[T]he true test of someone's character is how they behave under fire....
So, one answer is that Musk was impressed by the way Trump behaved during and immediately after the assassination attempt.
Next:
The other side wants to take away your freedom of speech, they want to take away your right to bear arms... they want to take away your right to vote effectively.... California... just just passed a law banning voter ID.... And... free speech is the bedrock of democracy, and if people don't know what's going on, if they don't know the truth, how can you how can you make an informed vote? You must have free speech in order to have democracy. That's why it's the first amendment, and... the Second Amendment is there to ensure that we have the First Amendment. President Trump must win to preserve the Constitution. He must win to preserve democracy in America....
The second answer is the preservation of democracy through freedom of speech and secure voting (with a backup potential for armed self-defense). That's the asserted reason — the reason offered to Us the People. Musk loves American constitutional rights as the means to the end of democracy.
Is that his real reason? The Democrats assert that they are the preservers of democracy and Trump will turn this place into a dictatorship. But they don't argue for freedom of speech and secure voting. Their arguments — it seems to me — tend to cluster around controlling speech and reducing barriers to voting in order to bring in more people, especially the people belonging to groups that have been excluded historically and who might be disadvantaged in a system that relies on free speech, strict rules about voting, and the possession of guns.
I'm inclined to do my own research about why Elon Musk has decided to declare his support for Trump. I would think that as the owner of X, his best position would be neutrality. If he cares about free speech, the free speech of others — the people who use his platform — would be overwhelmingly important. And disclosing his own choice would hurt the cause of free speech. Unless it doesn't. I presume his answer to me would be that the Democrats really are looming over him and ready to destroy X, which he believes is the strongest forum of free speech in human history. In that light, they cannot be allowed to win.
But is there another reason, that's not part of that free-speech discourse? I found this July 29th Washington Post article: "How Elon Musk came to endorse Donald Trump/The world’s richest man favored Biden in 2020, but he has since become a vocal Trump supporter" (free-access link). Excerpt:
Under Biden, the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission have advanced investigations into Tesla’s marketing of its driver-assistance technologies. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced a recall of almost every Tesla over concerns about driver inattention. The SEC is pursuing a separate investigation into X, formerly Twitter, which Musk purchased in 2022. And Biden has personally ridiculed Musk’s business acumen, once quipping that the best way for NPR to disappear would be for him to buy it, while the White House snubbed Tesla at a high-profile electric vehicle summit in 2021...
“In the Biden administration, Musk has been an afterthought at best,” said Dan Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities. “In the Trump administration, if he won a second term, Musk would be front and center.”...
[Biden] said Musk’s relationships abroad were “worthy of being looked at” after a reporter asked if Musk’s ownership of Twitter was a threat to national security. And when Musk expressed pessimism about the economy, Biden shot back: “Lots of luck on his trip to the moon” — an apparent non sequitur. “Thanks, Mr. President!” Musk responded on X, reposting the press release that SpaceX was under contract with NASA to build a spacecraft to bring American astronauts back to the moon.
Last November, the Biden White House condemned Musk for what it called the “abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate” in his social media feed, contributing to an exodus of advertisers from X....
Musk has a transgender daughter, Vivian Jenna Wilson, who disavowed her father in 2022. In an interview last week with conservative psychologist Jordan Peterson, Musk said Wilson had been “killed” by what he called the “woke mind virus.”....
Notice that Musk endorsed Trump right after the attempted assassination — on the same day, July 13. Biden was still the Democratic Party candidate, but there had been pressure to oust him since the debate, which had happened on June 27. Biden finally dropped out on July 21, 8 days after Musk endorsed Trump. Musk had reason to fear Biden. Did he reconsider the Trump endorsement when Harris became the candidate?
“Arrogant billionaires only out for themselves are not what America wants or what America needs,” Harris campaign spokesman James Singer told The Washington Post when asked about Musk’s endorsement of Trump, echoing earlier comments.
So far, Musk has been dismissive of Harris. On Friday, he praised a video on X that was manipulated to make Harris appear to say she was a “deep-state puppet” who didn’t know anything about running the country. “This is amazing,” Musk commented....
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128 comments:
His real reason is that the enemies he has made on the DNC side are numerous, powerful, and relentless. They want to destroy him, and Trump may be his last chance to survive and prosper.
I think much more consequential to Musk is that the FAA under Biden has been slow-walking approvals for SpaceX.
Biden-Harris have also made moves to restrict Starlink under their broadband initiative, have let the FAA impose extremely onerous "environmental delays" on rocket launches by SpaceX and generally declared Musk a risk to democracy like Trump. Turn the question around: what possible reason would he have to vote for more of this?
Real Clear Politics has an interview with Musk that talks about why he supports Trump:
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2024/10/07/elon_musk_if_trump_loses_how_long_do_you_think_my_prison_sentence_will_be.html
"reducing barriers to voting in order to bring in more people" Sure, to bring in more fraudulent votes. Let's follow common practice of EU--voter ID, no mail-in.
"who might be disadvantaged in a system that relies on free speech, strict rules about voting, and the possession of guns" Who dat? How do "strict rules" disadvantage anyone? How is free speech related to disadvantage?
"I would think that as the owner of X, his best position would be neutrality." But he's not just owner of X. He might actually, you know, care about the country as much as X.
"If he cares about free speech, the free speech of others — the people who use his platform — would be overwhelmingly important." Right. "And disclosing his own choice would hurt the cause of free speech." Only because it further inflames progs already bent on destroying him and us (as you say).
"But is there another reason" Yes, the Great Replacement. Musk thinks: no speech + Dem foreigners = end of America as we know it. Trump is the imperfect but so far only means to try and stop it.
Elon Musk tells Tucker Carlson he's f***ed if Trump loses election: 'How long do you think my prison sentence is going to be?'
I think Zuck sounds conciliatory to Trump this year for much the same reason. He virtually personally guaranteed Biden a win in Wisconsin in 2020, and the SJWs still won't leave FaceBook alone.
Musk sees technological advancement as the way to ensure the future of humanity and the Democrats have come out as enemies of this kind of change. They favor Lysenkoism, where the technologists who succeed are not the ones who create the greatest achievements, but are the ones who most closely adopt the Democratic Party line.
To Musk, who thinks the best way to guarantee humanity's future is by becoming a multi-planet species, the Democrats are an existential threat.
He's not wrong.
The left are full Soviet now. Isn't that clear?
Elon Musk tells Tucker Carlson the reason Kamala Harris is getting so much support from some billionaires is because Trump will release the Epstein Client list.
Musk, "if people don't know what's going on, if they don't know the truth, how can you how can you make an informed vote?" The Dems want uninformed voters blindly obeying Big Brother.
As to the lawfare against Elon, It is all part of the Dems plan to crush any dissident or opponent. If they could, the Dems would shut down the Althouse blog. Too much critical thinking and free speech going on here. Dangerous!
"I would think that as the owner of X, his best position would be neutrality. If he cares about free speech, the free speech of others — the people who use his platform — would be overwhelmingly important."
How does Musk abridge anyone else's right to speech by expressing his own opinion? That's that 'cruel neutrality' BS. Americans need to know that powerful people believe in us and support our cause, because we are well aware that powerful forces oppose us.
The Soviet Democrats want to ruin, destroy or jail all of their perceived enemies.
Kamala herself threatened Musk. She's a puppet and an asshole.
The chief similarity between Musk and Trump, is that they were formerly extremely wealthy and influential Democratic insiders and donors of high standing, and they've left the reservation, taking an insider's insights and connections with them. That could potentially become a problem, and Progressive Democrats don't like to see any kind of odds stacking against them, however remote - therefore, they are The Enemy, and subject to all of the relevant rights and privileges of targeted destruction.
What I would like to have explained to me, is the Voter ID issue. Why is it, that a government Borg that demands to see your ID when you cash a check, board an aircraft, attend a sporting event, see a doctor, etc., why they don't want IDs under any circumstances, when you're claiming your identity as a voter, to vote? I can see no supporting data that would demand such a ban, and much supporting data to the contrary. And yet, the discussion fails to capture the interest and scrutiny of the media - or, the voting public. It can only be, that 'not knowing who is voting' works to the dishonest benefit of the Democrats. What am I missing?
I would agree that this is Musk's primary reason. Yes, he's protecting his businesses and, yes, he has a bro-crush on Trump's "fight" reaction. Nothing wrong with that. But he truly believes in space travel. The Dems scoff at such things. Our Star Trek future is fantasy to them, which probably makes Roddenberry turn in his grave. Or -- his ashes went into space, didn't they? --orbit the planet with more gusto.
"I would think that as the owner of X, his best position would be neutrality."
Neutrality only works in a situation where you can be completely opaque about your plans and desires, and even assuming you achieve it people are still going to attribute motive to your output based on its impact. We see the whining, and worse, nearly every day in these threads. Musk is positioning himself as transparent since he has to be public about how he wants to grow his various enterprises.
Althouse wants to know: "What I wanted to know was why Elon Musk in particular supports Trump
He said it pretty clearly on X ... the largest free-speech platform in the United States (and sole remaining one if that's a big fat hint for you):
From May 18, 2002:
"In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party.
But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican.
Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold …"
I think the interview with Jordan Peterson covered his reasons. He’s read the people who wrote about the Marxist takeover of Europe in the early 20th Century. He is seeing it happen with Democrats now.
The Democrats arguments about fortifying the vote is BS. Democrats are laughing that Trump voters may not be able to vote in North Carolina because a natural disaster. Where I live in Harris County, the Democrat appointed Election coordinator made sure conservative precincts didn’t have enough ballots on Election Day in 2022. And the thing in California means anyone can claim to be a registered voter and their id cannot be checked. That’s before we get into the efforts to keep candidates off ballots, or force them on if they think it will game the system.
There are friends of freedom and enemies of freedom. The sides have been clearly and irrevocably drawn. Musk is choosing a side. I hope he follows through with concrete actions to fund the Resistance when the time comes.
Democrats are banning voter ID. That's how Soros-Soviet they have become.
Up next - the fraud of rank choice voting is spreading.
the backers are paying people to support it. It's crap.
It seems apropos to note here that the FBI has arrested not a SINGLE ONE of the pedophiles that Epstein was supplying little girls to. Not a single one of these people is even on the FBI's Most Wanted list. They're not even LOOKING for these people.
It might just be that Musk is a male and can do structural dynamics in a social setting, instead of asking whether Trump or Harris seems to mean well.
Yes, they went aboard Columbia. The shuttle was tragically destroyed because NASA doesn't understand 9th grade physics.
"The Democrats assert that they are the preservers of democracy and Trump will turn this place into a dictatorship."
Without evidence.
Actually, there is evidence and it is to the contrary. "Controlling speech" is, axiomatically, not free speech.
When Musk took over Twitter, did he not dismiss a huge percentage of the workforce because they were not needed? Is there not wind of Trump agreeing that Musk doing an audit of the Federal workforce might be useful?
If Trump, himself, was eating people's pets for lunch, I'd still vote for him if he's committed to getting rid of the horrible bloat in our government.
"In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party."
This is THE reason for millions to declare themselves Party members- They're The Good Guys!!! Nevermind that it never ever was true at all, at this point with the baby-killing, child-mutilating, pedophilia, Jew-hunting mobs chanting Death To America, support for shutting up political opponenets and throwing them in jail, and welcoming in millions of murderers, rapists, and criminals while leaving citizens stranded, broke, and screwed, you have to be actively evil to support the democrat Party.
Our government was openly corrupt during the Obama administration per lawless tricks after the Democrat's 2010 election defeat and realization they'd never pass another law by following the rules. The Deep State took control and the EPA "discovered" in 2015 that it could regulate every waterway in the country, no matter how small. The IRS started investigating political opponents. Hillary spawned Crossfire Hurricane. Etc.
Trump and Musk are both billionaires who hate having hostile bureaucrats make up rules as they go along. Other billionaires play the opposite game with a leftist facade -- using huge gifts/bribes to enact "rules" that just happen to support their oligarchic dreams and preserve monopolies (err...Gates...Bloomberg...Soros...Schwab...).
So, we have one faction of state-supporting fascistic oligarchs fighting a faction of anti-central-control oligarchs. The deep state fascists allies have an institutional edge, but they lose functional support every time they bribe another crazy or zealot who attacks the rest of the "team." Mark Zuckerberg may now understand this, and these factions may soon return to their prior lives in the shadows. The 2024 election is up to "the voters" to decide, but the future of the country will be as strongly affected by the oligarchs. Secret civil war? More compromised elites a la Jeffrey Epstein (plus now P. Diddy & Lebron James)?
https://www.npr.org/2022/12/30/1146355861/epa-water-protections-wetlands-rule
https://www.npr.org/2023/08/29/1196654382/epa-wetlands-waterways-supreme-court
"If he cares about free speech, the free speech of others — the people who use his platform — would be overwhelmingly important."
One primary difference I see between left and right is talking versus doing. The left (Kamala being a prime example) SAYS the 'right" things. Free, free, free. Someone else will pay. Those OTHER guys want to ban books and stifle speech. We'll solve the immigrant problem and crime and fentanyl and on and on. But they don't. Trump (especially) does what he promises (at least to the degree the GOPe and Dems allow. Elon talks free speech AND lets progressives use X nearly unfettered. Dems talk free speech and work with Meta to stifle free speech. Talking versus doing? Easy choice.
"In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party."
"This is THE reason for millions to declare themselves Party members- They're The Good Guys!!!"
A message which is relentlessly pushed by the entire mainstream media. Millions succumb to this propaganda.
" I would think that as the owner of X, his best position would be neutrality."
So in order to promote free speech, Elon should practice self-censorship?
Call me cynical, but Musk's principles can be combined with pocketbook concerns. Trump's proposals, to the extent anyone can understand them, give tax breaks to the top 5 percent and raise cost of living for the rest. Harris's proposals would raise taxes for the top 5 percent.
Does Musk want to be the world's first trillionaire?
I’ll just call you stupid. As in totally ignorant of market economics. Raising taxes on the top 5 percent, idiot, just passes the increase onto middle class and lower class consumers. Put on your dunce cap and stand in the corner.
Scott Adams declares presidential election a completely rigged fraud. I agree.
In the UK, and across most of Europe, it's voting day, voter ID and very limited postal voting. The latter must be with the electoral authorities for the district concerned no later than 10pm on voting day. On 4th July, 2024, UK polls closed at 10pm and most constituencies had announced results by mid early morning on 5th July. They're counted manually with lots of witnesses. Why does it take so long in the US?
I would think that as the owner of X, his best position would be neutrality.
Yes. At least superficial neutrality, like many other elites. Being hyper-partisan erodes his credibility among people who aren't hyper-partisan (yes, they exist.) The Progressive Movement will not be stopped by Trump supporters alone. They are too few in number. We need other people, the ones Musk is turning off.
Just run a free speech platform. That alone is a huge benefit to non-Progressiveness.
Democrats have adopted a strategy of punishing elites (i.e., people who have a lot to lose) that leave the reservation and protecting the elites that don't. Simple as that.
It's not Biden or Harris that Americans, in general, and Musk, in particular need to fear. It's the Democrat Party. They control the executive branch and the Administrative State and are using it to go after their political rivals, including Trump and Musk. All those investigations into Musk aren't Biden, they're Democrats in the bureaucracy going after their perceived enemies.
Musk bought Twitter to restore free speech to the platform. As Hillary Clinton recently made clear, Democrats need to control speech so they can control everything and everyone else. Musk lets leftists freely use the platform, which is more than you can say for its previous ownership.
California is another good example. 100% run by Democrats at the state level, they've passed a number of bills in recent years restricting what you can say, not just online, but in your careers or in your lives. The recent ban on AI-generated satire is just the most recent example, but it's not the only one.
I presume his answer to me would be that the Democrats really are looming over him and ready to destroy X, which he believes is the strongest forum of free speech in human history.
He doesn't government help to destroy X, he is doing fine destroying X all by himself.
" Trump's proposals, to the extent anyone can understand them, give tax breaks to the top 5 percent and raise cost of living for the rest. Harris's proposals would raise taxes for the top 5 percent. "
Yeah, I hear this a LOT. Now, using Federal numbers, see what percent of income tax is paid by the top 1 percent. Hint: it went UP after the Trump tax cuts. But, didn't that increase the deficit? Hint: There was more money flowing into the Federal coffers AFTER the Trump tax cuts. Of course the spending skyrocketed, with multi TRILLION dollar spending bills leading the way. That's increasing the deficit AND causing inflation. A two-fer!
People tell me the little guy got nothing. Look at your pay stubs before and after the Trump tax cuts. Mine took a nice little bump... Sadly that will be reversed when the D's allow them to expire.
I'm inclined to do my own research about why Elon Musk has decided to declare his support for Trump. I would think that as the owner of X, his best position would be neutrality. If he cares about free speech, the free speech of others — the people who use his platform — would be overwhelmingly important.
You cannot be this dense.
X is neutral. X allows ANYONE to speak.
Democrats want to censor people that disagree with them.
This is an easy distinction. Stop pretending you are neutral. A neutral person would come to the same conclusion Musk did.
LOL
Describe precisely the business numbers that indicate X is being destroyed and be sure to place it in context of the strategic plan to expand the revenue streams to service fees and what those services are and why they'll fail.
After you realize just how dumb you are and completely incapable of understanding basic business strategy execution, we'll expect you to say a number of idiotic things that aren't relevant in rapid succession.
So, here we go.....
I think it's very simple: Musk wants to be at maximum liberty to use his money and ingenuity as he damn well sees fit. The left, however, wants to control him, because that's just who they are.
The fact that Musk has a PERSONAL stake in living in a free society, rather than merely a philosophical or theoretical preference for it, doesn't make his position any less valid. At some point during the American Revolution, it's fair to assume that the founding fathers realized that if their cause DIDN'T prevail, they would all likely be hanged.
Musk HAS been neutral for many many years. He generally voted for democrats. However, he now recognizes there are no democrats, just New Soviet Democraticals who are happy to use weaponized government and judiciaries and to attack and destroy their political enemies. This is now undeniable and irrefutable and Musk, as well as a number of other tech leaders, recognize it.
Musk has simply been the most vocal about it. Others have come out in the tech community in favor of Trump and in doing so they have announced publicly they know its a career killer as the leftists in the US, if they retain power, will do what leftists have done in every institution, every organization, and every government in which they gain majority.
She wasn't saying X isn't neutral. I believe she was saying he should remain publicly neutral on the election. I don't think Musk's hyper-partisanship helps the cause.
"Of course, I remember the grown-man-jumping-around-like-a-child business"
He was imitating Walz and his Jazz hand entrances..
Another leftist lie. Goes right along with the corrupt left's demands to shut it down... unless leftist narrative obedience is restored. Including making any negative information or criticisms of Democrats - illegal.
Let's say, for the sake of argument, that Musk's free speech stand is detrimental to X's bottom line, yet Musk persists. An honest observer would view that as a principled stand.
"… for many many years. He generally voted for democrats."
Which makes him a heretic.
I'd call you cynical, but bullshitting is not cynicism.
Making a deliberately outrageous example, what's the difference between Musk visibly favoring Trump and say kicking the DNC-adjacent media correspondents off X, and him visibly being neutral (but only superficially!!) and doing the same thing? Doesn't visibly supporting Trump while allowing the DNC-adjacent media correspondents to post their crap on X do more to enhance his credibility as a defender of free speech? You're basically supporting the heckler's veto.
I think your analysis falls in the "trying too hard" category. Are you subscribed to Musk's channel on X?
He often returns to talking about what the Dems have done to California and especially San Francisco and how if that goes national the country as we know it is lost. In the Tucker interview tells of an SF couple unable to park in their garage because of a dead body in front of it - called 911 who asked if they were in danger, they said no, body wasn't picked up until 24 hrs later. Other stories about X employees facing danger one the side walks. There are policy reasons, but when he talks about this stuff it comes across as personal.
Exactly ! Retired law professors not impacted by the regime but entrepreneurs are.
X is not Musk, and neither is Musk X. The same relationship applies to Musk and X that has traditionally applied to any media outlet's editorial and news sections which allows the editorial section to take various positions including endorsement of candidates while the news section is (theoretically at least) neutral in coverage.
I would think that as the owner of X, his best position would be neutrality.
=================
I am seriously interested how a law professora reaches this conclusion about a due process issue
Here in CA, well-to-do wokesters hate Musk and will drive Teslas to the polls to vote for Harris.
Musk's support for Trump in not mysterious. Since he went public, he has been very vocal and descriptive about it. Watch his most recent sit down with Tucker. 1) Musk fully believes Biden and Harris are just puppets of a larger machine. 2) Musk believes Democrats and "no voter ID" is meant to intentionally hide fraud 3) Musk believes Democrats open the southern border to import voters and disburse then through swing states. 4) Musk recognizes the US slide toward one party totalitarianism.
Zuck sounds conciliatory for the same reason?
how so? Zuck is opposite to Musk.
He wishes Trump would lose and Kamala wins
Musk doesn't claim to be neutral like our lying liberal MSM that still hide under the disguise of "objectivity". It is the liberal press that promotes the Orwellian term "disinformation." Anyone is allowed to post on X and rip Elon Musk and Donald Trump. None of that is censored. Neither is the liberal propaganda. But now, it is counter balanced in an open forum, so liberals bitch and moan.
By "superficial neutrality" I mean he can do what other billionaires do an support ideological causes, but don't do it on X. I'd prefer him to be more moderate on the social media for the same reason I did Trump when he was elected: You have power. You have popular ideas that can appeal to a broad audience. Don't ruin it by sounding like an anonymous, partisan dork.
We are fairly well off and our taxes went UP from the Trump tax cuts, due to the treatment of SALT deductions. Kamala is full of shit.
Which makes him (Musk) typical of the tech entrepreneurial set before he woke up on the political side. Musk's movement to the republican side has been coming for years, incrementally, slowly, as each step by the New Soviet Democraticals became clearer and clearer. Quite frankly, this is a guy who lived for 3 years on the Tesla factory floor while he revolutionized the manufacturing technology and techniques at Tesla, along with completely redesigning the initial Tesla offerings, so he was totally focused on this as well as the SpaceX initial rocket tests.
Once he hit steady state on operations and team execution he was able to focus more effectively on our slide into totalitarianism so I'll give him a pass on the "how long it took for him to wake up" question.
Ann, you're tying yourself in knots to come up with self-interested reasons that Musk supports Trump. Musk bought twitter because he really does believe that free speech is the cornerstone of America and he began to dismantle the massive joint operation between twitter and fedgov to censor conservatives and Trump supporters. Then, and only then, did the liberal customers and Democrats begin to dislike Trump. The Democrats retaliated against SpaceX and Tesla. Why wouldn't Musk support Trump?
Just wow.
Musk just doesn’t give a fuck about their narratives. He’s all about the Truth. One thing that he’s mentioned is that some of the tech titans are supporting Harris because they believe if Trump is elected, he will release the list of Epstein “clients”.
The Democrats have plans for you. You won't like them. Therefore, they have to import some new voters to enable that.
A time comes when you have to pick a side. That time has come.
Remember- If you do not obey and submit to the corrupt leftist Authoritarian Democrats (and their absolute right to power) you are helping Trump!
Arizona had a similar voter machine failure on election day 2022.
This deep into the game Althouse is trying to figure out why Musk supports Trump? We all saw this coming when he bought Twitter to protect free speech and counter the propaganda in the MSM.
As Althouse thinks Musk as the owner of X should remain neutral, perhaps Musk, if he read the Althouse blog and the "cruel neutrality" theory, would say this election to too important. Time to take a stand. In 2020 Althouse did not support taking a stand against the absentee voter fraud. She advocated "moving on."
Two influential people can support free speech, and choose to use it in different ways. Musk is being and honest advocate for Trump. So what? Better than fake "objective" journalists and judges.
At least you seem to be a real person spouting DNC talking points. What is it with you lefties ?
Hillary Clinton calls for more online censorship otherwise "...we lose total control..."
It's pretty easy to see why Elon would be concerned with these deep state instigators/Epstein Island amigos.
“The other side wants to take away your freedom of speech, they want to take away your right to bear arms... they want to take away your right to vote effectively”
Isn’t that enough? I mean, the other side wants to make it all about abortion.
There is no doubt Reid Hoffman and Bill Gates are on the list of those dudes whose lives would be upended completely by the Epstein files if they were released. No surprise Melinda Gates ran away quickly after Bill was hanging out with Epstein alot AFTER Epstein was exposed.
The anti-Trump combo of this many global power brokers along with the New Soviet Democraticals weaponized government agencies, the democratical Cheat Machine, a majority of the authoritarian techie censors, all the democratials and at least half the elected republicans (GOPe-ers) in DC, etc makes it very difficult to see how Trump would ever be allowed to assume the Presidency again by these dudes, though we will continue trying.
Just saw this, Kevin. Yes!
Althouse touched the trunk, she touched the ear, she touched the tail, she touched the leg, she touched the tusk and she still refuses to accept that there's an elephant in the room.
That would require ascribing good intentions to an alpha male. So, no go.
I have no idea why Althouse maintains a dislike for Elon Musk, however I vividly recall how back when Musk bought Twitter Althouse seldom missed a chance to post yet another bogus article from the New York Times or some comparable birdcage liner predicting doom — DOOM!!! — forTwitter because of Musk’s (alleged) lack of business acumen as he removed layer after layer of deadwood.
For the record people have taught me to ignore what they say and watch what they do. No lefty has ever indicated that X censors Democrats and other lefties, though I concede that the “Community Notes” feature impedes their ability to push bullshit unchallenged, But Community Notes is, essentially, more speech. So I conclude that Musk is not merely talking the talk on Free Speech, he is also walking the walk.
Why can't they? One phone call or text and it's done. I've always just assumed it's too much an internet backwater for anyone to care...
Sheesh, hear you go
Describe precisely the business numbers that indicate X is being destroyed and be sure to place it in context of the strategic plan to expand the revenue streams to service fees and what those services are and why they'll fail.
I have very little faith in Musk's strategic plans. If you believe all the bullshit he spews (which is one of the reasons he is in trouble with the SEC), we would have a fleet of autonomous taxis and Tesla's would be driving across the country by themselves. Also, we would have landed on Mars in 2021.
I'm willing to think that someone who spent $44 billion to buy a free speech platform is really committed to free speech.
"I have very little faith in Musk's strategic plans. If you believe all the bullshit he spews (which is one of the reasons he is in trouble with the SEC) … we would have landed on Mars in 2021."
Now do NASA.
Musk has been clear that he finds Dems to be anti-constitutional. He also thinks Trump more likely to reduce the size of government and spend more responsibly.
Musk has been clear that he finds Dems to be anti-constitutional. He also thinks Trump more likely to reduce the size of government and spend more responsibly.
Now do NASA.
Why? What is the point?
I would think that as the owner of X, his best position would be neutrality. If he cares about free speech, the free speech of others — the people who use his platform — would be overwhelmingly important. And disclosing his own choice would hurt the cause of free speech This analysis is rational only if everyone is committed to free speech but unfortunately Democrats have adopted the Davos/World Government view that speech is not protected and government should choose what speech is allowed and what speech should be illegal...and Democrats are bad at choosing. Ergo, this analysis is shit...
Is it just me or have the past couple years seen the idea that the US is a democracy beaten to death. I feel like I have seen the words, and its relatives more in the past 2 years than in my previous 76 years drawing breath. Always with the context that democracy is a REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY good thing. (Insert standard disclaimer about I know the US is a republic etc)
Nobody has ever explained why it is such a good thing. Not recently, not ever. When I raise the question, people look at me like I have 2 heads.
Democracy is a system of government. Any system of government exists to tell me what I can and can't do. Mostly what I can't do. Also what govt can and cant do to me. Mostly what it can do to me.
51% get to decide what the other 49% can and can't do. How is that fair? 51% can decide that "the people" have the right to Elon's rocket technology as well as the rockets and other hard and soft assets. 51% could decide that Elon's engineers must work for NASA.
It's a democratic decision, the engineers and Elon and his engineers got to vote against it but lost. So it is fair. Stop whining. It's democracy!
I am less against democracy than I am against other forms of national organization. Better than an English King, for example.
But I am against all forms of government beyond the minimum that is absolutely required. I am a minarchist. Govt should have very limited power and no govt should have power to do something that can't be done at a lower level.
The US used to be about freedom and liberty. We don't hear that so much anymore. I am happy to hear Elon and others talking about it.
John Henry
...by choosing Trump Musk is choosing the side of free speech, entirely consistent with the appropriate position as the owner of X. In fact it IS why he's the owner of X...
"Why? What is the point?"
The point is aspirational goals are rarely met on schedule. You condemn Musk (hell, you want government in the guise of the SEC to punish him) but give big government a pass. (you could have figured that out for yourself if you had tried).
If you compare NASA's accomplishments to date with Musk's, it's shameful. Look up the SLS. Look up Artemis. Hell, their new launch tower is years behind schedule, and there's innovative about it. And they're spending our money on this boondoggle.
In a democracy government policies and actions are determined by the majority, 51% (a supermajority is required in some cases but not often)
In theory, anyway.
The actuality is that they are often decided by a noisey minority. Like the "This is what democracy looks like" drum circles and demos that the WI capitol a few years ago. Or the fascist BLM and antifa riots of 4 years ago.
Less govt means these folks have less power or potential power.
Nobody would spend billions getting elected if they had no power to do anything.
We need to deball govt. We need to debally it democratically, in line with the Constitution (and state constitutions, city charters etc) but deball and shrink it we must.
John Henry
*nothing* innovative
In some ways Musk reminds me of Ellis Wyatt. He pioneered recovery of cheap energy from shale in Colorado. When the govt tried to seize control, he blew up the plant rather than let them have it. He left a sign saying "I am leaving it as I found it. Take over. It's yours"
I wonder if Musk might do the same thing if govt does him too badly?
John Henry
Althouse writes, "Musk loves American constitutional rights as the means to the end of democracy."
If democracy means a simple majority can nullify the rights of the minority, then I'm a-gin it.
We're ALL affected. Some shrug it off or attribute bad outcomes to things other than policy, but we are ALL affected.
that could resemble my nephew and family
Ann,
With X, Musk became a publisher in the mold of Pulitzer, Chandler, Mayer, Hearst, Sulzberger, Scripps, Newhouse and all those others. A bit different from a newspaper but the same ultimate goal.
None of them were neutral. They went into publishing so they would have a platform to speak from.
Musk has not tried to shape the discourse on X to the extent that the publishers did/do. But he does use it to get his views out to the world. I say good on him for that.
Though, if I disagreed with his views, I might have an attitude more like yours.
John Henry
It just occurred to me, perhaps others have already figured this out, we now have an answer to the question "Who is John Galt?" - it's Musk!
Trump's China tariffs would severely impact Tesla's operating margins. Maybe you didn't think through all those policies.
Precisely
For those who do not know, Wyatt is a fictional, Musk like character in Rand's Atlas Shrugged. Musk is into cars and rockets, Wyatt into oil.
If you believe X should be a free speech platform then you cannot support Kamala Harris. Period.
She will not allow free speech on social media.
If I have to get on a plane to go home and cast my vote, will I still have to show my ID at the airport?
LMFAO!!!
"I have very little faith in Musk's strategic plans. If you believe all the bullshit he spews (which is one of the reasons he is in trouble with the SEC), we would have a fleet of autonomous taxis and Tesla's would be driving across the country by themselves. Also, we would have landed on Mars in 2021."
LOLxinfinity! Poor Freder.
Musk makes what the legacy players called impossible just a bit "late" and Freder calls that failure! And Althouse readers will make note of how Freder did not even attempt to address the specific divisions, strategic actions and targeted goals achieved by Musk companies.
Freder thinks X is just about folks chatting with each other. Lets see if we can get Freder up to speed: How many states have approved X's application to become a money transmitter to allow users to buy/sell Bitcoin/crypto & perform other services such as create electronic wallets, process payments and trade on exchanges?
Here's another one for Freder: What existing well known apps has X already developed a competitor app for? If you said Youtube, Indeed& LinkedIn (amongst others) give yourself some points!
xAI will be integrating work products with X as well moving forward.
As for SpaceX, one recalls the geniuses in Legacy Space (Arianespace, ESA, Boeing, ULA, etc) just laughing and laughing at the mere idea of reusable rockets and lowering the cost to orbit by 90%+. If you have the time, pull up the old Youtube videos of those guys and marvel at the arrogance.
It's impossible they all cried!
Not to worry though Freder, your bureaucratic pals are slowing SpaceX down in the hopes your ChiCom allies will catch up....and the ChiComs are launching rockets every couple of days even though they are falling on villages...but helping the ChiComs kill a few villagers on each launch is a small price to pay to go after that dastardly Musk, eh Freder?
Oh, and don't you just love how Freder desperately wants to skip past all the legacy space players that deliver nothing for years except failure and cost overruns on technology that is all basically the same stuff from the 1960's/70's/80's/90's!
And Tesla, well, that was part of Freder's moron rant wasn't it?
Tesla/Musk revolutionized auto production technology and put the knife into the legacy players. Tesla is lightyears ahead over any other automated driving "competitors". Go check out Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's comments on that matter if you want to hear more. And Tesla gets further ahead every single day. Its a geometric growth advantage that is becoming hyperbolic.
And how many companies have adopted the Tesla NACS charging standard? Well, here's a partial list of some: Ford, GM, Rivian, VW, Volvo, Polestar, Mercedez-Benz, Nissan, Honda, Jaguar, Hyundai, Kia, BMW North America, MINI, Rolls-Royce, Toyota, Subaru, etc.
That's in addition to multiple states already adopting the Tesla standard.
And don't get me started on the Tesla Energy (Freder, that's a division of Tesla and I don't want you to get confused and start sucking your thumb).
And robotaxi is getting rolled out when? Oh yeah, in 2 days so we'll see where things stand then. We may also get a look and more details on the newest Tesla design of a lower cost option vehicle.
Might there be a few more monthly delays in delivering market winning solutions at Tesla? Probably. That's what setting aggressive timelines and teams working around the clock to deliver the future looks like.
"Insightful piece from @ZitoSalena re the @realDonaldTrump @elonmusk relationship. "...there are several ways that Musk and Trump are alike. Trump could have taken his money and had a nice retirement. Instead, he entered politics, and went from being an admired celebrity, to being ridiculed and attacked. In the same way, Musk didn’t have to buy Twitter.... But Musk, like Trump, wanted, to quote Teddy Roosevelt, to be ‘the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood."--Alex Castellanos on X
And returning to voter ID. I remember the 2020 election. I remember the audit of Maricopa County and them finding 62 odd thousand illegal votes (out of state, etc). Maybe they all voted for Trump, we'll never know, but I can understand Trump thinking Arizona was stolen. I also remember the shenanigans with Fulton county in Georgia, where there was a water leak, and all the poll watchers were expelled and the windows covered up and Biden won Georgia by 11,000 votes. I wonder why Trump thought Georgia was stolen. Remember Pennsylvania and all those mail in ballots received after election day and 120,000 more votes than voters. Maybe Trump really did lose. But wouldn't it be nice if there weren't these opportunities for fraud and electoral malpractice, which there wouldn't be if the US adopted European practice?
Trump: You're rockets are beautiful, Elon! Oh, they are so beautiful!
Musk: Yes they are, aren't they? And I can reuse them again and again. And we're going to Mars!
Lefties: LIARS! THEY ARE NOT BEAUTIFUL! LIARS!
Musk is delivering on one of the Left's holly grail; EVs. He's their darling. But then he buys Twitter (at significant cost to him, it turns out, because of the subsequent Left's hissy fit) because he believes free speech to be an imperative in a free society, and the Left scorns him.
It's really a bad look, Freder.
https://youtu.be/fydlvpDZrAw?si=auogzq76CeaAWn4n
A bit off topic but I'll bet not 1 person in 10, maybe 2 in this elite group, have ever heard of the gigapress.
Die casting, where molten metal is poured into reusable molds has been around for 100 years or more. Traditionally, it has been used to cast parts about 1'x1'x1' or smaller though occasionally slightly larger.
Cars chassis have been made for 100+ years by bolting, riveting and welding hundreds of individual pieces together.
Elon, or perhaps one of his engineers, had the idea of die casting an entire chassis as a single piece. He was told by everyone that knew diecasting that it was impossible. to cast anything that large. Besides the size of the machine, there are all sorts of issues with temperatures, moving molten metal and so on.
He finally found an Italian company that thought it would be extremely difficult but might be possible.
The entire Tesla chassis is now 3 pieces. It will eventually be 1.
The impact of this process on the entire supply chain is hard to comprehend.
And like a ripple spreading out from a pebble in a pond, there is no telling where it will wind up.
Because Elon was not smart enough (koff, koff)to recognize that it was impossible.
A couple of other companies are now diecasting chassis. BMW South Carolina is one, I think.
The link has a video about the process.
John Henry
Stainless steel is a horrible material to build rocket ships out of. Not least of all is how heavy it is.
Elon Musk was too stupid to realize that. He launched over half of all mass to orbit, ever, using stainless steel rockets.
Some people still say it was a dumb decision. Imagine where SpaceX would be today if Musk was a bit more knowledgable about materials. Why, he might be even with Blue Origins which expects to start launching in just another year or two.
He explains why SS is so great here.
https://youtu.be/lemMFXNXRIg?si=yyqcmVT6gE7W5EwD
John Henry
"He explains why SS is so great here."
I've watched that before. Good stuff.
Boy did we dodge a bullet with that evil bitch. Stalin in a pantsuit.
I don't think this is an original thought, but to me Musk is the closest thing I've seen to an Ayn Rand hero.
Now, I must confess that I'm NOT an Objectivist, so if you are, please feel free to criticize my comments.
Musk has created great benefits for human beings, not only in the USA but also globally. And he's made a profit -- A BIG PROFIT!!! -- doing so.
Unlike "John Galt", Elon hasn't made a long (endless really!) speech about what and why he's doing.
But in the real world no one would listen to him if he did. What WE care about is the results. What have been the "results" of the Biden/now Biden Harris administration?
Aren't they awful? Do you want "more of that"?
"A bit off topic but I'll bet not 1 person in 10, maybe 2 in this elite group, have ever heard of the gigapress."
That's what I was alluding to in my comment above to our buffon Field Marshall Freder.
I appreciate your more detailed explanation though Freder won't be able to comprehend a word of it, much less that astonishing implications it has on global large scale equipment manufacturing, which is alot more than just cars.
Remember, Freder is a field marshal and economic expert and knows all about the rocket business so we have to consider him seriously. Seriously,I think Freder is an idiot, a serious one.
And, Melinda asked that her name be taken off that Foundation but I see see it unchanged.
I agree. A couple of times I have seen rich men enter politics to do good. Few do. Ron Johnson, the WI Senator is a rare one who keeps at it.
"Isn’t that enough?"
Seriously, isn't it? Have we gone so far down the path of corruption and cynicism that a serious commitment to our foundational rights is unthinkable?
"Elon, or perhaps one of his engineers, had the idea of die casting an entire chassis as a single piece. He was told by everyone that knew diecasting that it was impossible. to cast anything that large."
Well, for certain values of 'impossible' this might be correct but main battle tank turrets are still sometimes cast, and steam engine frames (like those of UP 4014 Big Boy which weigh around 45 tons) were also cast. A lot of facilities with that kind of capacity and the skills required to do them went away as welding took over after WWII.
More likely he was told that there was no existing process or facility to create a casting as large as a car frame that was as cost-efficient as unibody stamping or welding. Not disputing that creating the gigapress was quite a feat of engineering, just noting that the issue wasn't the physical size of the output.
"81 million votes" keeps getting repeated to avoid discussing that Biden won the Electoral College by about 50,000 votes in three states (Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin IIRC)
The thuggish tone of Biden/Harris comments about Musk, Tesla, SpaceX, etc. is completely inappropriate for the head of the US government. Like mob bosses, Team Biden made it clear that they were going to clip Elon's wings. Biden and Harris are both vile people. In an election where the choice is between bad (Trump) and worse (Harris), I am going with bad.
watch above video explaining choice of SS as material for rocket;
it would have been fantastic if Musk had come up with new metal for it!!
it would have been fantastic if Musk had come up with new metal for it!!
but he wants to go away to Mars!!
are we doomed or
do we learn by example and experience and experiment!
Christopher,
Tank armor, locomotives and other, even bigger castings are made with sand molds. Still a very common process. It is done by packing green sand in a box around a wooden pattern. then remove the wood and pour in the molten metal.
Lots of labor in making each mold which is destroyed to remove the casting.
I learned how to do sand casting in McLean VA high school shop in the 60s. The Navy still had Molders and Patternmakers as ratings (MOS for other military) skills. I had a roommate for a while in 73 who was a patternmaker.
Trivia: Charles Sorenson, who was General Manager for manufacturing at Ford for 40 years and developed the "Bomber an hour" production line to make B-25s started life as a patternmaker at a stove casting plant in Buffalo as a young teen.
2 minute video on the process https://youtu.be/hLyxGDA_y8Y?si=tn72TTOHwCNbSlne
3D printing is now being used to make complex sand molds and it is amazing.
Die casting uses machined metal molds that are continually reused tens of thousands of times. Somewhat like plastic injection molding (but very different!)
John Henry
Musky Metal?
John Henry
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