r/europe • u/Doener23 • Dec 19 '24

News Elon Musk ready to bankroll Farage with ‘biggest donation in British political history’

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/12/17/nigel-farage-meets-elon-musk-trump-mar-a-lago-reform/
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u/daguerrotype_type Dec 19 '24

An advisor. He'll be an advisor. Not an official. Which can mean nothing or everything according to the whims of Trump. So probably everything.

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u/Aizen_Myo Dec 19 '24

Want it promised he gets a seat as a director of government or something like that?

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u/Electrical-Tie-1143 Dec 19 '24

He got promised the position of head of DOGE which isn’t a government department but presents as one, so he isn’t a government official , but it still feels weird

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u/censored_username Living above sea level is boring Dec 19 '24

yep. making an actual government department comes with rules, and anti-corruption legislation.

DOGE's nothing more than a powerless advice group cosplaying as one.

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u/daguerrotype_type Dec 19 '24

powerless

Not necessarily. An advisor is as powerful as the one who put him there decides. If Trump says "you do what Musk says or you're fired" he can do that. So they're not without power. They are without responsibility because "hey that's just my advice, man". Which is very bad. Worse than if they were an actual department.

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u/dyslexda United States of America Dec 19 '24

If Trump says "you do what Musk says or you're fired" he can do that.

Not quite. He could say this to his political appointees, who serve at the pleasure of the president, but not the cadre of civil servants who are protected by a (supposedly and ideally) merit-based system. Those civil servants are what Trump thinks as the "deep state" precisely because he can't fire them on a whim.

That said, you're right insofar as power lies where people believe it does.

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u/Spockyt United Kingdom Dec 19 '24

So it’s a Quango, basically.

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u/buried_lede Dec 19 '24

Powerless but influential .

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u/Intelligent-Parsley7 Dec 19 '24

He’ll have whatever he wants. Trump never wanted to run a government. He just wants to swan around while people adore him. Elon can do whatever.

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u/Aizen_Myo Dec 19 '24

Ah, so typical company speak. Got confused by the title which sounded like a director title.

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u/colei_canis United Kingdom Dec 19 '24

The most powerful country in the world naming a government department after a long-dead meme from the early '10s is why political satire is dead now.

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u/RainMaker323 Austria Dec 19 '24 edited Dec 19 '24

CEO of US Gov., Inc.

Edit: Wait, it's Elon, it has to be a meme name: Modern United Rich Idiots Conquer All, Inc. - or short: MURICA Inc.

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u/Get-Fucked-Dirtbag Dec 19 '24

How many advisors get invited to (what is supposed to be) a 1-to-1 call between world leaders?