrendered fully to grievance politics. Like so many other prolific posters, he became the person his most vocal followers wanted him to be and, in the process, appears to have committed reputational suicide. Since joining President Donald Trump’s administration as DOGE’s figurehead—presiding over the quasi-legal gutting of the federal government—Musk has become not just polarizing but also genuinely unpopular in America. Now his political influence is waning, Tesla is the object of mass protest, and sales of his vehicles are cratering. This morning, only hours after his candidate lost, Trump reportedly told his inner circle and Cabinet members that Musk will be “stepping back” from his perch in the administration for a more “supporting role.” In Trumpworld, nothing’s over until it’s over, but Elon Musk seems to have overstayed his welcome. (Musk did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the White House referred me to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s post calling the report that Musk is stepping back “garbage”; Musk posted on X that the reporting is “fake news.”)
Musk’s appeal to Trump has always been about two things: money and optics. As the richest man in the world, Musk is both a cash cow and a kind of enforcer: His checkbook and closeness to Trump remind Republicans in Congress that they can and will be primaried if they break from the administration. But Musk’s reputation is just as important to Trump, who respects great wealth and clearly enjoys being shadowed and adored by a man of Musk’s perceived stature and technological acumen (although Trump is easily impressed—take, for example, “Everything’s Computer!”) Musk’s image in Silicon Valley was useful to the Trump campaign, bringing in new fanboy voters and sending a message that the administration would transform the government and run it like a lean start-up.
But although his money is still good, the Wisconsin election suggests that Musk himself is an electoral liability. A poll released today, conducted in Wisconsin by Marquette University Law School, showed that 60 percent of respondents view Musk unfavorably, and a recent Harvard/Harris poll shows that his national favorability dropped 10 points from February to March. (He now has a net favorability rating of –10 percent.) An aggregation of national polls shows that the approval rating of his DOGE efforts has also dipped dramatically: Just 39 percent of Americans approve of his work, nearly 10 points lower than in mid-February…
John Heilemann, at Puck – Elon Crash Lands in Wisconsin:
...Ironically, the silver lining around these dark clouds is the shellacking Musk took in Wisconsin. One of the dirty little secrets of the G.O.P. House and Senate conferences—and of its governor’s mansions, too—is that more than a few Republicans in these bodies had been quietly hoping Musk would have his head handed to him last night. From his chainsaw-wielding acting-out to his even more lunatic labeling of Social Security as a “Ponzi scheme,” Musk is a walking, talking political I.E.D. that many if not most Republican electeds wish could be summarily dispatched to pursue his dream of colonizing Mars. “Not that he needs our money,” a senior G.O.P. senator told me, chuckling. “But we’d all pitch in and pay for his ticket if that’s what it took.”
Comments like this, even on background, were all but impossible to come by in the first two months of Trump 2.0—such was the acute and pervasive fear that crossing Musk would lead to facing a well-funded primary opponent (and irking Trump in the bargain). But the passage of time and mounting sense of the political risk Musk embodies has begun to loosen at least a few tongues. In his Politico column yesterday, my pal Jonathan Martin induced two House Republicans to cough up spicy quotes (sans attribution) on this topic that rhyme with conversations I’ve had recently: one saying that an “April 1 massacre” would be “a beautiful thing,” the other that “Elon’s work needs to wrap up, and he needs to exit stage left.”…
@annelaurie.bsky.social
— espierce (@espierce.bsky.social) April 2, 2025 at 9:18 AM
On The Road – frosty – 2024 National Park Road Trip (3) – Two More National Parks, Sort Of
Baud
The actual candidate who lost was apparently a real jerk too. So double win.
Suzanne
Oh look, a rare point of alignment.
Elizabelle
Of course GOP Senators and congresscritters can come up with “spicy quotes” when granted anonymity by a friendly reporter.
But it’s a start.
Besides which, doesn’t Elon’s “temporary government employee status” end quite soon, anyway?
Elizabelle
The Downfall parody was funny. Elon with six kids whose names look like a CAPTCHA.
Suzanne
I still think we could get Elon hopped up on ketamine and convince him he needs to go to Mars immediately. Then put him on one of those Space X rockets and hope for the worst, uhhhhhh, the BEST!
Suzanne
I am having 401K anxiety. Debating if I should withdraw it.
Ken B
@Elizabelle: Yeah, the law only gives him about 130 days in that position with that status.
Given Trump’s scrupulous adherence to norms and laws…
I’m placing a lot more faith on Trump deciding that Musk is making Trump look bad and needing a new distraction from his burning dumpster of a Presidency. He’s running out of things to declassify, so he’s going to be looking for someone to demote to (former) coffee boy.
HinTN
@Suzanne: Don’t. Put it in one of those Retirement 2030 funds if you have access to that sort of instrument. Otherwise municipal bonds and Treasuries. Don’t make much, don’t lose much. Ride it out.
Suzanne
@HinTN: I actually have three separate ones from different jobs, and I haven’t combined them because I’m confused about it. I had recently increased my contributions to the one from my current job. I’m not good at this stuff, so I elected for the retirement-target-date option for my age group and I just contribute and I don’t mess with it. Just check in on it about quarterly.
This is stressful.
Jackie
Muskrat really doesn’t believe he’s toxic:
GQPers are trying to put a positive spin on this – saying they “welcome his contributions”…. oookaay…
narya
@Baud: a friend who lives in Appleton said he actually shut down noise in his concession speech, acknowledging, in effect, that the election was not rigged, etc. he’s a big jerk, but still backed away from that brand of crazy.
Baud
@narya:
Whoa. That’s impressive for a Republican these days. Hope it’s a sign, although I don’t really believe in signs.
Jackie
@Jackie: Then there’s this:
narya
@Baud: yeah, my friend was surprised too. The absolute shitshow of the past few days will peel off a few people, though it’s too soon to know how many. The tariff announcement before this Saturday’s protests may get people out too.
Baud
@Jackie:
I like the confidence.
I’m more on the fence on Musk’s impact. Just too soon to tell for me. But trash talk is welcome.
Librettist
Thanks JB!
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Regarding GOP Senators: Boo fucking hoo.
Pay to send Edoph to Mars, that’s rich.
Grow a spine, until then, suck on it.
Baud
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
Right. I think they say stuff like that so the media will think they’re really reasonable people and ignore their actions and inactions.
Jeffro
hey if people think Elon’s bad…wait until they hear about who gave him and DOGE the power to wreck our government…
Jeffro
I’m Jeffro, and I approve this message.
Librettist
@Suzanne:
Generally it is best return-wise to leave them in an IRA, but roll the ex-employer ones into a rollover IRA that you control.
Then investment position-wise you may want to get more defensive.
p.a.
“I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it.”
― Voltaire
Baud
I’m investing all my money in Chinese companies that make American flags.
Buy low.
p.a.
@Baud: Agreed. Muck’s $$$ can do real damage, but his rep even among normies seems to be shite, and that’s hard to undo. Do we really want the enemy’s incompetent generals to get cashiered? It’s an arguable proposition.
Gin & Tonic
@Suzanne: No.
Baud
@p.a.:
I’ve never had the Internet’s faith in the level of voters’ opposition to billionaires.
But if anyone can make that a reality, it’s Elon Musk.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Baud:
And the “senior GOP” Senator could have avoided all of this by the simple action of voting to convict Hair Furor not once but twice during impeachment trials.
Said Senator needs to be on the same rocket going to Mars as Edolph, built by the same people who glued together the Wankpanzer to ensure uber reliability getting them there. /s
Librettist
@p.a.:
The Uihlein’s are as responsible for this debacle as Elon. They are cray-cray.
Professor Bigfoot
@p.a.: I used to think of Obama as the “Voltaire” of our time, but we are all he anymore, aren’t we, with our ridiculous enemies?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I suppose Wisconsin invalidates the conspiracy theory that Elon has the voting machine rigged.
mapanghimagsik
@Baud:
The only thing America seems to admire is money. With enough of it, you can well, be Elon
suzanne
@Professor Bigfoot: I continue to be just deeply shook by how many of my fellow Americans are taken in by the ridiculousness. Then I remind myself that ressentiment (and all of its manifestations, racism, sexism, homophobia, etc etc etc) is one hell of a drug.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: I’m similarly skeptical of the public’s dislike of corruption, but if ever there were a time to test the theory…
Professor Bigfoot
@mapanghimagsik: “This is America, where by definition, if it’s profitable it is MORAL.”
Professor Bigfoot
@suzanne: I waver between “Jesus they’re so stupid” and “Jesus, they’re so EVIL!”
mapanghimagsik
Apropos of nothing, I was talking to someone about putting together some pictures, and they said they knew several “AI Artists”.
If these people are AI artists, then a car thief is Henry Ford.
Baud
@Professor Bigfoot:
They’re in a superposition of both those states.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
hells littlest angel
@Suzanne: You don’t have to withdraw it. Just move the money from stocks to bonds or cash.
Professor Bigfoot
@rikyrah: Good morning!
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Soprano2
@Suzanne: I’d say if you aren’t going to need it soon, leave it be and it’ll come back. In fact, FFOTUS is probably going to create a lot of good buying opportunities.
JML
@Suzanne: it’s understandable to be freaked out about it. Checking in quarterly is probably the right move and will hopefully keep you from feeling extra anxiety about the volatility in the market right now. But unless you’re looking to retire in the next year or so, any kind of move to cash out will probably hurt more than help.
I’m feeling this kind of anxiety myself; my sister and I inherited my mom’s IRA’s, which frankly accelerated the possibility of earlier retirement for both of us. seeing things decline for the last 3 months has been uncomfortable as we transitioned everything. But it’s also why we both decided to put things under professional management rather than try and handle it ourselves.
The level of stupid from the Current Occupant and his moronic staff is wrecking the economy. At some point the rest of the oligarch have to realize they get killed by this too, right? Oof.
Spanky
@Suzanne: Probably too late already. My trades all happen after close of business the next trading day, for mutual funds. If you’ve got your dough in etfs you might have a chance.
Soprano2
@Suzanne: Then I’d say leave it alone. Don’t look at it today, though.
Salty Sam
Obligatory: “¿ Por que no los dos?”
Baud
@JML:
Trump is trying to recreate Putin’s economic and political model. But that may not be doable with such a large economy as the one Biden left us.
What will Elon do if Tesla shares continue falling to where they should be? Open question.
Soprano2
If these tariffs do actually become a reality, many of them will shaken out of that by the prices they’ll be paying at the grocery store and Wal-Mart.
Soprano2
@Professor Bigfoot: Why not both?
ETA – I texted my financial advisor’s assistant last night – we’re friendly and on the same page politically on most things. I told her I was sorry she has to answer the phone tomorrow, and she texted back that she had just told her husband the same thing! Today is probably going to be one for the ages in the markets. The smartest investors will be buying stocks in the next few days.
JML
@Baud: The US economy is also much more complex and isn’t controlled the same way by so few individual actors. It’s not like Texas oil money run by 6 guys dominates 60% of the economy or something. But he stupid.
Suzanne
@JML: I’m too young to retire. I’ve just been trying to be responsible and save aggressively by living frugally…. and watching this happen is fucken depressing.
Soprano2
@Suzanne: It’s tough to watch, I know. Depending on how it’s being invested you might actually be better off in the long run, if they use this opportunity to buy good value stocks at a discount. In March of 2009 you could have bought Citibank stock for around $1.00/share. It’s currently $71.76/share. I think about that sometimes.
davek319
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Hey, GOP asshole senators: How about punting Stinky’s Emergency Decree So I Can Haz Stupid Shit Tariff Beclowning off to Mars along with Elon Skum? Your band of useless jagoffs have the authority to declare states of emergency that allow for executive actions. Remember? Aaah, fuck you guys.
Baud
Just saw that Eric Adams is going to run as an independent.
Can Dems get some credit for getting rid of our bad pols, as opposed to electing them to ever higher offices?
Scout211
Trump 2.0 has the best team.
Countries will stop importing US goods. No markets for US goods?
America First, hell yeah!
ETA: Wired
You’re on your own, US manufacturers! Free markets, hell yeah!
Ramalama
Yesterday the news was all about Elon burning through $20M on Wisconsin.
It’s actually $100M that he gave away?
I can’t believe it … that I’m actually stunned rn.
Mike E
@Baud: Forget it Jake, it’s
ChinatownNYC… I think of the mayor’s job now being similar to the professor position of Hogwarts’ defense against the dark arts.Hoodie
nothing is certain under Trump so hard to say what is the best move. Depends on whether the markets eventually call bullshit on this nonsense tariff plan. If they do it soon and it ends up being a nothing burger, there could be a run up. If you’re great at market timing, you could cash in. But you might do as well standing pat or doing some minor rebalancing. There is a good chance that will be the case because the released tariff scheme is nonsensical. Trump doesn’t care about actual results, just clearing out space where he can grift. The casinos taught him he could make money while his business is failing so failure of the supposed McKinley Resurrection is not a problem for him. It could be like this DOGE shit. A bunch of noise and some breaking of stuff but ultimately not much. He got Musk to give him a bunch of money and draw negative attention while Trump was busy pardoning criminals for what you know are bribes, like buying his meme coin or propping up Trump media stock. The stuff at HHS is more damaging.
Ohio Mom
@Suzanne:
Nobody knows what to do in a case like this because we have never been here before. In the olden days we could look at dips in the financial market and reason, “It’s done this before and always came back.” But this isn’t those olden days anymore, so who knows?
I always say that when there are no good options, every option is equally good.
clay
@Scout211:
Sheesh, the victim mentality these people have, from the top down.
Trump is (allegedly) one of the world’s richest people and all he can do is whine about how unfairly he’s treated. And the US is the richest, most powerful nation in the history of ever, but we’re the ones being picked on.
Do these people actually believe this shit, or is it something that just falls out of their mouths?
Melancholy Jaques
@mapanghimagsik:
And cruelty. They really seem to like cruelty.
Baud
@clay:
Their whole party is a grievance and resentment party.
Hoodie
@Melancholy Jaques: At the extreme, money is cruelty. It turns people into objects.
There go two miscreants
@Suzanne: IIRC you are quite a few years from retirement. The best approach is to keep putting money away, especially if you get any match at all from your employer. This is the kind of situation where the most important job of a financial adviser is to keep the clients from panicking. With any kind of retirement account you’re playing the long game. If you really find it too stressfull, move some of the existing holdings to a bond fund, but keep the ongoing new investments going into the market to take advantage of the downturn. (Also remember that an actual withdrawal from a tax-deferred account results in additional taxes in the current year, regardless of whether you made a gain or loss in that account.)
Melancholy Jaques
@Baud:
Dems get credit? Stop it, Baud, you’re killing me.
clay
@Baud: I know, but sometimes it still surprises me with just how gross the whole thing is.
Suzanne
@There go two miscreants: Thanks to you and everyone for the good advice.
Imma sit tight. But FUCK, why couldn’t he just leave well enough alone? FFS.
Hoodie
@Suzanne: Narcissistic assholes like Trump never leave anything alone. They need attention and this is how they get it.
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic: Yeah, I think especially for a younger person that’s a mistake.
Betty Cracker
@Scout211: Someone on Bluesky called Lutnick “Nutlick” the other day, and now I can never read his name as anything else.
Dave
@clay: They’ve really convinced themselves. At least a lot of them of them have; there are fair number that are just using the resentment but for many they really stop at a completely solipsistic perspective.
Anyway
Same here. Pisses me off – do the right thing, be responsible and some entitled bros blow up the system.
Miss Bianca
@Suzanne: Do you have a financial advisor? One of the first things mine did for me once I had a chunk of change to invest was to scoop up all the little 401(k)s and the PERA account I had from previous jobs and roll them into one fund.
p.a.
It’s nothing new. Eco on ur-fascism: our targets are both brilliant dangerous active evildoers and lazy inferior parasites on the nation. Both at once or each individually as necessary. And this isn’t Euro-centric. American nativism: (whatever target group) are criminal masterminds AND ignorant layabouts. They take our jobs AND are unemployed moochers.
Universal target: Jews are devious businessmen whose god is $$$ AND communists destroying free enterprise capitalism nationalizing our stuff for a godless ideology.
Professor Bigfoot
OBVIOUSLY they’re doing it wrong.
Suzanne
@Miss Bianca: I don’t have one, but I should get one. I had previously rolled my 401Ks over myself. I should get pro help. I hate this.
Scout211
@Suzanne: I’m no financial expert, so I can’t recommend anything specific. But most of us who are already retired have been through this before. After the Dubya market meltdown and crash, most of us lost at least 25% of the value of our retirement accounts. It was scary. But most advisors at the time kept saying the same thing. Don’t panic. Stay the course.
The markets recovered over the next decades but the markets have been jacked up in the most recent decade. Most of us with long term investments haven’t seen this type of market value increase in our meager investment portfolios before. Like my sister’s financial advisor told her recently, everyone has done well in the past ten years. That has not always been the case for those of us who are long term investors. The increases in value over the decades have more typically been steady, slow growth.
I can’t tell you what to do, I’m not qualified, but my husband and I are staying the course for now.
Professor Bigfoot
@clay: Bullies have to justify their bullying, if only to themselves.
zhena gogolia
@Anyway: I am so furious.
I’ve been working since I was 16 and this dipshit is going to steal my money.
ETA: Reading about my father’s life and how he went from one hard-labor job to another after coming to this country. So furious.
p.a.
@Suzanne: Don’t forget to ask about/take into account fees. Active accounts responding to immediate market changes MAY save you some $$$, but their fee structure (trade costs + admin) will be higher than passive funds and could end up hurting.
End result: when you add idiot governance to markets that are variable by nature, it’s casino time. (Actually in a casino you KNOW the odds are against you and to what degree. With these assholes… 😡)
Miss Bianca
@Suzanne: For me it was worth it to go with a pro because I R a idiot when it comes to money handling. I did tell mine a couple weeks ago that I was feeling kind of bearish on America right now and I wanted to add more bonds and international stocks to the mix, which he agreed to do, but other than that…I’m sittin’ tight.
MN Grubert
This Hamiltonian essay is the best thing I’ve read on what is going on right now.
It truly is “inconceivable” for people across the spectum that this is happening.
Title: Divergence From the Interests of Capital
Trump will ultimately make rich people poorer. Why?
https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/divergence-from-the-interests-of
JML
@Miss Bianca: This is how I feel: Imma no smrt enough to know what my investment mix should be, especially right now. I’m using the same investment people my mom used for the last 15+ years and she was pretty happy with them (and she knew a TON more than I do, and was entirely self-taught) and did quite well.
I’m also a fairly frugal person, and have been able to find ways to save without living a punishing lifestyle. I hope that will help keep me in good nick to ride out the wave of stupid. but this is why I’ve been battling so hard for my members who were denied their retirement rights to join a defined benefit plan: having that kind of pension is a bloody nice safety net when you’re dealing with the stupid effing up the market for everyone.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Run for what as independent?
catclub
Given our media attention span, this works:
Say something is terrible, impose a stupid solution that fails or makes it worse, quietly drop the stupid solution, claim credit for the improvement from ‘worse’ to ‘not quite as good as when the whole process started’. Rinse and repeat on something else.
Old School
@WaterGirl: NYC Mayor (His reelection bid)
chemiclord
@Baud:
Of course not. And to twist the knife, Adams will peel off just enough centrist votes that still live in fear of crime rates to get a Republican elected mayor.
Ramona
It occurs to me that tariffs make smugglers rich. I wonder how long it would take for Buffalo and the Rio Grand area to become boom towns with ordinary items riding along with the fentanyl along the already forged drug smuggling routes. Customs inspectors at all our harbors are going to make bank in bribes.
Would this new tariff regime increase the cost of our current federal customs and excise process?
dnfree
@Suzanne:
The retirement date option is a good place to have your 401(k). I was still working in 2008-2009 and that’s where my 401(k) was. I had co-workers who pulled theirs out of the stock market and put it in a fixed interest rate fund, and when the market recovered they were too late moving it back. That’s the worst of both worlds.
Since I’m retired now and I have to take RMD withdrawals, when Trump was elected the first time I moved enough to “cash” to be able to withdraw what I am required to every year and not have to look at the rest of it. I do hope things will look better by four years from now, but I can’t be sure.
Oh, and consolidate your funds with your current employer, if nothing else just so you can more easily track what you have. But never take possession of the money yourself–request the transfer through the funds so you never touch it, or it counts as a withdrawal.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@dnfree: I moved my assorted retirement accounts to Schwab (transfers). I’m nervous about the market (who isn’t?😁) so I mostly moved out of equities. Definitely don’t withdraw, but do consolidate.
JBWoodford
@p.a.: Fred “Slacktivist” Clark wrote about it in the context of White Evangelical Protestants as the “Myth of the Persecuted Hegemon.” In their case, it’s an article of faith (literally!) that as Real True Christians(TM) they have to be persecuted by the Powers that Be, so they have major cognitive dissonance when they’re as influential as they are in the US.
wrog
According to his daughter, he was always right wing. Any leftish noises he ever made were just marketing to sell Teslas.
And he was never any kind of genius (recall he was fired from Paypal the moment he tried to do any coding).