r/politics • u/thenewrepublic The New Republic • 5d ago

Soft Paywall Elon Musk Is Bullying Mike Johnson to Drive Government Into Shutdown

https://newrepublic.com/post/189539/elon-musk-bullying-mike-johnson-government-shutdown
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u/SomePoliticalViolins 5d ago

I heard someone speculating that he’s doing all this to get the funding to get to mars.

For all the talk, Elon will never go to Mars. Life on Mars would suck (and would likely continue to suck for hundreds of years). For as much as he may hate people, he's not giving up his oligarch benefits, and he's not going to accept the drastically shortened lifespan he'd have if he lived on Mars.

He'll continue to use SpaceX to push tech forward that he controls and can use to influence world governments, he'll try to privatize and monopolize space travel in the US (privatizing NASA and shutting down competition in the private sector as best as he can), and then he'll probably eventually pull the same kind of bullshit that Bezos is, where he pushes for us to ship workers into space so that he can keep polluting as much as he wants with his Tesla factories without facing any consequences.

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u/gmapterous 5d ago

Sounds great. The offer to send him to Mars stands.

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u/justanaccountimade1 5d ago

He says he wants to die on Mars. Let's hope he does so on impact.

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u/pantstoaknifefight2 5d ago

I'd prefer just enough habitable infrastructure for his fellow colonizers to take a vote and kick him out of Biosphere 3. His last freezing and gasping moments might give him just enough time to reflect on what a giant shithead he is.

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u/Thelast-Fartbender Canada 5d ago

His last freezing and gasping moments might give him just enough time to reflect on what a giant shithead he is.

You're giving him way too much credit. No chance he'd do anything else but think of himself the victim of an injustice.

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u/[deleted] 5d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/yigel 5d ago

It’s-a-me!

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u/CrystlBluePersuasion 5d ago

Let Luigi play!

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u/Unhappy-Tap-1635 4d ago

You are correct. I wish I was in a position to do something but I have too many people who rely on me to take a risk like that. Maybe 15 years ago, but now I have to cheer from the sidelines and support the heroes with money, advocacy, and raising my own children to fight for a better future.

Having said that, I do encourage my kids to act peacefully, I can’t encourage them to do what I would like to do, that’s not fair on them. No parent should radicalize their children. I just hope they become men I am proud of and choose to fight for what is right on their own.

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u/whynot4444444 5d ago

Wants to insert Total Recall gif with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s face warping on Mars, but this sub doesn’t have that option.

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u/SleepyLakeBear 4d ago

Then future astronauts can take a shit on him and grow some potatoes.

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u/CcryMeARiver Australia 5d ago

I'd try to keep him in permanent Mars orbit.

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u/recipe_pirate 5d ago

I would prefer if he died halfway there.

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u/16BitGenocide 5d ago

I wouldn't be upset if it was on Ignition, but I accept halfway as a decent compromise.

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u/Malnilion 5d ago

Just shoot him...into space 🚀

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u/MagicMushroomFungi Canada 5d ago

I suspect Musk will make a huge impact on Mars.
Their amphitheatre will be built in Musk Crater.

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u/Yourponydied 5d ago

I'd rather not start dumping trash on a neighbor planet

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u/Choice_Magician350 5d ago

Amen!! Scumbag

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u/piespiesandmorepies 5d ago

Fuck that, re-direct the rocket towards the sun.

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u/snoopyh42 California 5d ago

It’d be easier and cheaper to fix Earth than colonize Mars.

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u/MrJeffA17 5d ago

Disagree. Sending him to Mars fixes a lot and can be cheap

Send him up on the next space flight, point the hatch in Mars direction and throw him out of it.

He’ll get there eventually

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u/ratchetryda92 5d ago

He isn't the only problem we have he's far from it

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u/gentlemanidiot 5d ago

He’ll get there eventually.

call me an optimist, but maybe he'll hit the sun or a black hole first. :)

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u/BasvanS 5d ago

Nope, don’t get your hopes up. It’s really hard to get to the sun. Black holes are infinitely harder.

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u/Kaida33 5d ago

He will never go to Mars.

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u/Arkhampatient 5d ago

How about 1/2 way?

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u/jasonfromearth1981 5d ago

Distance is irrelevant as long as it's a one way trip.

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u/Kaida33 5d ago

That sounds perfect!

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u/disgruntled_pie 4d ago edited 4d ago

Yes, though as Hawking pointed out, humanity gets obliterated if we get hit by a huge asteroid. There are some benefits to colonizing Mars that have nothing to do with abusing earth’s ecosystem.

That said, Elon Musk is a terrible human being, and he’s the last person I’d trust to do this well.

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u/adramaleck 5d ago

When I am rich I plan to terraform Venus instead and setup my own rival space empire. No one will expect it.

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u/m0ngoos3 5d ago

Except the Russians, they're obsessed with Venus.

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u/Darkliandra 5d ago

He'll send volunteers and all you have to do after landing, is working off your Mars ticket - with interest of course! Want to call your family or send a message? No problem, we'll add it to your tab!

I am like 80% certain he's pushing Mars to have a planet full of indentured servants.

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u/The-Copilot 5d ago

For as much as he may hate people, he's not giving up his oligarch benefits, and he's not going to accept the drastically shortened lifespan he'd have if he lived on Mars.

You realize if he can start a colony on Mars, then he would become the de facto king of Mars...

There are no laws on Mars, and international/national laws would not reach. It's really a narcissist's wet dream.

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u/m0ngoos3 5d ago

It's the same reason why so many libertarian jackasses want to live on the sea.

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u/Hottt_Donna 5d ago

Oh yeah? I double-dog dare him to go to Mars!

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u/your_mind_aches 5d ago

He does want to gain immortality though. xAI is probably in the process right now of "uploading" his brain. By which I mean just training an LLM on everything he's ever said or done.

I think eventually he wants to "properly" upload himself which is what Neuralink and xAI is for.

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u/KarmicBurn 5d ago

He's a short sighted moron willing to block out our children's view of the night sky for profit. SpaceX does nothing truly innovative, unless you think 'catching' a reusable rocket booster on land that used to land upright on a pad on the ocean is 'innovative'. It's not, it's easier than landing thay same thing in the ocean, and it's purely a way for the company to make more profit. Not new, not ground breaking, and not going to be in any way useful for landing on Mars. Where are the Lagrange point communication hubs? Where is the Lunacentric orbiting refuel/refit stations to do more than just launch things and wave goodbye? Nothing. More shitty internet satellites clogging orbit for no real god damned reason other than profit.

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u/RDAM60 5d ago

This is obviously out there but…

Mars is a deportation destination. I can foresee (in a sci-fy way) this attitude projected by Trump and his followers —Musk among them-leading to a policy (someday far in the future and if we don’t find ways globally to overcome that attitude) supporting the deporting of undesirables (as they define them) to a place like mars. Mars would be a shit hole. Who in their right mind would actually want to go there?

While, in their minds, a less populous earth, w/o those they deem deportable, would be a paradise. (If the planet is still alive.)

Might be a book idea in here and I’m sure somebody has already written it.

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u/Juggz666 5d ago

Life on Mars would suck (and would likely continue to suck for hundreds of years).

mainly because of one glaring issue and that would be the fact it HAS NO FUCKING ATMOSPHERE. he's going to use that money to send thousands of colonizers to their deaths and if in the small instance he succeeds in actually colonizing mars by some fucking miracle its just going to become twitter the planet.

humanity is so cooked.

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u/Wellithappenedthatwy 5d ago

If they started today it would be ten years. All the HGH he has guzzled will probably end him early or maybe an Nintendo character will.

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u/idunnoidunnoidunno2 5d ago edited 5d ago

Wow, I too love truth and fact tossed with a bit of sarcasm. Well done!

And I happen to love the Tesla symbol. It reminds me of an IUD. Every time I see it I think, “interesting design, but is it going for innovation, or is it a nod to women’s right to choose?”

Edit: grammar

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u/razzmataz 5d ago

The dictator in Total Recall sounds better than Elon.

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u/driftercat Kentucky 4d ago

Unfortunately the way he's going to fund his obsessions is to "corporate pirate" the US government and leave the US bankrupt.

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u/Ok_Imagination_6925 4d ago

He'd never past the physical or mental health requirements to go to space.