Says Ezra Klein, in "There Is a Liberal Answer to Elon Musk," the new episode of his NYT podcast, audio and transcript at Podscribe.
The quoted part is from the beginning, where Klein effectively stirs up fears of future disaster for Democrats. The answer to the question asked in the episode title is: "If liberals don't make government work, zealots like Elon Musk are going to come in and burn it down." And: "If liberals do not want Americans to turn to the false promises of strong men, they need to offer them the fruits of effective government in the long run."
The quoted part is from the beginning, where Klein effectively stirs up fears of future disaster for Democrats. The answer to the question asked in the episode title is: "If liberals don't make government work, zealots like Elon Musk are going to come in and burn it down." And: "If liberals do not want Americans to turn to the false promises of strong men, they need to offer them the fruits of effective government in the long run."
Yeah, just do that.
CORRECTION: I misread the headline as a question — Is There a Liberal Answer to Elon Musk? I hallucinated the humility that plainly belongs there!
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90 comments:
The bubble-world where shutting off ineffective spending means "burning it down." It sort of begs the question: if minding every dollar is "burning it down", what exactly is "it"?
I don't think liberals know what effective government is. See, e.g., all the places they run.
Yea the debt has gone up 2 trillion a year since Covid. This is unsustainable, but democrats can only scream about the loss of this graft. Hopefully they will be out of power for a long time. If we could just save their cities from them as well.
The Left knows in their bones that Bill Nye teh Science Guy is their answer to Musk.
Blue states are oppressive.
Gov McTax and fee Polis - likes to tout his libertarian ways - but the cost of living under Polis in Colorado, has skyrocketed.
The crime is off the charts, too.
ISTM liberals think all they need to do is block roads with protests and vandalize Teslas
When has government really worked? Other than Social Security, unemployment benefits, Medicare and Medicaid, I really can't think of many things.
Klein has put his finger on the problem. The Dems today are NYT readers, feminists, Greens and tribal people. But the Dems won't change because they can't. They are wedded to these fringe ideas that are essentially Marxist.
The line up of ruinous democrats who will continue to ruin Colorado. (see below)
Sadly - the GOP under Crook (actual democrat) Dave Williams - is a useless mess.
2026 potential D's:
Michael Bennett (Lord help us)
Joe Neguse
Phil None-the-Weiser.
and the wretched MSNBC dweller - Jena Grizwold
…and now children you know the tale of why the United States government was paying billions of dollars to import and support over ten million illegal immigrants. Good night. Sleep tight…❤️
To his credit, Ezra Klein didn't go full Godwin since zealots burning it down merely alludes to the Reichstag fire.
Elon Musk is no zealot. He's one of the all-time great patriots. He didn't need to do this. And now the insane Left are attacking his Tesla dealerships. Yes, these people are truly insane. What kind of nut does that? The vandals deserve J6-length sentences.
Bernie has a plan for America... He started in Kenosha.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/03/am_i_the_only_one_not_shocked_by_the_blasphemy_at_a_bernie_sanders_rally_but_i_am_disgusted.html
By the way those people fleeing aren’t all blue state working families. They are wealthier families not willing to commit economic and social suicide…
Ezra Klein. One of the wealthiest journalists in America due to "investments" despite a reported average salary. Multi-mil!ionaire.
Just saying.
Another incoherent view from the left. People are moving to states governed by Republicans yet there is a danger that Republicans will “burn down” blue states? His fear is that failing states are fixed by the right?
Yesterday I learned that the liberal Omaha Public Power District Board paid $19m last fiscal year to wind companies to NOT produce electricity. It is called curtailment payments. And, of course, the wind companies got big time free money from the federal government to build those things.
Tell me how government works, dear Ezra. In what world does that make sense?
Mistake #1 Ezra hack(D)
Calling Musk a "zealot". Ezra - you're an asshole. Figure it out.
Ezra - Your party is a Sewer. You are all fakes and grifters, ... You all love illegal immigration, punitive taxes, government waste, tax payer dollars funneled to democrat zealot operatives. Democrats are all in for a corrupt FBI and a corrupt two-tiered legal system. (where all crook democrats are above the law.) Democrats are all in for censorship of speech, and speech codes and crimes. Ezra(D) - you already have a sugardaddy - A family who spends money destroying the nation you claim to want to represent.
Soros.
…and you can already smell the burnt resistors as the lefties dream up the ‘new’ strategy- more trillions of tax dollars for ‘middle class’ transfer payments while keeping the same unpopular social and economic policies…
they need to offer them the fruits of effective government in the long run.
This generation of Democrats have never done that, and they’re a bit old to start learning now.
I was never in to the leftie as a substitute for religion theory but they all sure need to repeat the trendy mantras, don’t they? ‘Musk is evil’. Yah, sure…
America is Regan MacNeil.
Musk is Father Merrin.
And there's gonna be a lotta pea soup to mop up before the work is finished.
Coming from us the accountants I say with complete confidence the elimination of the SALT deduction has everything to do with it…
...they need to offer them the fruits of effective government in the long run.
People have witnessed the fruits of those efforts in states like California and New York, which is why they're leaving. Sheesh! I think it is Dana Perino who says Trump is blessed to have dumb opposition, and man is she right.
Geez - There it is again, The Fear. This is what the smart animal in the herd does, to steer the herd. But they're still a herd, not a cohort of people thinking for themselves.
For that, you need leadership. Leaders lead by example, not the application of fear. They inspire, and people willingly, enthusiastically follow the example. Leaders aren't scared at the prospect of people thinking for themselves - in fact, it's a preference. When did the Progressive Left last lead by example, counting only the non-criminal ways? They prefer fear for the herd - and dirty tricks, for the opposition.
Given the blatant fraud in last census, I am hearing that we could potentially redo it - you don't have to wait 10 years? Have not had time to research, but I cannot see Trump and Musk resisting the chance.
Taxpayers are leaving. Tax consumers are staying and coming in. It's a potential death spiral.
Dave Begley said-
Whnen has government really worked? Other than Social Security, unemployment benefits, Medicare and Medicaid, I really can't think of many things.
This may be the first time I have disagreed with Mr B.
At least 3 of these are funded primarily on our national credit card (probably not unemployment, which is more responsibly funded by taxes on employers). No program, government or private, that relies on money borrowed without an offsetting asset "works."
Ezra - Your party went all in for men in women's sports and private spaces. Your party is all-in for "gender affirming care" of children. Children who are not old enough to understand what your creepy progressive authoritarian bureaucrats are doing to them. Often in secret...without parental consent.
You all deserve to lose - forever. Soros.
This is hilarious. Ezra Klein, who once labeled the Althouse blog “antisemitic” (because of a comment I had written presaging the discovery of the JournOlist) now offers advice to the political party that openly supports violence against Jewish students at universities.
BTW, Ezra, you might consider adding a third sentence to your intro. “You are not the party of working families when you hate children, hate families, and openly despise working class people.”
Also - Democrats are the party of masks.
You know who wears masks?
• FBI frauds – posing and marching as the modern KKK/ white nationalists
• Hamas
• Leftwing Antifa Arsonists
• BLM - the fraud organization that doesn't give a rip about blacks.
Fauci - he belongs to democrats.
Pay no mind to the fearmongering from Ezra, this is very easily solved by more bingo paddle messaging.
When has government really worked? Other than Social Security, unemployment benefits, Medicare and Medicaid, I really can't think of many things.
National Weather Service.
There are diminishing returns, both from taxation and from government activity. To that we can add a version of Parkinson's law: work expands to fill the time and resources devoted to it and eventually so much "work" is "done" in bureaucratic offices that things don't actually get "done" in the real world. After you reach a certain point, governments' spending more money and taking on more responsibilities doesn't get any more done or built in the real world. Add to that the problems of inflation and indebtedness. And at this point, if France and Germany and Holland and Sweden and Denmark start having to spend more money on the military (and coping with the problems "diversity" brings), the gleaming European welfare state model isn't going to be around to turn liberal/progressive heads anymore.
In 2008 the GOP was being given up for dead but the arrogance of Obama gave them life.
Trump’s decision to make America poorer with his retarded tariffs will give life to the Democrats.
In 2024 Americans did not vote for a “little pain”, they voted for no pain.
Smoot and Hawley smile.
Ds have to get better, but Rs can fuck things up. Political gravity.
Big Mike said...
BTW, Ezra, you might consider adding a third sentence to your intro. “You are not the party of working families when you hate children, hate families, and openly despise working class people.”
Hear, hear!
If liberals do not want Americans to turn to the false promises of strong men, they need to offer them the fruits of effective government in the long run."
Yeah, just do that.
That would require both competence and sanity, and the Democrats have DEI and Marxism instead
oh. More delicious goodies from the moral degenerate left:
"Washington Democrats are ready to vote on a bill that would release juvenile killers from jail early — so long as they didn’t kill more than two victims, the apparent threshold for Democratic sympathy — and then give them free rent to live in your neighborhood."
How would the population of those states changed if they hadn't been importing illegal undocumented aliens? I figure that's why Illinois gained residents between 2022 and 2024.
"If liberals do not want Americans to turn to the false promises of strong men, they need to offer them the fruits of effective government in the long run."
The Dems can't even talk about solutions to their problems without resorting to vilifying the designated, identity politics outgroup. They can't and won't take responsibility for their plight. There's always an evil oppressor group, in this case, "strong men"...as opposed to what? Weak men? Which one does Ezra Klein identify as?
The 2020 census had many major errors that, surprise!, all favored blue states. With accurate counting, several House seats and EC votes would gone from blue states to red. Anyone can make mistakes, but when all of the mistakes are in one direction, they weren’t mistakes at all. They were deliberate biased counts motivated by politics.
Ezra Klein is deeply dishonest. He uses the high speed train as an example of too much regulation. It is actually an example of the magical thinking that democrats specialize in.
The Tehachapi Mountains and the Pacheco Pass both block the path between Sacramento and Los Angeles. The people building the line do not know how they are going to get past them, they don't know how long it will take, and they don't know how much it will cost.
Spending any money on construction without answers to those questions is malfeasance.
Over regulation is absolutely a problem, especially in California, but it is not the reason democrats fail so spectacularly at government.
They are deliberately dishonest or they are breathtakingly delusional, either way it comes to the same thing. They are not to be trusted with political office.
In the 1980s talk was that the population shift to the sunbelt would bring about a Republican majority. in the 1990s, people realized that Republicans were losing ground in Northern states, so that a solid Northeast and a Democrat bulwark in the Great Lakes states would replace the solid South as the Democrats' electoral bastion and give them new paths to victory.
Now we're seeing how Democrat incompetence is emptying the blue states and benefiting Republicans. Northerners and Californians are moving South and that's going to benefit Republicans. Newcomers who realize what the Democrats did to their former home states will support the Republicans. Their children -- and the many who move South just because the jobs are there -- may not. They may bring the very things that they had to flee with them and make the Sunbelt bluer. We'll come to realize in the 2030s that the internal migration hasn't been an unmixed blessing for Republicans.
I would have liked to move to the Southwest, but between the fear of the water running out and new worries about hantavirus, I've put that idea on hold.
Why assume the right will gain power as people move from California, New York, etc. to southern states and other areas that have been traditionally on the right? Isn't it possible the new migrants to these areas will make the political makeup of these places more mixed, more, dare to say it, cosmopolitan? Possibly transforming Republican enclaves into Dem enclaves? This seems to become more a possibility after Trump and his gang of nitwits, bullies, and thieves fuck up the state of the nation...and they will fuck up the nation. It's already happening.
That's one reason the Democrats were letting in millions of illegals. They want to keep the population up in the blue states. Its all about power to the left. They don't give a damn about the quality of life for the average person.
As for the high speed rail this was always a scheme to hand out graft. There's no reason for rail travel between LA and SF. One thing about one-party blue states is the liberal elites love to hand out the graft. And their dumb middle class voters lap it up. Corruption is Ok as long as they hate Trump and those awful white men.
People are moving out of Calf because the "Rents are too damn high" and its too crowded. All due to the sainted immigrants. But try to explain that to an 'murican. LOL. The Dumbo POC's and white liberals will vote Democrat even if the D's start pushing off a cliff. You cant argue with stupidity.
Klein's logic is faulty. He assumes the people who fled the blue states have been taken off the voting rolls. Either they will mail in ballots from their new homes, or someone will mail in ballots for them. The Dems get to stay in office while fewer actual people in the state to provide with services help them keep the Ponzi scheme going a little while longer.
JSM
>> When has government really worked?
> National Weather Service
Nah -- it rains too much here, and not enough in some other places.
Isn't it possible the new migrants to these areas will make the political makeup of these places more mixed, more, dare to say it, cosmopolitan?
Fair point. That’s what happened to Vermont and Maine. Still, those bug-eyed lefties were drawn to the prospect of Walden Pond. The folks heading to TX, AZ, and FL are escaping from the bug-eyed lefties. Don’t know the overpass where Cook has pitched his NGO-supplied tent, but it’s a good bet that that folks are escaping from that neighborhood.
- Krumhorn
National Weather Service
Only when their forecast agrees with Accuweather.
If you ripped Ezra Klein's skin off, you could make a rather unattractive little pouch out of it. He really is useless.
It’s a version of the old saw:
If liberals insist only fascists defend borders, voters will hire fascists to do the job liberals refuse to do.
cosmopolite(n.)
"man of the world; citizen of the world, one who is cosmopolitan in ideas or life," 1610s, from Latinized form of Greek kosmopolites "citizen of the world," from kosmos "world" (see cosmos) + polites "citizen," from polis "city" (see polis). In common use 17c. in a neutral sense; it faded in 18c. but was revived from c. 1800 with a tinge of reproachfulness (opposed to patriot).
Cosmopolitan evolves under the umbrella of Diversity (i.e. color judgment, class bigotry), particularly institutional, systemic Diversity (e.g. DEI). Progress. #HateLovesAbortion
Robert Cook said...
Why assume the right will gain power as people move from California, New York, etc. to southern states and other areas that have been traditionally on the right? Isn't it possible the new migrants to these areas will make the political makeup of these places more mixed, more, dare to say it, cosmopolitan? Possibly transforming Republican enclaves into Dem enclaves? This seems to become more a possibility after Trump and his gang of nitwits, bullies, and thieves fuck up the state of the nation...and they will fuck up the nation. It's already happening.
3/11/25, 9:35 AM
—————————-
Recent history suggests that the people abandoning the blue states are primarily Republicans which has led to the blue states becoming even bluer.
Urban spaces become more red (i.e. left-wing) as in red coats, socialist. Everywhere else remains or attracts blue (i.e. conservative and libertarian).
I'd say the recent vote in banning men from women's sports indicates the Democrats have an ideological resistance to acting in ways that benefit their former base.
"When has government really worked? Other than Social Security, unemployment benefits, Medicare and Medicaid, I really can't think of many things."
Those don't seem like sterling examples of government really working. Social Security and Medicare are both effectively insolvent, with lots of fraud. UI also has had lots of fraud. There's an entire industry of setting up trusts to shield money so that Medicaid pays for nursing homes.
Programs can "work" if you skip auditing and accountability, and keep kicking the can down the road in terms of solvency.
To generalize on my earlier comment, at least part of 'effective' government is giving people what they want. Now this might result in HL Mencken style effectiveness but that's what politicians need to manage.
Regarding Robert Cook’s comment at 9:35, this is the first time I’ve seen “cosmopolitan” used as a synonym for “stupid.”
Only when their forecast agrees with Accuweather.
And where does AccuWeather gets their data?
To some extent we are switching from one issue analysis to issue interaction analysis and because Trump is moving fast this is necessary. My image is based on drug interactions where you can't just think that six safe drugs mean you can take all six. In terms of issues here is an example. I used to vote based on the pro-life issue but I gave that up to vote for Trump in 2016, despite his previous support for Planned Parenthood, because I accepted the "Flight 93 election" analysis of Gorka, i.e., America was going down and we must save the ship and then reform. That's an example of interaction analysis. And above in the comments you can see many examples of interaction analysis - people leaving blue states will alter Congressional representation, migrants will alter red state representation, etc. But are there stable patterns that we could come to recognize? For example, tariffs (one issue) will increase manufacturing (one issue) in the US and increase real jobs as opposed to government jobs or gigs (one issue) and affect the stock market for awhile (one issue) and the stock market will affect 401ks of seniors (one issue) and raise prices for awhile (several issues depending on which prices) and gain better trade deals (one issue) which will help prevent bankruptcy (one issue). and affect farmers short term, (one issue) and long term (one issue). The relation between tariffs, keeping manufacturing in one's own country and agriculture is an established interaction in our history but this established interaction is set in the context of the loss of all our major manufacturing to China (one issue), the presence in our country of those who benefitted financially from the sale and are living high on the hog off the invested proceeds (one issue) and salving their consciences by forming poisonous little tax-shield Dem-supporting NGOs (new issue) which are working to prevent any action toward solving the finances of this country (one issue.)
In one sense, I solve the problem of interacting issues by supporting Trump. He is moving swiftly on many fronts and the blend of the shrill cries and ridiculous "protests" and calls for street violence which is coming from the denizens of Bloatcity-on-the Potomac is one interaction response.
And my side is working out its own interaction responses. This isn't a three-body problem with no solution. It's just that it is new to have so much action and needed change that the effect of actions and reactions taken together need to be considered anew . For example, there are so many judges interfering with DOGE that I wonder if this isn't taxation without representation. Local judges are insisting that the tax actions of the previous regime cannot be changed without their permission even though there has been an election in which such changes were a major platorm plank. Aren't these local judges taxing us without representing us?
Especially bcause Trump is now polling on the question of whether tax savings should be returned to the people for if even one dollar each was coming back to taxpayers then those judges would be taxing us if they prevented that action. I think. But, anyhow, this is what I mean by saying that we have to develop interaction theory.
Ezra Klein musing on masculinity is ironic.
Funny how all those people are moving south and directly into the path of....global warming. Don't they know they will be in the Path of Doom?
They aren’t “liberals.” The Democrat elites to whom he speaks are Gramscian Marxists or their dupes. They don’t govern. They destroy.
I hope the Democrat leadership agrees with poor old Ezra. They need these stories for comfort in the Democrat hospice.
Robert Cook said...
“Isn't it possible the new migrants to these areas will make the political makeup of these places more mixed, more, dare to say it, cosmopolitan”?
It will be more Cosmopolitan when the local news has headlines like:
- 10 Subliminal Tricks That Make People Adore You
- Feel Happier in 9 Seconds
- Flatten Your Belly: The New Water Sipping Trick That Crushes Hunger
- How to Tell if He’s Good in Bed
- My Car Turned Me On!: Hilarious Tales of Accidental Pleasure
- Your Breasts Called…: And They’re Feeling Neglected. How to Pamper & Pleasure Them
But government works right now just the way Dems want, such as providing $2,000,000,000 in essentially untraceable grant money to the likes of Stacey Abrams and her comrades.
The wealth effect is an interesting one. Presumably someone is buying the housing that people who are leaving New York and California supposedly can’t afford to own. They apparently utilize more space per person than the people they are displacing, which is a secondary wealth effect.
Of course, housing costs may just be an excuse given by people who are leaving for other reasons.
I've yet to see Elon Musk burn down a single California city.
Karen Bass on the other hand ...
I don't see what that has to do with Musk, seems Klein is just doing his two minutes of hate. Klein is the problem, not the solution.
The burden of proof has flipped. Dems now need to prove that they are honest people aligned with the values of the electorate. They are going to need to accomplish this amid a blizzard of publicity that shows corruption and elitism. They'll trot out the normiest they've got -- Slotkin and Kelly. Time will tell.
The question mark in the link implies doubt and that Klein is largely in agreement with Althouse.
I don't think it belongs there.
I read a version of Klein's thing in the NYT yesterday. You can quibble with some of the details (and Klein's characterization of his opponents), but I was pleasantly surprised to see a NYT insider recommend that the Democrats should change tactics to better align with the popular idea of improving government efficiency. It's imperfect but it's a start toward moving them away from their fringe. I understand lots of people on here would prefer the Democrats remain unelectable, but I'd like to see a move toward the center for the good of the country.
"Peachy said...
oh. More delicious goodies from the moral degenerate left:
"Washington Democrats are ready to vote on a bill that would release juvenile killers from jail early .."
San Jose Ca., 13 year old murders 15 year old couple of weeks ago. Most he can do is 8 months.
"The 13-year-old suspect in the Santana Row murder is likely to serve only 6 to 8 months in an unlocked ranch facility due to California's juvenile justice laws, which provide leniency for offenders under 14 years old. This has raised concerns about accountability for violent crimes committed by minors."
You can't fight human nature. The only good government is a small government.
When Democrats criticize Democrats there has to be an obligatory reference to Trump bad. Here Klein has to add that MAGA is dangerous. Otherwise his friends (and maybe even family) would cancel him for even mild disapproval of the Democratic establishment. Talk about an iron grip.
“Coming from us the accountants I say with complete confidence the elimination of the SALT deduction has everything to do with”
And we dodged a bullet this last election. Eliminating the cap on that deduction was one of the Dems top priorities last year.
Progressive elites hate and despise the working classes. They did so in the Soviet Union - read The House of Government by Yuri Slezkine for detail. Fundamentally, they were and are embarrassed and humiliated by the gulf between the living conditions of the ruling class and those of the working class.
…the fault is Ezra proclaiming corruption waste and fraud are ‘government working’.
I can’t hear the name without thinking of Norm MacDonald’s joke…
Left Bank of the Charles said...
"The wealth effect is an interesting one. Presumably someone is buying the housing that people who are leaving New York and California supposedly can’t afford to own."
Mostly they are not. There is a lot of empty un rentable space in NY and Chicago and LA.
One thing propping up California housing is the Chinese middle class. They are buying the middle class housing.
At least before the recent fires in LA.
Mr. Hilts ( why do I think of "I am the lineman for the county") when you comment?
The census never stops doing surveys. The big issue is what questions are permitted re. Illegals. And they do all sorts: agricultural, educational, peoplegun violence.
To get a job, first they lecture you on diversity for two hours, then you take the test, then, if you don't speak Spanish, they don't hire you in many places.
In 2008, I was desperate for work. I spent six hours with half a dozen other desperate people being lectured about slavery and native Americans (the one black guy, an accountant, was mortified); took the test; got 100%, as did all the others, then the guv'mint employee burst out crying and said she couldn't hire us because we didn't speak Spanish. She said she was not allowed to just bloody ask us if we spoke Spanish in the first place because that was discrimination. Another woman was crying too. This is how our country treats the middle class.
Sounds like a job for DOGE.
My dad got a census job in Atlanta. He was the one white male in an office of black females. They were terrified to go into the projects, and they fought over partnering with him every day. In his Members Only windbreaker, white Corolla, knee-high, pure white diabetic socks and sneakers, and completely unaware lectures about their civic duty, the gangbangers in serious no-man's land were so gobsmacked that he was very successful. I would not be surprised if a rap song was written about him. There should be one. He treated them like people, and they responded in kind.
Alec I'll take false promises without evidence of effective government for $50 billion wasted.
The last few tears conversations at work with clients sometimes go like this: Grok, tell me how I can live in New York without New York knowing I live in New York…
""If liberals do not want Americans to turn to the false promises of strong men..."
Why is he still writing about Joe Biden?
"tell me how I can live in New York without New York knowing I live in New York…"
That's a dangerous game, I wouldn't play it.
"Is there a liberal answer to Elon Musk?"
The answer is no. Elon Musk brings a large degree of selflessness to his assignment.
I can't see someone like Bezos doing that.
Robert Cook said...
Why assume the right will gain power as people move from California, New York, etc. to southern states and other areas that have been traditionally on the right?
The people leaving are leaving for political rather than financial reasons.
The financial emigrants from CA screwed up WA and OR, and to a certain extend NV, because they were too stupid to understand that it was Democrat polices that were forcing them to leave.
The political refugees, OTOH, are leaving because they dont' like the Dem politics, and they are voting hard GOP in their new homes
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