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.
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)
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?
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
He’ll be replaced with another billionaire. Why are people focused on musk instead of at the root of the problem?
Perhaps if we made a strong enough example of him it’ll make other billionaires think twice. The De Witt Brothers come to mind, tell them “It’s either this or 92% wealth tax on assets, you pick.”
Who is “we”? You’re not American.
Hello there, random from another thread. Don’t you have better things to do than combing through strangers posts?
There will always be a billionaire somewhere out there who’d be willing to give it a go. They don’t need to be a wealthy American who doesn’t want to pay taxes to do it. They can be a Russian oligarch. We need to get to the root source.
Then perhaps we should be so ruthless against that sort of practice, that it just doesn’t look worth the gamble. Yes I agree, we need to get to the root source, but the billionaires are standing in the way of that arent they. Once upon a time they used to call social programs and such “Riot Tax” so we don’t go after them, but we’ve clearly proven we don’t even need a “riot tax” since we’ve proven to them we won’t brutally deal with them in the most humiliating and painfully scary way possible. They’re not worried about maintaining their social code because we’re not giving them the appropriate consequences, so yes, as long as we don’t sufficiently scare them another billionaire will take a crack at it.
maiden fan?
I wonder why he always brings his toddler kid to public gatherings…
And doesn’t the man have like a zillion kids with multiple different women?
Imagine being one of Musk’s other children. You know, the ones who don’t get their attention from their father while this one random kid gets all of it.
“Imagine being one of Musk’s other children. You know, the ones who don’t get picked to be daddy’s human shield due to their small size and ability to be held up in front of bullets.”
I have a theory his kid is a human shield so he doesn’t get luigi’ed.
He’s been wearing that kid like a hat ever since that CEO got shot. First time anyone had EVER seen the kid in public, too, and suddenly he hasn’t been seen anywhere without him.
I just saw this and had to share. Seems you’re right….
I hope he continues to give that kid rides on his shoulders, that someday it’ll be a full-grown man getting rides from his pops. He’ll have to duck to get through doors
Hopefully he won’t be around that long
Imagine getting older and realizing your dad only spent time with you to avoid getting shot. Poor kid.
I feel like he’s a lot more at risk of getting Luigi-ed by his own kids than most people are.
All it does is puts a second person on that side of the trolly tracks.
It’s a strange tactic coming from someone who supports Israel, where “human shield” is used as justification to destroy said shield along with the target.
Musk is ruining America.
MIRA?
que pasa
Musk = POS Nazi.
POS Nazi
Redundant statement is redundant.
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.
This isn’t what I’d expect to see from the McPaper.
Why aren’t you all protesting? You should all be out on the streets.
Your politicians aren’t going to save you.
Everyone’s situation is different, but for me: I’m not white and only have derived citizenship (as opposed to “natural born” citizenship), and my dad is still a Chinese Citizen (because he sucks at English for natualization test). They are already trying to deport Mahmoud Khalil. Can’t risk putting a target on my family’s back.
CCP is hostile and already tried killing me, theres no going back (not that I have Chinese Citizenship anymore anyways). I could end up stateless and that’s not fun.
My only hope is that the fascists are incompetent and elections still exist in the future.
I think protesting is a very brave thing to do, but I also can’t blame anyone for not doing so. Its very risky.
People in the US think politics is just another soap opera on the daytime TV that has nothing to do with their lives just like watching celebrities and Trump was picked because he adds to all that
Biden was deliberately put in office to be a good step stool for Trump
Well, they do have a Gerry Springer guest in the White House.
I mean, he’s a reality TV star.
Trump literally nominated Dr. Oz for administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Obviously the best pick to head government healthcare is the top “medical” talk show host.
There are protests everywhere. The media isn’t covering them.
Then rush the media!
What does that entail? They will only air what they want.
Take over their studios, by force. As Karl Marx would put it, “Means of production”.
Hard to feed yourself on the street
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.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
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.
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?!?
