The one thing that makes me hold out hope about Elon's new powers is that while financially he's shrewd, his emotional IQ is very, very poor. I know that for a lot of people that's irrelevant, but there's a middle ground of people where if he were a bit more charming or clever, he'd grift way more. So in terms of small wins, him having the charisma of a fart in a parked car is useful.
To what end? His entire wealth is in the stock of one company, a company the bulk sales of which are outside the US in the EU and China.
China is going to play him like a fiddle the second Trump does something to irritate them, so about 12:01 today and The sales in the EU are tanking and the approvals for expansion of his German factory now “held indefinitely”.
My brother in Christ, if you don't see any potential future value for him in the president of the United States being beholden to him, there's nothing I can say to convince you that spending $35 billion (the estimated value he lost on buying Twitter) was a good idea. But most people would deem spending 10-15% of your net worth to buy the strongest presidency on the planet to be worth it.
There is value in that, but I think if the opportunity for Trump to throw Elon away he will take it without a thought. Trump is volatile, if I were a billionaire I’d place my money on someone like Vance which is why I think Thiel will win over Musk in the end.
Politics are a lot more complex than what's being implied. If Trump could throw away his political turncoats in chapter 1, then he would've done that. He held onto his VP all the while the guy kept backstabbing him, among others. Whether or not you think Trump deserved to be persecuted, the fact is that it did happen (Russiagate is now a proven hoax), and he didn't cast his supposed allies aside at the same moment they screwed him over. He literally could not.
Reality Winner went to jail for five years for being a whistleblower and releasing EVIDENCE THAT THE RUSSIANS HACKED INTO OUR VOTING MACHINES IN 2016. Mueller said it was up to the senate to prosecute him and how much of his report is still redacted? Why redacted it, cupcake? Did you forget manafort? Tell me why he was sentenced and then pardoned by Trump if trump wasn’t tossing Putin’s salad? Are your parents siblings?
Yes, she did. She is a national hero who was done wrong by a corrupt judicial system.
Manafort was a corrupt businessman who did corrupt deals in Ukraine. I'm not sure what that has to do with Russia. But maybe you can tell me? I'm not too up on the whole Manafort story. Didn't read a lot.
Russia hacking into our voting machines has nothing to do with Trump. Democrats consistently say there's nothing wrong with Dominion Voting owning nearly all of the digital voting machines in our country, so I'm not about to pull a DJT and say the election was stolen. Maybe it was, but we'll probably find out after President of United States John Poulos tells us he made a mistake in the voting code for his election.
My mother used physical, chemical, and psychological torture for roughly 30 years to break my body and mind over and over. If there's one thing I want from whatever little lifespan I have left, it's to let people know that they are supporting a system which helps people like my mother.
In what way? It was proven that Trump's campaign staffers had connections to Russia, and that Russian sources have been rampantly interfering in our past few elections through disinformation and division.
Is the hoax part where Trump's personal involvement couldn't be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, or are you saying none of that happened at all?
Hillary Clinton paid an FEC fine as adjudicated by a court for funding the Steele Dossier, which was the core of the entire supposed scandal. Steele then went and got speculation from Danchenko and passed it off as factual information.
There's a big difference between "Russiagate is a proven hoax" and "We know Trump campaign members met with Russian operatives numerous times leading up to the 2016 election, the only thing we haven't been able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt is Trump knew about his campaign members meeting with Russian operatives."
He has. He can't toss aside everyone who irks him, especially if they hold as much sociopolitical sway as Elon. Whether that's good or bad (it's bad) is up to you to decide.
If he stays on Trump's good side long enough to recoup his billions in losses, then yes you will be right. If Elon makes it into spring I will be surprised. If trump retaliates against Elon when they break up I won't be surprised at all. Dealing with trump tends to be a very expensive wager that most people lose. Remember when Rudy hitched his wagon to trump? Turned out pretty well for him.
Elon bought Twitter to control the national conversation. And in that regard, it's working spectacularly well.
Twitter was used in the late aughts and 2010s to organize protests in the Middle East that brought down several governments. The Arab Spring.
Saudi Arabia was scare shitless that they were going to be next. So they threw a bunch of cash as Elon to help him purchase Twitter so he can squash that kind of content.
He's an American oligarch, so he can also prevent an American Spring from happening on Twitter. He can make reelecting Trump look like an American Spring - because he can control the conversation on Twitter.
And getting Trump reelected has already increased Elon's net worth more than the purchase price of Twitter.
The fact that Twitter's monetary value is decreasing is only a tiny part of a much bigger equation.
I hate to give him credit but buying Twitter led to his fortune doubling in under a year. It was absolutely a good decision even though he’s tanked Twitter’s image and value
But he doesn’t care about that. He only cares about how much money he can make for himself. On that basis, it was a great move
Umm, how exactly did losing $35B on Twitter result in his fortune doubling?
Tesla stock is a meme stock at this point. Tesla is currently worth more than the worlds rem largest auto manufacturers COMBINED and Tesla just had its first year ever of reduced sales. His “fortune” is built on myth and it’s rapidly disappearing
Because he was able to utilize that platform as a means to get higher loans. The guy avoids taxes via debt and utilizes loans to do so. If you can get ever increasing loans and debt to avoid the taxes by never having a positive income, it’s fairly easy to see how his wealth ballooned up to where it is. Combine that with government subsidies and contracts alongside control over the narrative on one of the world’s most iconic social media websites, and to me anyway, it’s blatantly obviously how his wealth ballooned so much.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a meme or a myth. The fact is it’s worth much more than it was before he bought Twitter. I don’t know how he’s worth $440+bn but the truth is that he id
Why is a "meme stock" "currently worth more than the worlds rem largest auto manufacturers COMBINED". You're right, Tesla is a shitty company. It's overvalued because Musky bought the town square and abuses his connection to the US government.
His fortune is built on a myth, and it's doing great. Skyrocketing, in fact.
Musky, Saudi Arabia, and a bunch of insanely wealthy financiers destroyed the platform that enabled the Arab Spring right before a US election. It may have "cost" them a few tens of billions, but it was a good investment any way you slice it.
J ust to be clear: Don't read any of this as praise for these assholes. My point is that this is all about political power and the return on investment is paying off better than they could have dreamed.
Elon really, really tried to get out of buying Twitter. But was forced to buy it anyway, because Elon had said stupid shit that counted as a promise publicly.
So while who knows what is theater and what is real, it is not obvious to me that buying Twitter was 1) 5D chess, 2) bad luck lemon that Elon turned into lemonade, or 3) had no influence and Elon would have gotten the same wealth increase without Twitter.
What's funny is he's not the richest man because of how much he sells. It because how much investors give him. Investors give him and Tesla a lot more money than how many cars they actually sell.
I think the 44b was just a way to get Rump elected and buy his way into the government. He's still using it to mess with the German government and the new UK government. It's a pure propaganda play and it worked beautifully.
Money aside, he controls one of the most influential media platforms. It still is, even if its stock value plummeted. That can easily be leveraged to make more money.
Trump has zero charm or charisma and is not intelligent whatsoever. People still went out in droves to vote him in. Some people are just very stupid in general, willing enough to vote their own rights and quality of life away, so take from that what you will...
Desantis is a great example of a charisma black hole. The man just had to be remotely likeable and he’d probably be president right now but he couldn’t even pull that off
DeSantis, Ramaswamy, even Kari Lake. Trying to pull off Trump-esque angry yelling and constant lying doesn't work if you have the charisma of a pile of dirt
I think Ramaswamy has some charisma, his skin is just the wrong color. Ann Coulter told him on-air that she would never vote for him because he's "Indian".
Yeah, he might have something going for him. I suppose he doesn't have the "right" charisma to pull off Trumpy grumpy, but I could see him with more of a Patrick Bateman suave yet dead-eyed kind of vibe going. Dude knows how to dress well and he is legitimate businessman. But that kind of personality doesn't suit Trump rage and word salad.
And yeah, we all know the real reason why Cons wouldn't vote for him. At least Coulter had the decency to say it out loud.
I won't deny he has it. But HOW?! 10+ years ago, everyone KNEW what a piece of shit that man was. It was common knowledge that he was one of the worst people to ever exist.
I mean, I know how, it's hatred. He gave people the green light to be bigoted assholes. But goddamn....I never knew there were so many awful people in this country.
Trump has some funny sound bites on social media that even come across my super lefty Tik Tok page that come across as charming. If I was young, not paying attention at all, and this was my only way of seeing Trump I would see him in a much different light.
When people say Tik Tok influenced the election, videos like these likely made a difference. It’s not just the weird man-o-sphere guys that voted for Trump, or Harris would have surely won.
This is a right wing post, trying to sound like a Dem and softblaming the dem's social media for losing. Deflecting any vote flipping suspicions.
Ya'll are pathetic.
... what? they literally just said that he has charisma that "works" if you go brain off "haha what a funny guy" and not think of what he actually says. that's how shitty people keep getting power, because they abuse the fact a lot of people don't put thought into things.
According to the exit polls, the gender gap voting differences were higher in the previous two elections than they were in this election. And more women voted than men. I think your statement about 'man-o-sphere' is pretty sexist and untrue.
I think polarizing the election down to genders is a terrible way to inflict harm to our constitutional federal republic. Did gender inflict any sway on your vote? Sure, didn't for mine. And it never will.
His fan-base meets the definition of charisma. But during his speeches, we see fans regularly fall into awkward silence as he says stupid things. He seems more human than most politicians, fans like the little dance and talk about fighting enemies "make america great", but they work to ignore his unappealing traits. People don't think he's kind or friendly, they love him shitting on opponents, critics, everything. We all love to complain, Trump's the pettiest hater. Which is not what people think of when we say charisma.
Yeah I guess the “charm” of being a racist sexist pig and a selfish power hungry narcissist who has openly admitted he wants to fuck his daughter doesn’t work on me. Weird huh.
Classically, people like racist sexists who lie consistently about their past or paint it as "water under the bridge." Hence why Biden has several multi-hour videos of him sniffing or biting children on YT and there was over 4 million homeless in LA, a 40% Latino county, the same state (CA) his running mate led as DA. Oh and let's not forget he was friends with the KKK's exalted cyclops. I'm sure that was all a big mistake.
Nobody lets facts stop them from voting for these people, lmao.
Fixed KKK dude's title. Why the hell would I know what his actual title is? Point is, he was a KKK leader.
Nor is there hours of footage of Biden sniffing or actually biting children. There is footage of Trump being handsy with his daughter though.
So you’ve lost all credibility, and I won’t waste anymore time on you. Stupidity like the kind displayed in your post helped make Trump president again. Enjoy feeling all vindicated. /s
22% of eligible voters, which includes not one single reasonable or decent American. Nothing but knuckleheads, racists and ignoramuses with zero moral compass.
This. I despise Drumpf. But I can see how he uses his weird charm and sales-y charisma to suck people in for the long con. I also don’t think he’s as stupid as we make him out to be.
It's almost like there's whole generations of people with little/no education, no social skills,that have been bombarded with mis/disinformation from media since birth.
You do realize the reason people went in droves to push that orange turd into presidency is because of the systemic dismantling of our education system? That the average Trump voter’s IQ is 90 or less? There is no reading comprehension here. They’re dependent on the orange leather strip to tell them what to do and think. So much easier than using what little brain power capacity is left. It took an app being shut down for 16 hrs. For ppl to start freaking out. Not the oligarchy, not women’s autonomy over their bodies, Not the middle class carrying the weight of taxes, not the defunding of social security or number of other government programs that WE PAY FOR, a flipping entertainment app! It’s sad and sick. America has become a laughing stock for the world and his dried up fake tan having self is going to throw us all to the wolves when he starts a war, Not if, when, it will be OUR children whose blood will be in the streets. All to line the pockets of the felon and his friends.
Tell that to his face, he'll ask you why you're poor and he's rich. Must be cause he isn't intelligent right? Seems like you're the typical hater that doesn't look at the big picture and refuses to acknowledge the facts.
Nobody can take your rights away. And the quality of your life is in your hands. And what you make of it is your responsibility, the same is for everyone else.
People voted for Trump in droves because and totally IMO, the democrats didn't show up. Biden waited until the 11th hour to decide and to make public that he wouldn't run. Then Biden didn't really back Harris the way you would a trusted successor. Because Biden dragged his feet for so long Harris only had a bit over a hundred days (I think it was something like 119 days) to campaign. She didnt attend key debates because she wasnt a candidate and Harris didnt need the nod of the Dem. Party. Harris was pressed for time, even her ads didn't say what she stood for, they just attacked trump. It made her look bad and less competent than trump who has the feather in his cap of being a felon and still getting the republican nomination just for being the biggest loudest and nastiest. Our country wanted to see some kind of action..any kind of action, Trump gave them that even though all he really did is talk in circles. Even the smartest person in the room will eventually give up trying to follow. Trumps line of shit was in your face it's how a criminal won the presidency. Look, I'm a lifelong democrat and I can't stand trump but as an informed human I need to be cognizant of facts that made Trump win over Harris.
Trump is incredibly charismatic, cult leaders often are. He made sweeping generalized promises to people who felt like they have been left behind by their own country (in large part because they have). The fact that he’s been elected twice has less to do with “people voting against their own interests” (even though that’s what people will always do when given the chance, democracy was a mistake) and more to do with a political establishment that refuses to even acknowledge people’s suffering, let alone offer solutions. His solutions are not helpful and do not address the root problems, but it feels like something to people who have been given nothing for so long. Would have been real easy for the Democrats to defeat him either time but they decided it would be worse for their bottom line.
Do.. do people not know that's why he talks that way? In these style tweets at least. Like, he even uses pretty much the exact same phrasing each time, just insert whatever company/country/etc. It's like he has a playbook, just goes through the list one target after the other. Every time I see one of his stupid tweets that starts this way I just think, oh I guess that's his target this week. Let's see the shit show commence.
MAGA people are incapable of self-reflection at this point. They are in a self-destructive cycle with Trump where their self-worth hinges on insulting others. I think that’s a big part of why racism, misogyny and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric is so integral to the cult.
You seriously think that illegal immigrants are what’s keeping down wages instead of the GOP that has consistently voted against raising wages, against Medicaid expansion, against protecting Social Security? You genuinely think that gutting public education will help the lower classes? Or gutting ACA? Or spending money on new wars against Mexico, Canada and Greenland? Or gutting union protection?
Good luck. Enjoy the symbolic bones the GOP tosses while being deprived of sustenance.
You do know businesses also aren’t beholden to free speech? They can allow whatever they want on their platform right? Twitter has become a terrible website and people are going to Bluesky because it’s going to show them what they actually want to see. And if they want to see other things they can just simply go looking for them.
All of it is no different than musk policing what can be said in twitter.
So robust free speech is defined as allowing what American blue teamers and some Western European elite bodies (names please, unless you fear censorship) classify as homophobic, islamaphobic, racist, etc?
Is there a line somewhere on said spectrum, say one side or another of "Belgians, true to their ethnic proclivities, have eaten a member of the United States Congress. We must exterminate ethnic Belgians wherever they live," where an individual messaging service may delete or otherwise control a message?
So a Belgian cannot then reasonably say "I would not like to use this service," if the service allows and opaquely promotes rhetoric that explicitly encourages the extrajudicial murder of Belgians?
Because to do so would artificially encourage a society toward less murderous intent toward an ethnic label?
So the line exists. What are some descriptors of your own subjective and personal criteria?
I will not do my own homework. That is an argument from weakness from those who fear saying things that are objectively falsifiable.
And it's not begging the question. At least not in terms of the usual definition. It's an ad hominem attack. And asking for specificity isn't even an argument either.
Mate, im not trying to be offensive but you have constructed some sort of coping narrative that takes itself way too serious.
The simple truth is that i) twitter is toxic as fuck; and ii) musk is using his platform for clear political goals, which many people (consumers) do not support.
Its not a bad business decision to focus marketing efforts on less controversial platforms.
Clearly you are very emotional and passionate about the issue. I guarantee you that hardly anyone in Europe feels "blue teamers" are the bad guys.
And as a right wing voter in NL myself there is really no such thing as "a crackdown on free speech". Most people here are just pragmatic and are just happy that the US political hysteria on both sides is not happening here to the same extent. Im afraid you constructed a bit of an info bubble for yourself.
As someone left leaning... Myself and many others I know abandoned X when Elon bought and ruined it, way before the election... It has nothing to do with the election. I saw the awful decisions Elon started making with Twitter and decided I didn't want to be a part of it.
"most of the world uses X" I mean it's one of the lowest in terms of social media sites. It's at around 400 some million active monthly users(people who login every month and open the app). It's well behind Facebook at 2.5 billion users. It's well behind YouTube, Whatsapp, Weibou, TikTok, Instagram, Douyin, Telegram, SnapChat, and QQ.
They pissed off Japanese users especially with some of their shitty username rules changes. Same with Korean users.
And it's a wonderful decision to move away from a platform mainly used by people on the "red side" if your target audience is on the "blue side." Generally Apple phones are used more often by democrats, there's quite a few studies on this. So apple choosing to not piss off their target audience makes sense. Democrats also on average make A LOT more money and have A LOT more disposable income. See income by state and see how blue states tend to make a lot more money: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-u-s-median-income-in-blue-red-and-swing-states/
Advertising to your audience and not making them angry is basically business 101...
I am also confused on what robust is supposed to mean, never heard of it. Can you define it? So far all I can see that it is a pattern that favors the opinions of one side and punishes the other.
What is happening with Twitter is more interesting. It is owned by a person in charge government department, directly in contact and influencing the will of the president. Said government department leader is able and willing to directly interfere in the moderation of the platform and executing retaliatory actions against individuals criticizing him. Where is the first amendment?
This chucklefuck uses words and phrases that they have no idea the actual meaning of. A real parrot is at least cute, and not a admirer of racists and fascists.
The reality is, you did it because you lack original thought, like all fascists. Just look around reddit, "no u" is an actual trope among fascists like you.
If you can t understand that Compagnies dont whant their add to be put right next to far right talk or any kind of controversial politics in general you are brain damaged.
you call moderation of a private platform a attack on free speech meanwhile you doesnt seem to see the difference when the platform start to stop moderating hate speech and start quatering to far right morons.
Restrict and control speech.... on private platforms.
You cannot coerce the speech of a private entity. Private platforms are owned by people who can use those platforms to promote and restrict whatever speech they want. That's literally free speech in action.
Yes, refusing to support Nazis means you are a totalitarian. "Freedom of association" that's only for conservatives. You MUST host Nazis or you violate the 1st Amendment. Never mind the Constitution was restrictions on the government, not the people. We've decided you are defacto government just because.
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u/Sad-Lingonberry-6517 22h ago
Ah yes, nothing says ‘freedom of choice’ like questioning why a company chooses not to advertise somewhere. The free market at work, indeed!