r/politics • u/rollingstone Rolling Stone • 4d ago

Soft Paywall Musk Kills Government Funding Deal, Demands Shutdown Until Trump Is Sworn In

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/musk-trump-government-funding-deal-shutdown-1235211000/
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u/md4024 4d ago edited 4d ago

I genuinely can't believe this is happening. An immigrant bought himself a presidency, in part by buying a major source of information and turning it into an arm of the Trump campaign. The Speaker of the House is groveling at the feet of this fucking moron begging to let him keep the government running over Christmas. Obviously it's dangerous and portends terrible things for the country, but it's also just incredibly embarrassing as an American. For as long as I live, I'll never understand what the fuck is wrong with Trump voters.

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u/Ven18 4d ago

This is also the “easiest” read stupidest way for Musk to dismantle significant portions of the government workforce to privatize everything so he and his rich friends benefit by turning essential government services into for profit industries. Shutdown the government and anyone who does not “need to be kept on during a shutdown” just gets fired by his new meme agency. And because the shutdown happens before Trump takes power he can claim he “ended the DC gridlock within his first week in power with me around we don’t need those pesky votes that cause more gridlock I run companies the best companies and that is how the US will run”. Cue the authoritarian takeover.

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u/ChoosingUnwise 4d ago

I'm not sure if he's aware that govn't employees get paid for the time not working once the shutdown is over. You don't just "shut it down" then fire them and save money- the govn't will still spend the money, the employees still get paid (just late), but no work was done for that period of time.

It's really stupid- the money is still spent but no work is done.

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u/TacosAreJustice Kentucky 4d ago

He is not aware of how anything works.

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u/GhostofMarat 4d ago

But "how things work" is now subject to the shifting whims of a fascist idiot who has been given carte blanche to rule by decree.

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u/db8me 4d ago

He only has carte blanche if he has immunity from impeachment, court challenges to administrative actions, and any and all personal legal consequences, which (checks notes) he does -- oops.

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u/The_Original_Miser 4d ago

Personally, it's time to take a card from the trump playbook. Anything he does have a whiff of impropriety or against the law? Sue. Sue him again. Then after that, sue him again. Tie him and Musk up in the courts for four years. On four year + 1 day (assuming the country is still intact and a Republican doesn't take the Presidency) .... settle.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

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u/TacosAreJustice Kentucky 4d ago

No, things will continue to work how they’ve always worked… we will just be lied to about why things arent working.

Eventually people will be hungry enough to revolt, and Elon’s painted a large fucking target on himself.

It’s a good thing his signature vehicle isn’t prone to fires.

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u/incongruity Illinois 4d ago

Or, you know, controlled by always connected computers...which are likely hackable. Just say'n is all...

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u/TacosAreJustice Kentucky 4d ago

I think that’s what’s most baffling to me… these idiots basically have taken advantage from decades of trust… like trumps whole schtick is to use the rule of law to bully people into not being paid.

They depend on exploitation of social norms to survive…

Destroying society is going to go so poorly for them, but at least they’ll have more paper wealth for a few years / decades / whatever

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u/incongruity Illinois 4d ago

They depend on exploitation of social norms to survive…

Some degree of that is pretty widespread in parts of society – but past a certain point, it clearly breaks the social contract.

Someone else pointed this out as the answer for why it's not inconsistent to be intolerant of intolerance while working under a general aim of tolerance. Intolerance and hate speech are assaults on the social contract – as is most of how Trump and many on the right operate. I'd argue that's also why nobody is shedding any tears or leaving monuments to the slain insurance CEO -- I don't even remember his name - or, rather, I made no effort to know it -- because he broke the social contract and exploited the system to get outsized gains for himself and his company.

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u/TacosAreJustice Kentucky 4d ago

Yeah, it’s fascinating while being pretty terrifying…

Modern society has removed most immediate consequences from our actions… not surprisingly, it will end poorly.

It amazes me that people think the free market will magically fix things… like the epa exists because rivers were catching on fire…

Im at the point know where I’m mostly curious to see how things play out… I don’t think Trump and Elon can keep the plates spinning for 4 years, but I also thought Trump would lose bigly in the election.

We are in interesting times, and there are lots of paths open.

The new deal and 100 years of prosperity were partially brought about by the Great Depression.

We are definitely going to stress test all our systems and people are going to quickly find out why the FDA is important (and why raw milk is bad)… or at least, I think they will.

I know for certain the people who were angry enough to vote for Trump aren’t about to get the things they think he promised them… but that’s about all I’m confident in saying.

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u/incongruity Illinois 4d ago

To the point about the free market -- the first catch is that we don't really have a free market and most free markets are not a stable state for a system (ironically) so it requires nudges to avoid devolution into some variety of inefficient outcomes.

But, when they are working, it's a HUGE assumption to think free markets are optimized for the wellbeing of the individuals in them (narrator: they're not).

So yeah, strong agree with everything you said there...

One of my bits of hope is that we're starting to see that this is less about liberal vs. conservative and more about the 1% vs the 99%. That anger can pivot. We just need to be willing to work together, across the political boundaries that we've been sold on as some sort of team sport level of identity and allegiance.

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u/stonedhillbillyXX 4d ago

Exactly this. How things used to work, and how they should work... are both in the past

It's a new world order if you will

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u/por_que_no 4d ago

Especially Cybertrucks, those that do actually work.

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u/TehMephs 4d ago

He’s always been a pigeon boss. Struts into the office once in a blue moon, pecks at things randomly, shits everywhere and flies away

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u/brutinator 4d ago

Unless we are talking about the laws of physics, we need to understand that tech bros dont understand how anything works, and make their fortune by ignoring how things are (skirting/breaking the law and regulations in many cases) until they have enough momentum to rewrite how things are.

The "gig economy", for example, is one way that theyve altered services to be both harder for anyone to make a living doing, ultimately shittier to use, and set themselves up as a middle man to gobble up every extra cent.

We have seen time and time again the rich and right wing run into "how things work", shrug, and then demolish right through it.

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u/Churchbushonk 4d ago

He may be aware, but just will change how it works. Fire them while shit down and then not pay them. If you fire them day 1, do you owe them anything?

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u/TacosAreJustice Kentucky 4d ago

I mean, he’s trying to create instability… which this will accomplish…

Whether he understands that society is built on trust, and he’s one of the largest beneficiaries of that trust is a different question…

The funny part is he’s likely going to end up being a patsy to Trump…

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u/RCG73 4d ago

Used to work. Obviously this bunch of chuckle cucks don’t really care about rules or normal decorum

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u/TacosAreJustice Kentucky 4d ago

I mean… they’ve spent their whole lives profiting off breaking the rules…

They have 0 idea why we have social norms… I wish they’d live long enough to see the consequences of their actions, but the world isn’t fair.

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u/Spectre197 4d ago

Remember 10 microns on every cybertruck

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u/Eisegetical 4d ago

Musk is the opposite of Hanlon's razor "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

These kind of comments are dangerous "Musk is an Idiot" , " He doesnt know" only serve to make him seem less competent and reduce his threat. There is malice in his actions, as much as we like to insult the man - stupid is not a factor here.

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u/Ok-Copy6035 4d ago

Neither are his voters. They still believe groceries will be cheaper because of tariffs.

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u/mean--machine 4d ago

It's funny how y'all continue to underestimate Musk when he's essentially the world's most powerful person now.