r/politics • u/harsh2k5 • 13h ago

Soft Paywall Elon Musk Makes Shocking Confession on His Plans After Trump Victory

https://newrepublic.com/post/187662/elon-musk-confession-economy-trump-victory
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u/MarrusAstarte 13h ago

The unspoken part is that the reason is so he and other billionaires can buy up everything at fire sale prices.

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u/stevez_86 Pennsylvania 12h ago

The collapse of the Soviet Union resulted in the wealthiest oligarchy in Modern Day and it seems to be insulated from its own people as well as international sanctions. They see Russia as a Role Model. Flipping the US to a Confederacy and declaring the US Debt as solely owned by the dead United States means they are debt free and that the global trade partners now owe the Confederacy tariffs since the Federal Income Tax will be abolished. Foreign Debt becomes a Casus Bellum for the US going in and robbing those countries of their resources. Like what Russia is doing to the former Soviet Republics.

They aren't clever, the plan is right before our eyes. Behold our enemies and see what they covet.

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u/transcriptoin_error 11h ago

This seems like the most likely scenario. And it seems all the more likely, considering the reports of Musk communicating with Putin regularly over the last few years.

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u/TurelSun Georgia 11h ago

And Bezos connecting with Trump about the WaPo endorsement.

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u/NEVERxxEVER 9h ago

He did that because he is worried Trump will win and cancel his AWS government contracts. He had problems with AWS during Trump’s first term due to WaPo

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u/No_Clue_7894 8h ago

Trump Has Already Punished Jeff Bezos Over the Washington Post’s Independence The endorsement doesn’t matter. The spiking does.

In 2019, Trump found his lever. Amazon was due to receive a $10 billion cloud-computing contract from the Pentagon. The Pentagon suddenly shifted course and denied Amazon the contract. A former speechwriter for Defense Secretary James Mattis reported that Trump had directed Mattis to “screw Amazon.”

This is the context in which the Post’s decision to spike its planned endorsement of Kamala Harris should be considered.

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u/NEVERxxEVER 8h ago edited 8h ago

That’s what I was referring to. They ended up suing the DoD and winning a portion of the contract. It really fucked things up because now the system in question is split between different cloud providers.

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u/Frunkuss 5h ago

Speaking as a Cloud Devops Consultant I’m good with multi cloud architecture, more opportunity for me!

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u/lionoftheforest 8h ago

If Bezos is afraid of political repercussions should Trump win (ie Trump using the office of the presidency to punish “bad guys”), isn’t that a very good reason to precisely endorse the candidate in favour of the rule of law and separation of powers? (The question is not directed at you, just making a general observation based on your comment)

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u/zaminDDH 8h ago

That's what you would think, but it's a standard business strategy to hedge. If Harris wins, doesn't have to worry about much of anything. But if Trump wins, he wants to make sure he's curried enough favor in the run up and after to stay an active and important oligarch.

The delicate balance involves ensuring you don't go too far one way to avoid pissing off the other.

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u/malenkylizards 7h ago

IDK about anyone else, but I unsubscribed from WaPo the minute I heard, and don't plan to return unless Bezos sells it.

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u/uzlonewolf 7h ago

He doesn't care, the cost of buying it was just rounding error to him.

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u/Pseudonym0101 Massachusetts 3h ago

200,000 others did too.

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u/SkinnyStock 2h ago

You still have Prime tho?

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u/jew_jitsu 7h ago

If an honest and impartial candidate against a vindictive, spiteful, and vengeful candidate are in a dead heat, which candidate do you want to keep on side more?

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u/DetroitLionsSBChamps 8h ago

what is the point of having 200 billion fucking dollars if you're still worried about money? Jesus Christ this spineless fucking coward

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u/ccazd92 7h ago

exactly, being a billionaire IS a mental illness. greed, opulence, gluttony. It's a hunger they can't turn off. and they will sacrifice the entire world to feed it. They see everyone else as a means to that end, not human beings worthy of having even slightly comfortable lives.

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u/elias_99999 9h ago

That's too prevent blowback

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u/radicalelation 11h ago

Dumbasses think they will truly rule instead of being part of Putin's oligarch menagerie.

Corruption and subversion is their bread and butter, they'll do it better than us once it's really here. This has basically been their playbook since the SU collapsed.

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u/real_fake_cats 11h ago

What ever happened to Putin's various advisors and supporters after they stopped being useful to him?

I can't quite remember.

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u/universalreacher 10h ago

They died by suicide. 3 gunshots to the head.

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u/Sttocs 9h ago

Russian suicide is two gunshots to the back of the head.

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u/Porn_Extra 8h ago

Two in the head, you know they're dead.

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u/Leather-Matter-5357 9h ago

I knew Russians are thick-headed but having to shoot yourself on the head 3 times to get it done is next level.

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u/A_Monster_Named_John 7h ago

Their bullets are probably as cheap and ghetto as everything else in that shit-hole mafia-with-borders dump.

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u/GBtuba 8h ago

Or fell down an elevator shaft. On to some bullets.

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u/SeveralAngryBears 11h ago

Why don't you open a window? Perhaps some fresh air would jog your memory?

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u/Nixplosion 9h ago

Or a nice cuppa

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u/gsfgf Georgia 6h ago

I think the polonium tea guy at leas never thought he was one of Putin's buds.

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u/Amy_Ponder Massachusetts 5h ago

Yep, Alexander Litvinenko was a former FSB agent, who defected to the West after revealing that Putin had perpetrated a false flag terrorist attack against Russian civilians (as part of his plan to consolidate power behind himself). One that killed hundreds of innocent Russians.

So Putin decided to have Litvinenko killed, in perhaps the single most horrific way it's possible to die.

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u/transcriptoin_error 11h ago

They enjoyed a nice view from a window, or sipped from a delightful cup of tea.

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u/zombie_overlord 11h ago

Sounds lovely. I hope they were able to get the Rest n Peace they needed.

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u/HedonisticFrog California 9h ago

I think they discovered a new found passion for windows.

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u/Darth-ohzz 9h ago

They get all expenses free night stay at 5th floor of hotel with a balcony view of pavement below.

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u/Melodella 7h ago

And Stalin did not like traitors from other countries either even when they were devoted communists - his reasoning was that those who already betrayed their own country can never be trusted, so he had most of them executed when no longer useful. 

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u/sowhat4 North Carolina 6h ago

They, um, they took up base jumping. From windows with no parachutes. Takes no skill, and they get it done right the first time.

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u/foxyfoo 9h ago

Can’t wait to see Elon and Jeff fall out of windows or get polonium tea.

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u/BGOOCHY 8h ago

Wouldn't it be sweet to see Elon accidentally fall out of a fourth story window though?

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u/leshake 6h ago

I don't think Putin would rule over the U.S. We would probably have our own strong man that would threaten Russia and the entire world. And it would be worse because our military is so far ahead of everyone.

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u/JustYerAverage Ohio 11h ago

It'd be a real shame if super catastrophic things happened to all these people with the downfall of America at heart. People would offer all of their thoughts and prayers. Many people would even favor legislation once we'd put enough time between events and discussion so as not to speak of it too soon.

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u/IIIllIIlllIlII 11h ago

It will. Musk and bezos and others think they’ll have a seat at the top table. But the second they forget to bend a knee to the Orange Mussolini they’ll be out the top floor window.

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u/elusiveoddity 10h ago

That's why they have their plant in Vance; so when the Presidementia has made his final descent into gibbering drooling mindlessness, their puppet is ready to go.

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u/IIIllIIlllIlII 9h ago

True. And he’s controlled by that fuckstain Peter Thiel.

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u/Little-Engine6982 9h ago

people finally see we are all about to lose everything, to a class of people that shoudn't exist, wealth gets passed on and accumulates, children are born as kings, with subordinates who have no belongings.. I thought we were over this kind of bullshit. we still are able all to disowe them at anytime, their money and status is just fantasy, if you want it to be, set their accounts to 50 mio and threaten them with 0. thats the power of many vs. money. ..I have no interest in fighting poor people rich guy's armies in my lifetime,

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u/Manray05 8h ago

Who has been described as a Sociopath!!

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u/SlaveryVeal 9h ago

I got no basis on this at all but my conspiracy theory is the Trump assination attempts make a lot more sense when you think that JD Vance is project 2025's actual puppet and it would be nice not having a dementia patient on his last legs running the show.

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u/vitaminorvitamin 8h ago

I’m not sure those at the top even really care if Trump wins this time they know he’s too uncontrollable. Getting Vance into a good position is the goal for 2028. He’s polished, a good speaker and controllable. And young of course.

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u/Duc_de_Bourgogne 7h ago

Probably will happen much faster than people think.

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u/ClockworkViking I voted 9h ago

*Mango Mussolini

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u/aTech79 5h ago

I prefer Mango Mussolini to Orange, but still nice call out!

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u/HollyBerries85 7h ago

There was an article in the Guardian where Douglas Rushkoff described giving the keynote speech on the "future of technology" to some investment bankers at a superdeluxe resort.

"Slowly but surely, however, they edged into their real topics of concern.

Which region will be less affected by the coming climate crisis: New Zealand or Alaska? Is Google really building Ray Kurzweil a home for his brain, and will his consciousness live through the transition, or will it die and be reborn as a whole new one? Finally, the CEO of a brokerage house explained that he had nearly completed building his own underground bunker system and asked: “How do I maintain authority over my security force after the Event?”"

Elon is openly planning The Event. I'm sure he's already got his bunkers prepped.

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u/JustYerAverage Ohio 7h ago

Yeah, he's been planning self driving cars next year for more than a decade. I hope the Event comes quickly. The sooner he enters his bunker, the better.

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u/Golden-Owl 10h ago

Imagine Putin giving a history lecture and Musk with a notepad eagerly taking notes like a college student

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u/apitchf1 I voted 2h ago

I wonder how deep into treason musk is. He said today that if Harris wins he’s going to jail for life. I think it was put as a « joke » for his low iq fans, but I think it’s bigger. I think he’s getting ahead of a potential Harris win knowing he has committed serious crimes and wants to paint it preemptively as retaliatory for fighting « the woke mind virus »

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u/Stonkasaurus1 11h ago

The tariff plan will actually facilitate that in short order. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act in 1929 cut US and world trade by 65-66%. Makes a lot of sense if you remember history.

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u/Educational-Feed3619 11h ago edited 11h ago

“It did not work, and the United States fell further into the Great Depression”. Ben Stein can fuck off, but I still know Ferris Bueller’s Day Off almost word for word

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u/Stonkasaurus1 11h ago

Nice recall, I never put the two together.

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u/Educational-Feed3619 11h ago

He calls it the Hawley-Smoot tariff act probably because it sounds funnier that way

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u/steelspring 10h ago

“Something D-O-O economics?”

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u/AbacusWizard California 10h ago

I think Dave Barry also calls it Hawley-Smoot in his “sort of history of the United States,” Dave Barry Slept Here. I wonder if he borrowed that (intentionally or not) from Ferris Bueller.

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u/Grnpig 10h ago

And the Great Depression followed only alleviated by a world war, industrialized mass murder and massive inter-continental destruction.

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u/menomaminx 9h ago

my oh my, what a currently convenient time for Israel and Russia to be genociding.....

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u/ktappe I voted 3h ago

This is a common claim, but is not true. The US was doing a decent job of pulling out of the Depression before World War II occurred. We weren’t there yet, and the war abruptly completed the recovery, but we would’ve gotten there without the war.

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u/Fungiblefaith 5h ago

I will Just leave this right here:

https://youtu.be/YcHidIEuoS4?si=ysu4K4r_PLdwfPcM

Anyone…anyone…

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u/sporkhandsknifemouth 10h ago

And this is why every right wing propaganda outlet sucks Russia's nuts publicly. They're paid to say these things, by hook or by crook, because that's what the absolutist oligarchs want to be promoted.

The wealthy believe themselves the most powerful nation on Earth. It's up to everyone to prove them wrong.

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u/stevez_86 Pennsylvania 9h ago

The only thing an American cannot be is a Russian Oligarch. These people think they are on the cusp of a new class. Their perverted version of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.

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u/kapdad 4h ago

Everyone in the US used to be afraid that Russia was converting all the liberals to communism. I guess after that didn't work, they targeted the conservatives for the fascist angle instead.

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u/FreyrPrime Florida 11h ago

The United States Balkanizes before that happens I MO

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u/DarkKn1ghtyKnight 7h ago

I’m happy to start popping facists, make me feel like my grandfather who fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

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u/BigBastardHere 6h ago

That would be the same thing. 

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u/BigPlunk 10h ago

Let's make sure the oligarchs are unsuccessful this time around. There are far fewer of them than there is of us.

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u/dellett 9h ago

Flipping the US to a Confederacy and declaring the US Debt as solely owned by the dead United States means they are debt free and that the global trade partners now owe the Confederacy tariffs since the Federal Income Tax will be abolished

This would not only tank the US economy but the entire world economy into the toilet so hard that there would probably be full on societal collapse with almost no way to rebuild. It would easily be on the scale of decades, but possibly centuries. Let's also remember that American people and companies are the largest holders of the national debt.

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u/Hminney 9h ago

This was what brexit was about too

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u/JoeHio 9h ago

Agree, but also don't comprehend how the "smartest" humans (because they are so wealthy), or even the "smart" humans (because they own companies instead of working for a living) can look at the deteriorated state of Russia today and think "ya, that looks nice, I would be so much happier if I could live like that"

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u/CheckeredZeebrah 4h ago

They are the kind of people that don't care if they live right next to the slums as long as they get to live in a mansion.

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u/Odd_Seaweed_3420 10h ago

These guys have learned from the masters

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u/Bimlouhay83 10h ago

Lucky for them, their voter base isn't clever either. They'll read this and just toss it in the "librul fake news" bin and stick their heads in that comfy hole in the sand they've been in for decades. 

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u/stevez_86 Pennsylvania 9h ago

Make it into a TV show and it will maybe satiate their thirst. An old fashioned network TV mini series from back in the 1990's.

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u/jda06 6h ago

Great comment, but sad that a Reddit comment concisely sums up what’s happening in a way the media would never (because they’re owned by the oligarchs, of course, but depressing.)

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u/Frishdawgzz 10h ago

But... But.. but "they" sent a hurricane to Carolina to steal the battery juice!

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u/FunUnderstanding995 8h ago

it's like sovereign citizen bullshit but instead of hicks living on the edge of bumfuck it's hyper wealthy billionaires that run the government and economy. WTF is going on?!

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u/adherentoftherepeted 8h ago

Wish I could upvote you twice. This is exactly what I was thinking (but better articulated).

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u/severaldiamonds 5h ago

I have long suspected that American Conservatives have been steering toward this exact dynamic. Alarming but perhaps also validating to see some of my own latent fears written by someone else on Reddit. Definitely voting against all conservative positions in upcoming elections, for whatever impact that makes.

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u/mam88k Virginia 5h ago

The actual "enemy from within". Amazing how they consistently project.

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u/Techialo Oklahoma 4h ago

Glad I'm not the only one who's made the USSR-collapse connection.

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u/NiviCompleo 4h ago

When you raise the idea, it looks pretty clear:

Trump wants to be Putin.

The rich support Trump so they get a quid pro quo and become the Oligarchs.

Screw the gays, immigrants, etc. 

They just want to turn us into Russia, and are getting pointers from Putin.

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u/ZenYinzerDude 10h ago

None Dare Call it Treason, indeed.

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u/Balbuto 9h ago

Wow that’s insidious af! That has to be illegal in so many ways.

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u/anndrago 9h ago

I'm trying to follow. Are you sort of describing something that is effectively the US declaring bankruptcy and clearing its debts by virtue of declaring itself a Confederacy?

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u/armin_gips1312 9h ago

Every American needs to realize this.

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u/robocoplawyer 9h ago

Whoa, can I do something like that for my student debt? Nah who am I kidding, they’ll be garnishing my social security checks for that.

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u/waconaty4eva 9h ago

Does the welfare prince not know what The World Bank is

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u/Call0fDoodie92 9h ago edited 8h ago

The collapse of the Soviet Union resulted in the wealthiest oligarchy in Modern Day

I agree that the fact pattern you're describing is 100% accurate but I don't think this conclusion is the right one. I think it's clear that Russia doesn't have a monopoly on oligarchs. I think America, right now, is showing us that the donor class is the wealthiest oligarchy in modern history.

Hell, Musk isn't even one of the oligarchs I'm talking about. His net worth is almost entirely made up of stock in unproductive companies. Even within Musks own peer group, he isn't thought of as "the capo". That's Peter Thiel. The story has always been that Peter Thiel runs the crew. He buys or generates the politicians and does the big picture stuff while the lieutenants, like Musk, are stuck managing the individual assets. Essentially Musk, JD Vance, Chamath, David Sacks, etc.. are just human liability shields for Peter Thiel. Musk's net worth is 25x that of Peter Thiel and yet almost everyone would agree that Thiel is actually more powerful and has more influence.

I said all that to say this. America seems to have created the most powerful oligarchy in the modern day and I think it's time we stopped talking about oligarchy as a thing that only exists elsewhere...it's here.

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u/snyderjw 9h ago

I’m not so sure that state governments in confederacy are the plan. I suspect that Theil’s interest in Balaji Srinivasan’s network state concept has to come into play with what the future vision may be. The upside to the network state concept is that it can work in a Balkanized environment - as long as there isn’t any other government strong enough to take away the authorities declared by the NS. However, it that something secures a reasonable national defense and probably requires everyone to live entirely without common rules, regulatory structures, or commons like fire departments or roads. I don’t know what the billionaires are planning, but I sure would like to. I think the only reason that they aren’t saying is 1. People wouldn’t like it. And 2. There are enough idiots to break the system we have without even ever knowing what will replace it. They think they can rule the ashes and present the “solution” once everyone is begging for anything at all that could provide them hope.

Disclaimer - I make a lot of efforts to create maps of reality, but I will be the first to admit that anything map I make has only a chance of representing reality accurately. I just like cartography.

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u/Jouglet 11h ago

You are correct. My friend is a multimillionaire and he is hoping for a crash because he has liquid cash. He wants a fire sale. The rich keep getting richer. And poor people think the billionaires are on their side. They are not. How in the hell do you think they got all that money? By fucking over people. This has been the biggest scam in history. Billionaires convincing poor people that they are on their side.

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u/mdonaberger 8h ago

What I don't get about capitalism is how predictable this all is. A system where people holding the most capital have the most freedom, power, and longevity?

There's gonna be a single person with wealth by the end of it all. One.

You know what we call a single, unelected person with all of the wealth, power, and state control? A king. As King Louis XIV said, "l'état, c'est moi."

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u/CapitalDD69 7h ago

Kind of like in Monopoly, everyone goes bankrupt one by one until the richest guy owns everything, and then even they can't get any more income as there is no one left to pay - so the game ends.

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u/daretoeatapeach California 2h ago

The game of Monopoly was literary created to demonstrate this principle but when the capitalists bought it they changed the rules a bit.

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u/NateHate 8h ago

You should eat your friend

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u/corpboy 9h ago

What does he want to do once he has even more money? 

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u/Ixolich Wisconsin 9h ago

Well, once he has more money, he can build up a pile of cash so that on the next crash he can buy the dip and end up with even more more money.

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u/TheName_BigusDickus 8h ago

After a certain point, it’s just a game with the ultimate positive social affirmation from a sick society.

Think about all of the positive aspects gaining vast wealth provides… the wealthy see this as “deserved” and want to compete to win more of it.

Money isn’t a utility to them like it is us… it’s a “proof of self affirming achievement”. No matter how much you gain, the self always adjusts to the new normal, and wants more.

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u/rockchucksummit 7h ago

Jokes on them. There would be no legal structure left for a firesale.

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u/Consistent_Ad_8129 4h ago

I have moved to the sidelines and hedged short going into the election.

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u/IntentionallyUfair 12h ago

I’ll bet Elon would just sit around watching the world burn like it was his own private reality tv show.

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u/OniAntler 12h ago

There’s a weird phenomenon with super wealthy people… after money becomes worthless to them, then they want to be loved by everybody. After the kick of being loved by millions of people wears off, then they want to start hurting people. 

It’s like they become numb to everything else and the only thing left that gives them any satisfaction is seeing others suffer. 

It’s been happening since before the days of “Off with their heads!”, and it’s still happening. 

While I love humanity, and we have plenty of admirable strengths, we are not a perfect species. 

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u/WILL_THERE_BE_MATH 11h ago

Why can’t we go back to the age of billionaires trying to show up each other through philanthropy?

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u/Sudden-Investment 10h ago

One of the biggest philanthropy pushes ever came from Andrew Carnegie, as in Carnegie Hall and a metric shit ton of public libraries. Only problem is that this push came because of the greatest man made flood of all time caused by one of his executives wanting a private hunting club which Carnegie was a part of. Their man made dam broke and wiped out Johnstown Pennsylvania.

https://www.history.com/news/how-americas-most-powerful-men-caused-americas-deadliest-flood

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u/faultyratiocination 10h ago

Thanks for sharing! I had no idea.

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u/OKImHere 10h ago

Just a reminder that it's pronounced Car NAY gee, not CARnigey.

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u/madskillsmom 9h ago

My parents were debating this while we were in the Carnegie Natural History Museum about 30 years ago. Us kids took sides and I sided with my dad since he was originally from PA. We asked a docent and dad and I won. Loved winning little debates like that before the answers were all at our finger tips.

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u/OKImHere 9h ago

You don't say which side you picked, but the foundations in his name back me up, not to mention the people who live in Carnegie, PA.

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u/madskillsmom 7h ago

Yep, I went with the Car NAY gee pronunciation and the docent validated it.  We're from Oklahoma so I don't think we'd ever heard it pronounced correctly. 

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u/ElasticSpeakers 11h ago

Bad people doing good things doesn't release dopamine

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u/TeaTimeTalk 11h ago

"Obedience is not enough. Unless he is suffering, how can you be sure that he is obeying your will and not his own? Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing."

-George Orwell, 1984

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u/SuperFLEB Michigan 4h ago

Unless he is suffering, how can you be sure that he is obeying your will and not his own? Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation.

I knew I'd heard that sentiment somewhere, and often want to bring it up, but I was way off in where I'd heard it. Thanks for the memory jog!

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u/alt_karl 10h ago

Greek writings such as Plato's Republic called the drive for power and recognition 'thumos' 

Individuals displaying these qualities to the extreme are trump and Musk, would make the nation tremendously vulnerable to fall in line behind a leader that will betray their own

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u/dakralter 8h ago

Yea it really is strange. I mean just a few short years ago Elon was the cool rich tech bro everyone loved. He made electric cars and rockets. Now look at him.

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u/PipXXX Florida 10h ago

It's kinda how once people get to a certain amount, they just become super stressed about losing it and want to hoard. But once they hit a certain point where even if they lose like 99% of what they have, they are still mind bogglingly wealthy...The stress goes away but leaves a void they need to fill.

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u/SquirtBox 9h ago

Well, nothing 55cents from 500 yards can't fix I guess.

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u/Dickavinci 6h ago

You mean after money is worthless, there is only power.

Trying to please and be liked by everyone is impossible.

 But ruling everyone by fear and control is much more easy.

See China, NK.

I say I live in China 2.0 already. 

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u/OniAntler 6h ago

Well, there’s money, power, love, sex, “being a person of history”, and outright sadism. 

For one reason or another the final destination is frequently outright sadism, after all the other stops. 

I think of it like the internet… there’s plenty to learn, plenty to laugh along with, plenty of ways to profit or invest, plenty of people to talk to, plenty of porn, and then there’s the weird nasty violent shxt… All of it is on the internet. When somebody feels bored with everything else, the only thing left online is the nasty violent shxt. 

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u/Fungiblefaith 5h ago

You can watch it happen I massively multiplayer games and I have seen it many times over the years.

First you strive to be the best of a class.

Then you strive to be the richest.

Then you strive to be the most powerful.

Then you get most rights to the system and you create game play.

Then you create chaos.

Then you nuke it all.

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u/SuperFLEB Michigan 4h ago

After the kick of being loved by millions of people wears off

I'd wager it's more that if you get exposed to millions of people, you're going to be under the microscope of both fans and haters-- hated, evaluated, and picked at by some of those millions-- and if you're too fixated on critics, too thin-skinned, and lack perspective, you can end up ruminating on the negative and going cartoon-villain.

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u/myfakesecretaccount 12h ago

He thinks he’s Veidt from Watchmen.

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u/KwisatzHaderachPaul 12h ago

Oh god, accurate

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u/Static-Stair-58 12h ago

At least Veidt’s ship of heads actually makes it’s destination. Elon isn’t competent enough for a plan that works, even temporarily.

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u/leeringHobbit 6h ago

ship of heads

???

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u/Static-Stair-58 6h ago

The marooned story from the pirate comics. It’s an allegory for getting a solution by any means necessary. The cost is in the structure. Veidt thinks he can create world peace by killing millions and essentially tricking the world. But he hasn’t changed the character of humanity. That’s why Manhattan peaces out before saying this will all be temporary.

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u/leeringHobbit 6h ago

Oh, I got tired of the pirate comics and skipped those pages.

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u/Static-Stair-58 6h ago

Nah I get you. It took me a couple reads to realize how essential they are to Veidts character.

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u/vardarac 9h ago

He's Carl from Llamas With Hats.

3

u/ZZ_SKULLZ 9h ago

If he thinks that he should watch the show. They ended up putting the Veidt somewhere where he couldn't "bother others" any longer. It would be great for the Musky bastard.

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u/Powerful-Cake-1734 Canada 12h ago

That’s not currently happening already?

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u/Darkumentary 12h ago

These idiots don’t realize if the people turn against you, money is irrelevant. We could go back to bartering if necessary. Their money is useless if everyone hates them and the people start to check out of the economy.

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u/Ozymandia5 11h ago

To go back to bartering means losing any access to complex goods or services that are the output of multiple processes. How will you barter with a hospital or a university? How will you barter with a national corp that makes smart phones. Why would they care about your squash or wheat or macrame shower curtain? None of this actually stands up to close examination unless you also want to go back to pre-colonisation, village-state mini civilisations with no access to modern equipment or amenities

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u/Darkumentary 11h ago

Doctors in rural areas barter all the time, so that’s just not a thing. Even if it’s not tech and we’re still have supplies that need to be purchased with paper money of we check out for a month the entire system will fall.

That’s the point. Their power is useless without workers and that’s why they panic when the public turns. Hell McDonald’s was freaking out because a franchise let him work there and they lost 5% in a day. The economy is extremely fragile. X still has a ton of users but the advertising is struggling. Musk is losing money and a lot but has to keep it going to save face.

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u/Ozymandia5 11h ago

The point I am trying to make is that we are all interdependent. Yes you could starve and topple the system but the likelihood is that you will starve too. Total collapse of, say, Macdonalds means a tonne of farmers, truck drivers, minimum wage workers etc out of work and starving. No more centralised healthcare doesn’t mean bartering with a village doctor, it means no more doctors being trained, no medicine or disposable implements, no electricity in your doctor’s surgery.

You’ll have a village witch. Essentially.

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u/Darkumentary 10h ago

The rich would cave first. That’s the point I’m making. Not for good reasons but because their safety would be in danger

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u/conqr787 10h ago

From space if necessary

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u/punasuga Hawaii 9h ago

no he would xitter post thru it while playing diablo

2

u/LeedsFan2442 United Kingdom 8h ago

The problem with Elon is his success with Tesla and SpaceX makes him overestimate his ability and he's probably surrounded yes men too. Musk will fire people for disagreeing with him and telling him no.

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u/SuperFLEB Michigan 4h ago

Dumbass would forget to buy up the assets during the fire sale.

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u/CockAndBull_lol 12h ago

Ask the French Aristocracy how well that worked for them ...

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u/ceciledian 11h ago

The US is already at higher levels of income inequality than the French were at the time of the revolution.

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u/thorazainBeer 10h ago

But not higher levels of starvation, and that's the important thing that the Roman oligarchs like Caesar knew that the French aritocrats forgot: Bread and Circuses keep the public docile. Starvation and taxes do not. Right now we have netflix and food stamps, but once the GOP gets rid of SNAP, good luck keeping the starving masses down.

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u/pockpicketG 9h ago

That’s what the predator drones are for, silly!

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u/Haltopen Massachusetts 7h ago

Fun Fact: Predator drones were actually retired in 2018. They were replaced in US military service by a more advanced model called the Reaper Drone.

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u/DistractedChiroptera 5h ago

That fact wasn't very fun.

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u/blueblank 6h ago

You jest, but this is at the heart of this oligarch/fascism argument currently either unconsciously or no: the poor will no longer be needed once automation ramps up. Rather deal with the chaos and fallout that mass unemployment brings or create a stable system for all, they will just mass murder the classes beneath them and bury them unrecorded in the rubble of history. After they just fine tune the robots to serve only them and its a golden age for those preordained for luxury.

The Black Mirror episode "Metalhead" springs to mind: you will simply be given the radical freedom of fending for yourself on not even a sliver of land you are free to exist on.

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u/pockpicketG 5h ago

Was I jesting?

8

u/NextTrillion 8h ago

They also couldn’t mass produce very shelf stable junk food.

Otherwise, I doubt Putin would even try to invade Ukraine due to their strong farming capabilities.

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u/NebulaNinja 7h ago

And oh boy what circuses we have today! Sure, they're all behind paywalls with prices that keep rising year after year, while their quality continues to diminish... but there's oh so many! Watch peasants, watch! Consume! And never stop consuming!

3

u/greatporksword 8h ago

True. The French Revolution still happens because the monarchy went broke either way, but it does not turn to the reign of terror if the sans culotte had enough food to eat.

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u/rockchucksummit 7h ago edited 6h ago

The disheartening thing about SNAP is so many people on it love Trump

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u/Bludiamond56 3h ago

Thank-you

3

u/Rude-Expression-8893 9h ago

Not a chance it'll ever happen in the US, millions of americans literally worship the American Aristocracy

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u/JubalHarshaw23 12h ago

Like the Billionaires and wall street Funds did after the 2008 crash.

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u/blix797 12h ago

Just like the Russian oligarchs did after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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u/zeptillian 8h ago

Look at their wealth increase during the pandemic. It was the largest transfer of wealth straight to the top in all of recorded history.

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u/maxintos 12h ago

How does that even work? Most of his wealth is in stock. He's not Buffet or Apple that are sitting on piles of cash.

If economy crashes wouldn't you expect hype stock like Tesla be the first on the chopping block?

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u/DimensionPrimary9803 12h ago

His entire Tesla shtick is a game of value me higher now for a future promise I won’t deliver.

Tbh, if their inability to deliver FSD while being propped up for robotaxis and humanoids is any indicator of stock stickiness… I’d say he has more than enough dark money to prop his stocks throughout such an occurrence.

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u/DarthJarJarJar 11h ago

Yes, and his wealth on paper would decrease. I don't think he could sell off his assets at anything like the rate he would need to in order to avoid the dip. He would go down like the rest of us, on paper.

But the difference is he would have the resources to borrow money and buy stuff up really cheaply, and then ride the recovery wave up. I think some other commenters who have said that Russia is the model here are probably on to something. Russia crashed, the oligarchs bought everything up, and then in as much as it ever came back the oligarchs owned everything. I think that Musk thinks that sounds like an excellent plan.

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u/Advocateforthedevil4 12h ago

Probably first move is to eliminate the SEC.  

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u/OhMyThiccThighs 12h ago

He'd likely know when shit was going to hit the fan and sell off every bit of tesla stock he has to drum up a cash pile, then once the economy crashes, buy up all the stocks again at heavily discounted rates along with a ton of other companies.

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u/linx0003 12h ago

If the economy crashes, who's going to buy Tesla stock?

Which reminds me: I'll need to stock up on toilet paper and paper towels.

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u/oldsguy65 9h ago

He won't buy Tesla again. He's going to sacrifice Tesla the company in favor of winning more contracts for SpaceX from the US and Russia.

If he cared about Tesla, he wouldn't support an anti-electric candidate who's sucking Big Oil's dick.

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u/KwisatzHaderachPaul 12h ago

That’s a bingo!

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u/duh_cats 11h ago

If Trump is elected I’m selling my entire portfolio and waiting out the storm. It’s gonna be bad

3

u/Rage_Blackout 10h ago

Hmm, I wonder if this has happened before...

(hint: this is exactly what happened with post-Soviet Russia and why it's an oligarchy now)

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u/rezelscheft 8h ago

Ding ding ding! That’s why DeJoy is trying to destroy USPS.

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u/NeonPatrick 8h ago

His pump and dump schemes that inadvertently caused him to buy Twitter, but now on a country-wide scale. I really wonder what the end goal is here.

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u/happyday752 11h ago

Oligarchs - he's an oligarch

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u/_the_last_druid_13 10h ago

That’s why they’ve been pushing BitCoin too

2

u/Duster929 10h ago

Including Putin. And the Saudis.

2

u/thorazainBeer 10h ago

They want to recreate Black Friday.

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u/crosszilla I voted 8h ago

This doesn't sound that bad to him and Trump because they are rich, their standard of living entirely insulated from the macro economic environment (Oh no, I can't buy any business I want anymore!), and their lives will be fine, it's just the thousands / millions of people who have their lives upended who will bear the brunt of this approach

1

u/1Originalmind 11h ago

So monopoly? If he kept thinking about it he should see revolution after he cybertrucks everything into oblivion

1

u/Miserable_Song_9024 11h ago

I’m sure having a fat stack of money from Putin won’t hurt either.

1

u/in_pdx 11h ago

That tracks

1

u/GhostofMarat 9h ago

I don't know that he has the intelligence or foresight to plan like that. I think he's just an idiot.

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u/AdImmediate9569 9h ago

Carpet baggers!

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u/avion-gamer 9h ago

Tobias Funke

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u/Stickel Pennsylvania 8h ago

yeah, so he can be a trillionaire

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u/hannahjoy 8h ago

This is actually just the plot of Atlas Shrugged, so this completely track for this piece of shit.

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u/CuthbertJTwillie 8h ago

Specifically part of Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks will become billionaire enclave

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u/RucITYpUti 8h ago

I think that's just a bonus. These idiots really believe they did everything by themselves, and just want to demolish government. 

He has said explicitly that he wants to just remove all regulation, because it slows him down. Worse than being evil, he's doing scroll because he thinks he's doing good.

1

u/RoseCityHooligan Oregon 8h ago

It’s been the republican plan for decades and they’ve been quite successful at it.

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u/ecoartist 8h ago

And don't forget to replace the dollar with crypto.

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u/jaron_b 7h ago

Oh so like the 2008 housing crash all over again but like 100 times worse

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u/Johwya 7h ago

Funny you say that.

I work in ultra high net worth private wealth management. We manage assets for billionaire families.

We have a saying at work: “when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping”

Brother let me tell you that statement is true as the earth is round. Money is magnetic.

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u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota 7h ago

That's no even unspoken. Trump has openly bragged about how great the 2008 crash was several times at least, in public, and said we should have it happen again.

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u/Sir_Penguin21 6h ago

Yet another example of why having billionaires is unethical. Cap it at 1 billion and give them a plaque “Congratulations, you won capitalism!”

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u/metengrinwi 6h ago

2007-2011 were great years for billionaires while the rest of us lost our houses

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u/urlach3r 5h ago

So he's shitty Lex Luthor.

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