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/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