r/politics • u/soloChristoGlorium • Feb 02 '25

Paywall Musk vows to cancel grants after gaining access to US Treasury payment system

https://www.ft.com/content/27ba0a6a-0d9b-4e08-8329-730b581c0481
33.2k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

4.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

6.5k

u/sedatedlife Washington Feb 02 '25

At this point he is acting as if he is above the president.

3.0k

u/Callinon Feb 02 '25

If he somehow does this and gets away with it, then he is.

1.7k

u/stay_fr0sty Pennsylvania Feb 02 '25

Trump isn’t on that golf course looking for a way to stop Musk. He’s all for it.

632

u/derf705 America Feb 02 '25

He is looking away cause his boyfriend has it all taken care of

331

u/spaceman757 American Expat Feb 02 '25

He's looking away because he's a lazy fuck who knows that he's way above his head and this gives him an excuse.

86

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25

[deleted]

6

u/throwmamadownthewell Feb 03 '25

They have the same bosses, after all.

7

u/Spencer94 Feb 03 '25

It makes me sick that this lap dog is going to fucking ruin us. I wish that bullet never missed.

241

u/Cachemorecrystal Feb 02 '25

In a few months, after Musk has caused a lot of damage that they both agreed upon, suddenly Trump is going to be saying "Musk? I hardly know him" or "Someone else hired him."

16

u/daschande Feb 03 '25

Low-level covefe boy.

13

u/sophiesbest Feb 03 '25

Wouldn't be surprised if Trump is letting Musk do all the dirty work just so he can throw him under the bus later.

Let Musk commit most of the crimes, then once he's done being useful Trump can push for his prosecution and arrest. Takes the heat and liability off of Trump while simultaneously making Trump look fair, even handed, and Just (lol) since he's willing to punish an ally if they do wrong (lmao).

7

u/hammertime2009 Feb 03 '25

Naw he will let him do the dirty work, take the fall and the fallout for it. Get prosecuted for it and the right wing media will put their insane spin on the truth and Musk will claim he had permission or is being unfairly treated and then Trump will pardon him. Oh wait. The Trump DOJ won’t prosecute him, who am I kidding!?

3

u/Poohstrnak Feb 03 '25

Yep. He’ll talk about musk the same way he talks about all his ex-cabinet members.

1

u/Orange152horn3 Feb 03 '25

Will we be allowed to rip Musk into pieces at that moment?

1

u/TheLongDark14 Feb 03 '25

He will say, he's a DEI immigrant hire, and he needs to go, once the civil war starts between the MAGAts.

28

u/mooky1977 Canada Feb 02 '25

As long as his personal fortune keeps going up, and it has with all the meme coin shit, Donald will let Elon do what he wants. And Elon would make sure Donald gets fed. So so so fucked.

2

u/GiftToTheUniverse Feb 03 '25

Americans need to ditch money.

If we keep on keeping on like normal then things don’t NEED to grind to a halt. We don’t HAVE to have a famine.

10

u/Drone30389 Feb 02 '25

Anybody remember in Trump's first term when some Republican said that Trump's team offered him to basically do all the President work while Trump just went around doing Trump things (like golfing and whatnot)? If that actually happened it might have been better if he'd taken the offer.

10

u/Aggravating_Depth_33 Feb 02 '25

In Trump's first term, his team, horrible as they were, were at least semi sane.

10

u/kayleigh220 Feb 03 '25

not boyfriend, first lady, cause we know Melania is nowhere to be found.

1

u/CyanideMuffin67 Feb 03 '25

"Elaine Musk"

1

u/wutfacer Feb 03 '25

This is a dumb narrative. Homophobic and minimizes the very real danger of having someone unelected and unchecked with access to and power over government systems

-3

u/Racine262 Feb 03 '25

Worrying about gay feelings being hurt is what got us into this mess.

5

u/Justjack91 Feb 03 '25

That's a pretty broad stroke. Don't give energy to that anti-DEI narrative. It affected 1% of things and the Republicans chose to make it a focus as low hanging fruit.

It's really dumb to be sexist, racists, homophobic, xenophobic, and any other variation of this, even in humor. If we're to get back to "normalcy" or better, we need this to continue to be a goal.

2

u/GiftToTheUniverse Feb 03 '25

No. Zealous dehumanization of “others” is what got us into this mess.

Study the Shoa.

4

u/PunxatawnyPhil Feb 03 '25

He don’t (doesn’t) give a shit either way really. He just plays his part, PR, he’s the real press secretary following the script with that ugly popular face. The party, extremist rightys set strategy and pull all the levers, busy behind doors like a pack of Gremlins. They probably send him golfing, and drag him back in only to sign something. That’s all the party wanted, anybody who would just sign everything they put in front of him. They’ve been saying it for years. That no-new-tax pledge guy Norquist said that many times way way back.

4

u/kobachi Feb 03 '25

Trump never cared about being president. He just wanted to stay out of prison.

1

u/nneeeeeeerds Feb 03 '25

I would even say Trump approved of all of this.

1

u/CV90_120 Feb 03 '25

He's doing that thing where Musk is doing what trump wants, bt trump can pretend to be shocked if Musk goes too far for the public.

1

u/rounder55 Feb 03 '25

And I haven't heard one Republican let out a peep in opposition either

1

u/No_Discipline6265 Feb 03 '25

It's so strange that Trump is sharing his spotlight with someone else. Narcissists usually won't associate with other Narcissists. 

236

u/the_tanooki Feb 02 '25

somehow

It's been proven that the rich are above legal repercussions. Especially the right wing rich.

The only way he wouldn't get away with it is if plumbers rise up, and with how much of a volatile powder keg everything is, that would likely just cause a different, more violent issue.

83

u/Callinon Feb 02 '25

We're rapidly approaching "no choice" territory.

14

u/DrusTheAxe Feb 03 '25

4th box territory

Never back a man into a corner with no hope, for he has nothing left to lose…

5

u/Honestly_I_Am_Lying Feb 03 '25

We're really headed towards "let them eat cake" realm. Unless that falls under the 4th box.

1

u/DrusTheAxe Feb 05 '25

A common precursor to the 4th box

2

u/Crackytacks Feb 03 '25

A wild animal is most dangerous when backed into a corner. Take civilization away from a man and all that's left is an animal. They have no idea what they're in for if they do this to Americans

12

u/CpnStumpy Colorado Feb 03 '25

"approaching"

10

u/bizarre_coincidence Feb 03 '25

We have stopped being a country of laws, at least as far as the executive branch is concerned. They openly flout both congress and the courts, they have done irreparable harm to our international relations, and have flatly stated their intent to destroy people's lives. How will we be able to tell when we actually arrive?

1

u/po23idon Feb 03 '25

we’re rapidly approaching the end

1

u/GiftToTheUniverse Feb 03 '25

It is time to start thinking like Cubans before we are forced to start thinking like North Koreans.

-3

u/honestbussy Feb 03 '25

no we aren’t, americans will riot over a sports team than put their own life in danger

3

u/CDefense7 Feb 03 '25

*right wing reich

2

u/King_Chochacho Feb 03 '25

Does the flight tracker still work?

1

u/GiftToTheUniverse Feb 03 '25

Right wing reich.

29

u/[deleted] Feb 02 '25 edited Feb 04 '25

[deleted]

7

u/Dasmage Feb 02 '25

or whether Musk has some unique ability to flatter Trump enough to keep him happy, we have no idea.

I'm working under the impression that he's letting Trump act as president and maybe a future figure head of whatever new regime Musk and the other oligarchs are trying to build. As long as Trump feels like he's important then you can just get him to do whatever and sign off on whatever.

7

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25 edited Feb 04 '25

[deleted]

1

u/grannyforchoice Feb 03 '25

Yeah, no t wanting to do any work or make decisions explains why, when presented with all the info about Jan. 6 insurrectionists, he said, "F*** it, pardon them all".

2

u/m0nk_3y_gw Feb 03 '25

Elon has a private AI company, that has $500M worth of NVIDIA hardware, and zero ethics team, that likely helps play dirty to win elections:

  • involved with Elon's PAC's get-out-the-vote site that directed voters in non-swing states to vote registration portal, BUT directed voters in swing states to just leave their personal details (name/address). Also, that fake voter sweepstakes in PA.

  • involved with Elon's PAC's dirty tricks of sending fake Kamala flyers to Muslim voters in swing states that talked up her Jewish connections/husband.

  • involved with the high number of bullet ballots submitted in only swing counties of swing states (red states next door didn't have the same weirdness)

  • involved with Elon's PAC's running the entirety of Trump's get-out-the-vote ground game

  • involved with whatever the hell Trump was talking about with Elon's mastery of vote counting machines in PA

edit: Musk redirected $500M in Nvidia hardware from Tesla to x.ai months before the election https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/04/elon-musk-told-nvidia-to-ship-ai-chips-reserved-for-tesla-to-x-xai.html

1

u/itsasatanicdrugthing Feb 03 '25

Did Elon musk write this?

6

u/Sideshow_Bob_Ross Feb 03 '25

Trump is firing everyone who could stop him.

Where's a bold General when you need one?

6

u/emmayarkay Feb 02 '25

Isn’t this what the 2nd amendment is for?

5

u/dzumdang California Feb 02 '25

It's up to the executive branch to enforce laws. So even if Congress calls him out, the executive branch is currently being dismantled by this same guy who needs to be held accountable. And the military is now run by a far right white christian nationalist drunkard fox news host. He'll very likely face no real consequences.

3

u/Disastrous_Visit9319 Feb 02 '25

They're just going to do things and challenge anyone to stop them. Some judge tells them to stop? Why does that matter?

2

u/ASubsentientCrow Feb 02 '25

He bought the president. That makes him above the president

2

u/Potential-Draft-3932 Feb 03 '25

How much fucking government handouts has that asswipe taken for his companies? He should start by canceling all those payments and returning our money

2

u/Callinon Feb 03 '25

Somehow I don't think that's the plan.

2

u/meowqct Feb 03 '25

He bought the presidency from Donald because he can't run.

1

u/SuburbanHell Massachusetts Feb 03 '25

Well, I don't see anyone trying to stop him so far...

1

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25

Yeah. If he does all the things he said he will do then our country is literally owned by a multi billionaire oligarchs. How is no one rioting for this is insane.

1

u/Yonatann1 Feb 03 '25

I assure you he will be found missing if he goes through with this plan.

0

u/Callinon Feb 03 '25

At this point I have more faith in plumbers dressed in green overalls than I do in the structures and systems of the US legal system.

1

u/GandizzleTheGrizzle Feb 03 '25 edited Mar 17 '25

important groovy rinse normal square continue mysterious quiet racial nine

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

1

u/Pixel_Knight Feb 03 '25

So then, he will, and he is. No one in this administration will ever be held accountable for their crimes.

479

u/Cautious-Progress876 Feb 02 '25

He is now. Trump is too stupid and too old to hold the reins, so now Musk, Thiel, and the Big Tech leaders will get to be the kings they think they are.

59

u/sambull Feb 02 '25

He may even route the heritage foundation

7

u/UncleMalky Texas Feb 02 '25

They will bend the knee to keep punching down.

12

u/Quick_Turnover Feb 02 '25

Frankly I think this would backfire. Trump, for as shitty as he is, still holds the reigns of the actual people. If Trump said "I hate Elon" tomorrow, his supporters would lap it up and drive their cybertrucks off a cliff.

8

u/TheOgrrr Feb 02 '25

If this is the ground truth of America, is it worth saving? Honestly?

3

u/say592 Feb 02 '25

Obviously it is, but we have to understand that a single election won't fix all of our problems. This will probably be an ongoing battle for the next generation or two.

1

u/Biglyugebonespurs Missouri Feb 02 '25

Ehh…

4

u/lynch527 Feb 02 '25

Not is the rest of this country fights back. They are a tiny group of people against over 300 million. 

4

u/Adventurous_Lake8611 Feb 03 '25

Elon rigged the election so trump lets him do whatever he wants.

3

u/girl4life Feb 02 '25

This is the play book , an not it's not p2025 although that helps.

https://youtu.be/5RpPTRcz1no?si=7Hd69cG7Ak6NqUGS

2

u/Rabid_Alleycat Feb 02 '25

Are you kidding? Trump will definitely get some of those billions funneled to him.

2

u/alienacean Feb 03 '25

Welcome to tech feudalism, serfs!

2

u/Raskalbot California Feb 03 '25

Theil and the like will learn what happens when you make yourselves kings.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25

Do not forget Curtis Yarvin either. He's the big thinker behind a lot of this.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

Just like yeltsin

-2

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25

[deleted]

12

u/-re-da-ct-ed- Feb 02 '25

He is. Despite him destroying a whole country, he’s making calculated moves.

The actual president though? He’s just having literal stacks of executive orders shoved in front of him, already signing it, “oh, look at that, what’s this one”?

10

u/mbelf Feb 02 '25

At this point if aliens visited he’d introduce himself as King of Earth

2

u/Mia-Wal-22-89 Feb 03 '25

He’d introduce himself as the leader of Earth but make up some bizarre sci-fi title for it.

5

u/ramborage Feb 02 '25

Because he is.

4

u/emmayarkay Feb 02 '25

Isn’t this what the 2nd amendment is for?

3

u/justking1414 Feb 02 '25

That should be the message on every news channel in the country. The only way to stop musk is to make trump jealous and petty

3

u/RU4real13 Feb 02 '25

Let nobody forget. Elon is most likely a foreign asset with ties to the Saudis AND Russians

2

u/Due_Bluebird3562 Feb 02 '25

And we should make the public (and the media) treat it as such. We need get Trump and Musk at each other's throats. While they are busy cat fighting, we can strategize ways to end this shitshow.

2

u/Companion____Cube Mississippi Feb 02 '25

He is.

2

u/eeyore134 Feb 02 '25

Unless someone tells him no then he is.

2

u/Independent-Cow-4070 Feb 02 '25

Until he is held accountable, he is

2

u/Ok_Variation9430 Feb 02 '25

The president does not have the right to do this, though.

2

u/ChiefsHat Feb 02 '25

The point of having a puppet ruler is that no one can see you’re the one pulling the strings.

2

u/Professor_Goddess Feb 02 '25

That's the point. They are working to create a technocratic libertarian state. Making the government "efficient" is not the point. He aims to make the government irrelevant.

2

u/turbo_dude Feb 02 '25

He’ll be below ground if he carries on this nonsense for much longer. 

2

u/townandthecity Feb 02 '25

This message is the only way we're going to be able to get MAGA to turn on him. Musk is elbowing Trump out of the way. It's an in-house takeover. Trump is not safe. They want him out of the way. Whatever language you can use to poke them. We absolutely have to have MAGA voters in order to put a stop to this. And insulting Trump won't work. Make Trump sound like he's being pushed aside and lied to. He hasn't talked to Trudeau since the inauguration. Maybe they haven't been allowing him to take calls.

These people are Pizzagate/Qanon conspiracy theorists. Getting an account on Truth Social or X and sounding the alarm about an internal coup AGAINST Donald Trump would not be hard to get buy in for. Mostly because it could help those who are trying to rationalize the intentional destruction of our economy.

2

u/Ozymandias12 Feb 03 '25

There are two presidencies happening at once right now. On the one hand, you have the trump presidency, which is solely obsessed with getting revenge on anyone who Trump feels wronged by - the FBI, Republicans who spoke out against him, liberals, etc. This presidency is completely unconcerned with governing or helping anyone other than Trump.

On the other hand, you have Musk and his oligarch billionaire and tech bro minions who have invaded government agencies and they’re tearing down our entire system of government from the inside.

1

u/Quick_Turnover Feb 02 '25

That's the one thing we have going for us. Their narcissistic egos are going to get the better of them.

1

u/Rabid_Alleycat Feb 02 '25

He bought it.

1

u/Thunderbolt1011 Feb 02 '25

I think our best way to get him is to just keep telling trump he thinks hes better than him

1

u/chubbychicken007 Feb 02 '25

I have an idea. What if we just start spreading that Elon is more powerful than Trump? That should piss Trump off enough to get rid off him right? We have to turn them against each other somehow.

1

u/UncleMalky Texas Feb 02 '25

Trump can't say shit so long as Musk has the receipts for all those voting machines. What a pathetic little bitch.

1

u/hotaru_crisis Feb 03 '25

i feel like he's speedrunning his way to prison

i'm really interested in seeing what's going to happen in 4 years if democrats win bc surely any sort of protections he might have right now would be gone

1

u/Mia-Wal-22-89 Feb 03 '25

I can’t believe Americans still can’t grasp that a fascist takeover can and is taking place here. These “he’s going to prison” and “in four years” social media posts are so ridiculous.

2

u/hotaru_crisis Feb 03 '25

hence

>if democrats win

1

u/Mia-Wal-22-89 Feb 03 '25

That’s the ridiculous part.

1

u/hotaru_crisis Feb 03 '25

🤷🏻‍♀️ over half of the country is ridiculous

1

u/dIO__OIb Feb 03 '25

and what is even more insane is if he was arrested, Trump would just pardon him. That literally makes him an emporer over the executive office.

1

u/LexSavi Feb 03 '25

Because he is. That what he bought for 1/4 billion dollars during the election.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25

He is. All signs point to it.

1

u/theghostecho Feb 03 '25

Maybe worth mentioning Caesar was the richest man in rome BEFORE he became dictator

1

u/TheThing_1982 Feb 03 '25

He is the president, you don’t spend that much money to get Trump a win without expecting something in return.

1

u/currently_pooping_rn Feb 03 '25

He’s not acting. He is. He bought trump

1

u/Environmental-Car481 Feb 03 '25

And at this point, since he’s had access, he’s probably won’t changed the coding so that no one can fix it

1

u/Brilliant-Swing4874 Feb 03 '25

You still have any doubt who's running the show behind the scenes? He's the shadow President.

1

u/Rizzpooch I voted Feb 03 '25

To be fair, the two branches are co-equal, so saying he’s above the president doesn’t imply he’s above Congress. At least it’s not supposed to be hierarchical; in practice…

1

u/No_Veterinarian1010 Feb 03 '25

The best path to stopping him is hammering this point with trump to get them to fight each other

1

u/JustMark99 Feb 03 '25

You say that as if he isn't.

1

u/DrusTheAxe Feb 03 '25

First Lady Donald Trump should say something to his husband

1

u/Murrabbit Feb 03 '25

Until either the President or Congress get their shit together to tell him "no" he effectively is above both bodies. Neither have the focus or backbone or inclination to say anything like that to him at this point.

1

u/bilyl Feb 03 '25

At this point he can be sued by AGs because he’s a private citizen. I don’t see where he has the mandate to do this.

1

u/lifth3avy84 Feb 03 '25

He bought both

1

u/reb6 Feb 03 '25

I thought he was the president, what with all of his nonsensical ranting. It’s so hard to tell the difference.

1

u/jennalynne1 Feb 03 '25

I really feel like he is running the country

1

u/New_Citizen Feb 03 '25

This is the way to get rid of him. If Trump thinks he’s being grandstanded by Musk, he’ll be out.

1

u/atxcats Feb 03 '25

President Elmo. You'll get your tax refund in dogecoin.

1

u/John_316_ Feb 03 '25

How can he be above himself? Maybe like, in a self-cest scenario?

1

u/thrwaway75132 Feb 03 '25

Open secrets shows $258M in SpaceX donations to Trump campaign. Musk is above the president.

1

u/omgpuppiesarecute Feb 03 '25

A Doge was the head of state and highest political official in several Italian city-states during the Renaissance and medieval periods. The Doge of Venice acted as both the head of state and head of the Venetian oligarchy. Clever double meaning.

People keep thinking he called it Doge because of the meme. He called it that to say he is the chief oligarch in the new oligarchy.

1

u/pennyclip Feb 03 '25

Don't I remember Trump talking on a stage about how he'd delegate all of this off to other people to handle and he just wants all the liquid gold or some stupid shit the crowd cheered about?

1

u/cosquilla Feb 03 '25

Hallo?! Musk is President of the USA!

1

u/PokeRay68 Feb 03 '25

I always pictured Trump as a bottom.

1

u/SpectreCF Feb 03 '25

He bought the presidency, I’m sure he feels like he is

1

u/Flashbulbs Feb 03 '25

That’s because Trump is a bottom.

1

u/Intelligent_Teach247 Feb 03 '25

What is president? It is some kind of fruit l? Like orange? Is it edible?

1

u/Significant-Meal2211 Feb 03 '25

He is above president, y'all figured a white south African is better than a biracial judge

1

u/_blacktriangle_ Feb 03 '25

So he's on top? I don't understand.

1

u/qui-bong-trim Feb 03 '25

Someone needs to charge this guy IMMEDIATELY, before he takes control of the fucking military. not even kidding. He's not even American for christs sake. 

1

u/TeaGlittering1026 Feb 03 '25

He thinks he's the king of the world!

1

u/Mike-the-gay Feb 03 '25 edited Jun 10 '25

person future sand plough paltry innocent depend worm unwritten cough

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

1

u/realityQC_failure29 Feb 03 '25

He has xAI and access plus control of the government’s infrastructure. At this point, he is more powerful than the President, and Congress.

1

u/VastHunter1881 Feb 03 '25

This is next level high….. he is not just acting he is implementing Dictatorship…. This will not bring any good to the world….

1

u/tindalos Feb 03 '25

Presidential Topper

1

u/FillMySoupDumpling Feb 03 '25

This is what I’ve been saying. Elon is a king - and not like a frilly figurehead King.

Americans have installed a figure above and outside the government. 

He has access to our government information. He is independent from Trump. He’s not subject to congressional oversight. He is not going away in four years - kings don’t do term limits. 

1

u/[deleted] Feb 04 '25

When do you think Trump will realize this?