"Elmo is the most dangerous man in the country, the most dangerous man in the world, and quite possibly the most dangerous man in the history of the world.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"His aim is to install far-right extremists loyal to plutocratic power, using attacks on liberal elites, feminists, migrants and Muslims as his rallying cry."

#ElonMusk #Trump #oligarchy #EconomicElites
/10

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"The apparent sense of freedom that Trump and Musk feel in playing politics abroad is also a marker of the self-confidence in MAGA world ahead of Trump’s inauguration. They’re demonstrating a belief that their strength allows them to bully smaller countries and may augur a new and brasher incarnation of 'America First.'”

~ Stephen Collinson

#ElonMusk #Trump #oligarchy #EconomicElites
/11

Analysis: Musk plays politics abroad as world leaders brace for Trump’s return | CNN Politics

Elon Musk’s personal foreign policy of promoting far-right parties is sparking outrage among leaders in Europe and handing them a dilemma: How do they rebuke the tech titan without angering his new patron — Donald Trump?

CNN (www.cnn.com)

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"Donald Trump issued a call to arms over the weekend, urging Republican congressional leaders to pass a legislative package that would extend his 2017 tax cuts that favor the ultra-wealthy and large corporations."

#ElonMusk #Trump #oligarchy #EconomicElites
/12

~Oliver Willis

Here’s how Trump and his congressional puppets aim to make the rich even richer

Donald Trump issued a call to arms over the weekend, urging Republican congressional leaders to pass a legislative package that would extend his 2017 tax cuts that favor the ultra-wealthy and large corporations. “Members of Congress are getting to work...

Daily Kos (www.dailykos.com)

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"The GOP’s prioritization of legislation tilted in favor of the super-rich comes just a few months after Musk, the wealthiest person in the world, spent at least $250 million to elect Trump. Since then, Musk and Trump have been operating effectively as co-presidents, with Trump issuing orders in line with Musk’s wishes."

#ElonMusk #Trump #oligarchy #EconomicElites
/13

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"This [i.e., Jeff Bezos' decision to fund a documentary about Melania Trump] seems like a pretty good sign that the titans of corporate America don’t look content to just be friendly to Trump but definitely go all in as special friends to the incoming President. It may not be quite North Korea territory, though who knows?"

~ Josh Marshall

#ElonMusk #Trump #JeffBezos #oligarchy #EconomicElites
/14

Oligarchia, Here We Come

Through the spiked Washington Post endorsement editorial to the recent spiked editorial cartoon, it’s been difficult to get a precise read on Jeff Bezos’s…

TPM – Talking Points Memo (talkingpointsmemo.com)

[yuhasz01@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy Who the hell works for X platform these days?? Yeah there is Musk the owner ... Who perpetuates the bigotry and fascism they spew daily? Anyone know?

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"But it does look more and more like the model of post-Soviet republics in which you have a nominal democracy in which an emerging class of oligarchs bid for the favor of the strong man with accelerating and competitive feats of dignity-losing strength."

#ElonMusk #Trump #JeffBezos #oligarchy #EconomicElites
/15

[thumper1964@mindly.social]

@wdlindsy Has anyone heard from JD Vance lately? Is he even still with us? It feels for all the world like he’s just disappeared.

[burnoutqueen@todon.nl]

@wdlindsy

"America first" is the maga equivalent of "Alles für Deutschland"

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@burnoutqueen Yes. Well-stated.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@Thumper1964 Astonishing, isn't it?

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@yuhasz01 I don't have an answer to your question, but it's a very good one to ask, it seems to me.

[yuhasz01@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy I want to know who are all the people and organizations that are enabling the new American Fascist admin.
Mush and Drumpf are too dumb and lazy to actually do any of the dirty work.

[lanaehforaday@universeodon.com]

@wdlindsy

Nothing can be done to constrain him. He has ALL THE MONEY. There is NOTHING that can be done.

HE HAS ALL THE MONEY
MONEY IS OUR GOD AND HE HAS ALL THE MONEY

GUESS WHO OUR GOD IS....................

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@LaNaehForaday That's my feeling, too. I remind myself that the world is huge, diverse, unpredictable, uncontrollable, and tyrants always overreach. Their hubris causes them not to see their impending downfall, and they create the conditions for it as a result.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@yuhasz01 It appears that at least part of the answer to the question — and it's a good one — is that economic elites, the super-rich, are almost totally aligned behind Trump-Musk and have put them into office.

[lupus_blackfur@mastodon.world]

@wdlindsy

"newfound thirst for right-wing global politics"

I would quibble with "newfound" a bit...

In my estimation, Elonia has neither "gotten over" nor relinquished the apartheid-style views seemingly instilled in him by his parents.

Now he has the money *and* the global exposure (name recognition?) to be able to expand his political goals worldwide.

It's what the 🫏 has *always* wanted.

[cellomomoncars@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy

You know, somebody needs to go back over Elon's tweets to see if this is a new thing, OR he's always done this, only now the news media are noticing and parroting. As they will.

[pasmac@atmasto.com]

@wdlindsy This new world status puzzles me ...
It's all on books and history.
We are not very intelligent specie ... recycling always the same errors, including on the origin of the issues.

The new political momentum exists by the lack of strong and trustworthy leadership around the world.

If we look around it's all weak leaders ... afraid, and blocked resulting in inaction and weakening the institutions.
We live so much better but some how they create a different perception ...

[dalias@hachyderm.io]

@wdlindsy It would help if Robert Reich weren't being blue-MAGA trash writing anti-immigrant pro-Trump thinkpieces just because Musk is worse. It's possible to condemn them both and stand with our allies.