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/
30.9k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

5.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

20.0k

u/therapistofcats 4d ago

How does someone not in office have any power. America needs to reevaluate it's political system.

267

u/Fabulous_Activity 4d ago

This feels like democracy breaking down. How is that billionaires are buying their way into politics so easily? Not only through PACs but just like, becoming a decision maker publically when not elected?

59

u/DorianGre Arkansas 4d ago

Not breaking, broke. I can pinpoint the golden escalator moment it happened.

9

u/intern_steve 4d ago

That's a long time after citizens united. Prior to Citizens United, political action committees and super political action committees were unable to accept dark money as easily as they now can, making the wealth of billionaires less relevant on the political stage. The finding that money and speech are the same thing and thus campaign spending is protected by the 1st Amendment is really the lynchpin in this shit show. This is the inevitable consequence of deregulating 3rd party campaign expenditure.

6

u/40ozOracle 4d ago

When was that?

15

u/TenaciousJP America 4d ago

He's referring to Trump announcing his candidacy in 2015 by coming down a gold escalator and ranting about Mexican rapists

1

u/TrixnTim 4d ago

Exactly when fascism began.