Summary
Elon Musk sparked controversy by falsely claiming entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid have “$700 billion” in fraud annually, vastly exaggerating the actual figure (~$10 billion/year).
Musk labeled Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” and spread conspiracies about immigrants exploiting the system.
Critics argue Musk’s ignorance and conspiracy-mongering threaten essential public programs and data privacy, while his inflammatory rhetoric—such as calling Senator Mark Kelly, a former astronaut and combat veteran, a “traitor”—reinforces demands for his immediate removal from government.
Musk labeled Social Security a “Ponzi scheme”
Well, he is correct about that. But in true republican fashion his solution is to get rid of it, instead of reforming it to be more sustainable without infinite population growth
We can’t move to direct voting quickly enough.
Get these “representatives” out of power and put them in regular jobs like the rest of us.
No. I’m sick of ratcheting right, of normalizing the former Republican president’s regime by half, of promising that maybe, eventually, long after my kids have died of old age, we’ll get around to fixing what’s broken. A return to normalcy will only legitimize this fucking bullshit. The climate is collapsing, there’s microplastics in my brain and balls, the wealthy are actively trying to re-establish feudalism, and the level best the democrats can do is hold up signs and give me downvotes when I say they’re not doing enough. There’s evidence coming out that microplastics inhibit photosynthesis and cause crop failures, the shit’s everywhere, and lol and fucking behold the UN can’t even talk about it without getting drowned in a tsunami of lobbyists. Yes, hello, my name is Timothy Thompson, I’m with United Plastics, and I’m here to tell you about how single use plastics are good actually; can I offer you $5,000? I’ve recently come around to the idea that there’s only around 10,000 very specific enormously wealthy, influential, or both people that we’d need to persuade to make the world a better, more livable place for everyone on the planet now and in the future, and right now, they aren’t being effectively persuaded.
Friendship ended with centrist democrats. I am now friends with accelerationism.
How many Luigi’s do we need to persuade the rest of the 10,000?
More than the one, it seems
He may not be elected but he paid the guy who got elected a ton of money, so that’s basically the same as being elected… Right? Right?!?
Maybe stop using “unelected”. Most of the cabinet is technically “unelected”. Focus on the part where he did not get a senate confirmation.
Like… he must be so unpopular if he can’t even get a republican controlled senate to approve him.
I do not understand why the fact that Musk is “unelected” matters so much to everyone. Is the Secretary of Defence elected? The Attorney General?
Is the Secretary of Defence elected? The Attorney General?
Those are real positions that are appointed by every President. “DOGE” is a complete bullshit position/department pulled out of thin air to avoid any kind of confirmation and/or security clearance.
It is incredibly dangerous for a President to be allowed to invent whole government departments and appoint whoever he wants to them without any checks and balances.
oh I fully agree. But you didn’t address the issue of electedness at all.
It is in fact common for presidents to make up new advisory positions. If Trump wanted to make up an “Advisor of Best-Tasting Coffee”, there’s no problems there - they can help him make decisions with executive orders, or inform Congress about best steps forward for certain initiatives, etc. So just “making up a role” isn’t an issue in itself.
BUT, even the attorney general or SoD would not have powers to fire people at will all over the administration. In many court cases it’s been found even Trump himself wouldn’t have that power.
so it’s a lot of power that he has, too much power. I think we agree here – but nothing you’re saying seems to be related to electedness. If Trump, who was elected, shouldn’t have the power, and yet Musk does, then “unelected” doesn’t seem remotely relevant to the problem.
I think it’s just to point out another layer of legitimacy he doesn’t have to do what he’s doing.
You don’t hear this criticism levelled at other malfunctioning government officials though. Perhaps one would if they went as off-the-rails as Musk. Still, I wish people would use accurate critiques of their opponents, such as as @Doctor_Satan mentions, that he is wholly without cheques or balances.
And he’s not a government official, even though he’s impersonating one, and that the administration tells the public he’s in charge of a government agency but tells the courts he’s not.
While all of these things are true, I find it disingenuous to imply that his not having been elected is somehow less accurate than any other criticism levelled against him.
okay, so he’s not a government official. I think that “not a government official” would be a great description, still better than “unelected” which in my opinion is not relevant – he was appointed directly by an elected official, just like actual government officials. I don’t see why it’s disingenuous.
I doubt he could pass a captcha.
Republicans are doing a great job on both sides…social security in case your luck fucks out, and the market in case your thought you could get away:
Who said retirement? That’s illegal! You and I will be working for elon until we both end up 6’ under. (By that I mean fucking dead like a month Python parrot)
If he guts SS, it will be his demise. That’s all the working class has to look forward to.
They’ll just hold a press conference and tell the people how that’s Obama’s (the black man, remember) fault.
At the first missed payment, they’ll start burning down Social Security offices.
You don’t want to piss off the old people. For many of them, its all they have. If you take that away, they’ll have nothing left to lose, and lot of them are armed. That’s a bad combination.
77 million mouth breathers will blame “woke”
They will themselves become “woke” when they realize they’ve been asleep for so long.
You could’ve said that 1,000x by now. Nothing will wake these people up.
Unelected tech lord deciding grandma’s retirement funds is exactly the cyberpunk hellscape novels warned us about.
🐱
Social Security is a non-partisan red line.
If this chode killed it his chances of survival would plummet.
I really hope he fucks with it.
I would buy all the popcorn to watch 2 million boomers walk up Pennsylvania Avenue to Gaddafi his ass for days.
Same, I truly believe Americans won’t be on the same page about anything. Unless they fuck with it.
That the case may be, but he’d be a martyr for the ultra-capitalistic sorts that make these efforts their life’s work.
A despicable end, but one that may appeal to Musk himself.
Nah. No one would mourn him. The next ultra rich person would learn from his mistakes, but continue on with his work.
before his slash-and-burn nonsense and warped views of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid cause a spike in the sale of pitchforks.
Ha. I’d argue the time for pitchforks is already here.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
He needs to be able to steal that money, you guyzzzzz!
Enriching fElon is about “efficiency”, at least according to MOE - the Ministry of Efficiency, where up is down, black is white.
Musk = POS Nazi.
POS Nazi
Redundant statement is redundant.
Musk is a symptom! Trump is the elected guy responsible for the actions of his “employee”. Get him out and fix the nation!
Trump is also a symptom
Specifically, he is just one a dozen+ members what I dub Yarvin’s Cabal, a group of elites trying to implement Project 2025. They all need to be hanging out with Mussolini, else the enshittification of America will continue unabated.
While playing whack a mole with symptoms won’t fix the problem, once enough moles are whacked the problem becomes clearer. So let’s not let perfect be the enemy of progress.
