From "Tired of political attacks, Musk turns back to Mars and autonomous cars/As he retreats from Washington, Elon Musk says he will spend 'a lot less' on politics. Close advisers says he is eager to return to prior obsessions" (WaPo).
Who knows what Elon Musk is thinking or planning to do or what he will do? He likes to surprise and he's really good at that. Meanwhile, The Washington Post is rather flat-footed and obvious. I can see that it means to do what it always does — mix low-level hate with weak encouragement in the hope of keeping readers in the sickly embrace of the Democratic Party.
పోస్ట్లు
59 కామెంట్లు:
Elon Musk does not want to be involved in politics. He wants to do other things.
People whose entire life is built around politics and gaining power over other people will constantly attack him and misrepresent him. Politics attracts the worst kind of person.
Elon Musk took on a massive societal evil and did enough to hold it back for now.
His detractors on this subject are moral cowards and terrible people.
The theme of that piece is that Musk bought the election for Trump and without Elon’s money, Harris would have won.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
"mix low-level hate with weak encouragement in the hope of keeping readers in the sickly embrace of the Democratic Party."
By Jove, I think she's got it!
Why didn't I think of that? I should have just quietly summoned a handful of Republican strategists and confidants to my sparsely decorated apartment overlooking downtown Austin. The rest would have been history! God, that guy is smart!
IDK how much $ Musk contributed (perhaps it says so in the article), but he's not the only game in town: Trump Builds $600M War Chest Ahead of Midterms, Largest of Any Other President This Early in His Term.
Personally, I think there is far from a linear relationship between money and votes.
I think he is doing exactly what he and Trump said he would do a year ago. If WaPo is flat footed, it is because WaPo didn’t believe them, which is also not a surprise. WaPo only believes Democrats that lie to them.
Rules for radicals:
"13. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions."
He should be awarded The Presidential Medal of Freedom. Any questions??
Tedious. An active mind with business interests is labeled "prior obsessions".
Successful people can sense when an idea has played itself out and it's time to move on. A true sign of obsession would be Musk continuing in politics at this point.
I guess they want to imply that it was simply a product of money, but.... if so, then why didn't Kamala win? She spent over a $ billion, some say as much as $2 billion. If they wanted to make the point, they should line up all the billionaires on both sides.... oh, wait.
In spite of the so called backlash against tesla, its stock price is still pretty high ($339) compared to 5 year historical levels.
And in spit of many signs of the battcar boom being over.
John Henry
The writing makes it sound all so sinister - he summoned them to a sparsely furnished apartment - like a Bond villain. WaPo thinks is effective, but it hurts what ever credibility they might have had.
Where is the evidence that he’s “tired of political attacks”? He achieved what he wanted to achieve and now he’s moving on to the next thing. If anything, Musk, like Trump, seems like the type who revels in slapping away his antagonists.
I think that the deflection off of a disastrous path that Musk sought has happened. Of course we could fall back into it, but we haven't yet.
Democrats think that money is everything because money is their obsession. Especially among there donor class, who can never scoop up enough of it from exploiting the power of government.
The Republican Party had a once-in-a-generation opportunity to actually do what they said that they believed in, with a President unafraid to push forward in the face of any criticism, and a visionary billionaire willing to use money and expertise to make such changes happen at a pace and scale previously undreamed.
And the Republic Party did absolutely nothing.
Absolutely, purposefully nothing.
They stalled, dissembled, and negated all efforts. The fruit was ripe on the trees and they purposely let it fall to the ground and rot.
They are laying low and waiting out these four short years, and looking forward to a return of Business as Usual, even if that means Democrats nose-diving the Nation into financial and social oblivion.
USAID will be back; unaccountable NGOs will again be awash in crony funding. DOGE will be remembered as a rich man’s folly, rather than the last relatively painless way to right the ship as the iceberg gets ever closer. Treason will be reasoned away by those in expensive suits and judges’ robes, as the price for imagined virtue.
Men should be hung, but — alas — we no longer do such things. A pity.
Ask me what I really think.
I am Laslo.
DC needs to be considered as more of a toxic Superfund site that needs cleaning up, like one of those old petrochemical sites where water wells are dug in a grid pattern, and the soils are flushed.
Move as many of the agencies out of that toxic dump as possible, put them in the heartland where they are accountable to their customers, and return DC to Federal rules and oversight. It's the only way.
If you doubt this, try reading Sundance's review of his recent trip to DC over at the conservative treehouse.
As Neil Young once warbled:
Rust Never Sleeps.
Every once-in-awhile ol’ Neil got it right, back then.
On that album he name-checked Johnny Rotten.
As Johnny said to the audience at Winterland in 1978:
"Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?"
Yep.
I am Laslo.
Laslo Spatula said...
...
I am Laslo.
Without reposting everything I second everything Laslo said except one thing.
I believe that Trump is just our latest escalation.
I do not believe it will stop with Trump. This is the best deal the globalist uniparty will get.
Next time we are going to nominate and elect Pinochet.
“Elon Musk does not want to be involved in politics. He wants to do other things.”
The big thing that the appears to want is to put humans on Mars. The Dems in general, and federal bureaucrats in particular, were fucking with his ability to do that, because they could, and no one in the Biden Administration would tell them to knock it off. A rationale, US focused Administration, would have shut down the bureaucrats shutting down launches and keeping him from building more launch sites, because his launch capacity is critical to our national defense. After wholly owned StarLink, their next biggest launch customer, by far, is the USG. We are engaged in a space race right now, against the ChiComs, and we cannot afford to lose it. We are, ultimately, their #1 target, and would likely destroy us, in an instant, if they could. Yet, under Biden, environmental activist bureaucrats were able to impede him, and the military, with impunity.
WAPO: “intense backlash”
From who?
Glad to see Laslo Spatula back--it's been a while. And as for money in politics--Democrat donor dollars spend just as well as Musk donor dollars. And I suspect that Harris had more donor dollars of all types than did the Bad Orange Man. Or course spending a dollar does not mean that it has been spent wisely, or with any political effect for that matter. See, Harris, Kamala 2024 campaign.
"Intense backlash'
Came from inside the the democratic clap-Trap house.
Loyal minions - dutifully waiting for their orders to be democratic party sanctioned domestic terrorists.
11:19 - Laslo - yes. That. Indeed.
Musk wasn’t able to save enough to pay for his Mars boondoggle, so he’s done. The business leaders he recruited will soon get their tax cuts, and then they’ll be done. The One Big Beautiful Bill will be the high water mark for the second Trump Presidency.
Leftwing Bank - More BS and lie.
Left Bank of the Charles said...
Musk wasn’t able to save enough to pay for his Mars boondoggle, so he’s done. The business leaders he recruited will soon get their tax cuts, and then they’ll be done. The One Big Beautiful Bill will be the high water mark for the second Trump Presidency.
These are the types of worthless pieces of shit we need to convince to leave the country and go to China.
They don't care how much good Musk does or the things that Musk accomplishes. They only care that Musk was part of a broad coalition of people that opposed them and kept them from getting power and stealing our tax money.
People like Left Bank contribute nothing to our society and nothing to the people around them. We need to start making these people leave.
“Democracy Dies in WaPoo DooDoo.”
"They don't care how much good Musk does or the things that Musk accomplishes."
No, they just clench their tiny fists and impotently screech "You didn't build that!" while the people who actually get things done ignore them.
Can't get thru the paywall, but wasn't a lot of Musk's campaign donation spent on sending lawyers to all the usual-suspect cities, to prevent a repeat of the 2020 shenanigans?
While D money was spent on - ?? - maybe at best (for them) attempts to repeat the shenanigans? And building fake podcast soundstages so Kammie wouldn't have to travel?
Time to update Thatcher's Law - the Dems didn't even run out of other people's money, and they still lost.
JSM
I had high hopes for Elon, but was severely disappointed. If not for his rash arrogance, multiple ginormous mistakes, apparent cruelty, and "discovering" federal cr*p that everyone knew about for the last 30 years, DOGE could have been great.
The problem is and always was: career politicians of all parties buy votes with garbage programs, garbage employees, gifts to veterans, gifts to women, gifts to racial groups, etc. THEY ALL LOVE THIS METHOD. You can't all it "waste" when the elected folks use this trash for advertising during every election cycle.
They all want (1) a "critical" issue to tackle, and (2) an issue that cannot be solved for the rest of their careers. This is why abortion and gun law discussions were a broken record for 50+ years.
Elon (and Ramaswamy and Trump and Russ Vought) walked into a Dunning-Kruger trap of thinking anyone in DC cared about "waste." Now, Trump's Big Beautiful spending bill continues with Clinton's and Obama's big government budgets.
Kick the can down the road. Kick it farther. Let the grandkids pay all that interest.
"retreats." You wish, WaPo.
It seems some of the folks who told us there was nothing to uncover, nothing to stop and correct and now decrying what could’ve been.
Fuck ‘em.
> Next time we are going to nominate and elect Pinochet.
Why? Is Vlad the Impaler unavailable???
"...intense backlash."
That's Wapoese for criminality and terrorism. We can be certain the owner had a more than a hand in this morsel of gleeful reportage. There is no one Jeff Bezos hates and admires than Elon Musk. They are frequently compared to each other, two super-billionaires, one a visionary the other a robber baron. Musk is a Thomas Edison to Bezos' J.P. Morgan.
Bezos is also intensely jealous of Elon Musk, he founded his Blue Origin to prove he could be taken for a visionary capitalist as well. Bezos thought it would be simple; he'd just buy success in rocket science. I think we see straight through that pretense that in Blue Origin's only operational vehicle, the amusement park ride for millionaires and empty-headed pop singers call New Shepard. The New Glenn rocket is still a non-operational also-ran me-too flop.
In keeping with the post earlier this week, bear in mind that politics is a conspiracy. When you hear that someone is plotting something behind closed doors, rest assured that someone on the other side is doing the same thing. It's possible that the Democrat conspirators weren't as effective as Musk in 2024, but they walked away with the whole election in 2020 without any serious challenge from Republicans.
I think our friend Laszlo Spatula is being a bit cynical here--much like the reliably so WaPo. Mr. Trump has been in office four months and four days. To expect a brand new world in that period of time is to feverishly cultivate cynicism. Perhaps is will turn out as LS speculates, but perhaps not. I'm not sure Tokyo was ever the same after Godzilla rampaged through it, but I could be wrong.
Enigma said...
I had high hopes for Elon, but was severely disappointed. If not for his rash arrogance, multiple ginormous mistakes, apparent cruelty, and "discovering" federal cr*p that everyone knew about for the last 30 years, DOGE could have been great.
I don't think you understand just how much different things are today compared to 6 months ago when he got involved.
I also know you don't understand how to read the trajectory of history or you wouldn't say something this silly.
You wouldn't happen to be a Desantis supporter would you?
Marty said...
I think our friend Laszlo Spatula is being a bit cynical here--much like the reliably so WaPo. Mr. Trump has been in office four months and four days. To expect a brand new world in that period of time is to feverishly cultivate cynicism. Perhaps is will turn out as LS speculates, but perhaps not. I'm not sure Tokyo was ever the same after Godzilla rampaged through it, but I could be wrong.
Laslo was spot on with reference to the Republican party. There are maybe 10 Republican Congress people that are not on the other side.
20 at most.
Elon Musk, though no genius, (despite his self-created reputation as a genius), realizes that Trump is a disaster, one becoming greater over time, and he wants to distance himself from Trump and the ongoing disaster as swiftly and to the degree he can.
Musk has many good reasons for a tactical retreat. He's made it clearer than ever who benefits from government corruption and incompetence, and who votes for it. Let's see how this plays out.
Marty said...
"...Mr. Trump has been in office four months and four days. To expect..."
I was specifically aiming at the Party, not Trump.
The GOP have made no true efforts to put any of the Executive Orders into law.
The GOP have made no efforts to put the rogue judges back into their proper lane.
The GOP have made no efforts at cutting the waste and fraud that DOGE has already uncovered.
They do not want to put these things into cement: they want it to be sand that will wash away when Trump is gone.
I am Laslo.
(reposted to remove accidental over-spaces)
Elon Musk does not want to be involved in politics. He wants to do other things.
Hank Reardon only wanted to make steel, but the politicians forced him into politics.
Elon is pretty much in the same position thanks to the Soviet Democrats.
the post excuses terrorism and vandalism as they did in 2020, the worse the better by their lights,
Cook wrote: Elon Musk, though no genius, (despite his self-created reputation as a genius), realizes that Trump is a disaster, one becoming greater over time, and he wants to distance himself from Trump and the ongoing disaster as swiftly and to the degree he can.
LOL! Our HS Social Studies teacher and faculty lounge savant has it all figured out again. Cookie knows who the real genius is.
Musk wasn't supposed to run DOGE for the term of the administration. Just jump start it. He did and now it's up to Trump to keep it moving. Put JD Vance in charge of it. If he can really make a difference then he's the candidate for 2028.
For all of Elon Musk's discoveries of fraud in federal spending, this has led to the arrest of not a single person.
Musk has definitely disrupted some of the theft of the federal taxpayer dollars that Democrats have engineered into the system, but only some of it (mostly USAID stuff that will just get re-funded the second Democrats are in control of the Department of the Treasury.)
Musk has a critical vulnerability that others such as George Soros do not have: He's running a public company and much of his wealth is tied to that company.
Soros doesn't have that issue. It will be up to other billionaires to fix America and frankly none of them want to because they're all in on it staying broken.
Elon, put out the receipts, its up to other parties to do the work,, if they don't want to, as the possums have shown, as the judges have largely sustained the fraud, there isn't much you can do,
Ask me what I really think.
I am Laslo.
So, Laslo, what do you really think? Don't hold anything back, now...
5/24/25, 11:19 AM
We were told months ago that Musk’s involvement in the nuts and bolts of DOGE was going to be temporary. Remember that he is a designated “Special Government Employee”, a category that can serve at the President’s pleasure for a limited time only, something like 180 days.
Althouse: "The Washington Post is rather flat-footed and obvious. I can see that it means to do what it always does — mix low-level hate with weak encouragement in the hope of keeping readers in the sickly embrace of the Democratic Party. "
Excellent.
"its up to other parties to do the work,, if they don't want to, as the possums have shown, as the judges have largely sustained the fraud, there isn't much you can do,"
But... everybody on the left and all the LLRs are just so sure that Trump's a dictator, right? So how's *that* work- a dictator who can't do much without the cooperation of others?
Robert Cook said...
Elon Musk, though no genius, (despite his self-created reputation as a genius), realizes that Trump is a disaster, one becoming greater over time, and he wants to distance himself from Trump and the ongoing disaster as swiftly and to the degree he can.
I feel bad for ever thinking you were above average intelligence. That was a really stupid post by a really stupid person.
FFS people, do all you brilliant Althouse participants not know anything??? "The White House has confirmed that Musk is a special government employee — meaning he is limited to working 130 days per year, according to federal law. Depending on when he received that role, his term should in theory end in late May or early June."
It’s difficult to say anyone’s “blown it” when they’ve become the richest man on the planet. Bar none.
But -- and I fully expect to be pelted with rotten tomatoes by certain quarters of the Althouse commentariat -- money ain’t everything.
Musk was a global superstar. Regardless of how much he did at Tesla or SpaceX (or according to rumor, how much they had to stop him doing), he was an emblematic, charismatic barker CEO who pulled punters into his carnival. And under his aegis, pushed forward EV tech and rocketry by decades.
And made one of the classic blunders. He didn’t just start to believe his own hype: he blew $40bn buying the hype machine and mainlined himself to it, absorbing not just endless streams of attention but all of the most toxic ideas that went with it.
For a man who demands epic grind, hyperfocus and other meaningless buzzwords for things that most HR get a heart attack from, he couldn’t keep track of things that mattered or keep his feet on the ground.
Is there yet another chapter to be written to this story? Who knows. Maybe there’ll be something else to latch onto take credit for. Maybe he fades into the background. Maybe, and this is deeply unlikely, he suffers a fit of buyers’ remorse so deep he tries to undo his meddling in politics. (His fault. You can’t timeshare politicians with Putin).
Or maybe the disastrous relationships, waning popularity and self-proclaimed “epic” substance indulgences finally take a toll.
It all could have been so much better. But some men really will burn the world rather than go to therapy…
Kakistocracy said...
It’s difficult to say anyone’s “blown it” when they’ve become the richest man on the planet. Bar none.
People of limited intelligence should stop there.
And made one of the classic blunders. He didn’t just start to believe his own hype: he blew $40bn buying the hype machine and mainlined himself to it, absorbing not just endless streams of attention but all of the most toxic ideas that went with it.
You are just stupid.
Musk's purchase of X and turning into the defacto town square has completely displaced the main stream media and ended their ability to set the Overton window.
This action was profitable because X is worth more now by any reasonable valuation metric.
But more importantly it allows us to meet and talk without any of the globalist oligarch filters. As a result of this one action Musk destroyed all value that CNNABDNBCCBSNYTWAPO had.
We all laugh at you now. We all know a majority of people also know the truth.
But I also remember when you predicted X would go bankrupt. Just one of the numerous times you made yourself look dumb.
The Left HOPES and PRAYS Musk disengages from electoral politics.
2026 is a crucial mid term to keep the ball rolling, Musk will stay engaged.
I couldn't get past "quietly summoned." You mean he didn't buy airtime to publicly broadcast the gathering? Sounds nefarious, for sure, like a secret cabal is gathering. And he "summoned" them - didn't just "invite" them, he called them in like they were obligated and didn’t have a choice to decline to attend, like a master demands his servant or dog come immediately. Nothing loaded about the words used by the WaPo here, no siree.
If Harris and the Dems had won the election, the Dems would be engaged full time in weaponizing government for the purpose of attacking and destroying Musk and X. Which they will try to do as soon as they can. Musk's support of Trump was and is an exercise in survival.
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