He stole all IRS, Social Security information- he could look up anyone named who is coming to corral him for decades. He acts as if he is a lawless rogue country of one.
It’s not just a question of who has more money. Elon has more than enough to battle in the courts. The real threats are star link which Elon controls and the data of all Americans he and his doge minions stole last year and how he can leverage that to make threats and avoid prosecution.
Meh. 🤷🏼♀️ When everybody's information is compromised, nobody's information is compromised. I don't think that 'steal' is going to be the flex Musk thinks it is. All he's doing now is putting extra targets on his head, & repeatedly handing the jury yet more unequivocal evidence of his psychopathic criminality.
That's not true. Yes, everybody's information is compromised, but Musk and his militant minions can pick and choose whose lives to ruin with that compromised information. Remember early 2025 when they were talking about using their stolen social security numbers and other identifying information to fraudulently declare people dead?
There's no putting that genie back in the bottle. We must always assume that there are copies of the stolen digital data available to this threat actor. Even if the threat from the individual is nullified, the threat from his cronies is not. In addition to locking him up, or stripping his citizenship and deporting him, we should be creating more secure infrastructure that makes it harder to weaponize the information he's stolen.
You're right, of course. I guess I was being a little optimistic on this occasion. If the information has already been shared with other agents (or states) he's lost his only bargaining chip. If it hasn't, his best course of action now would be trying to cut a deal with the incoming administration, which he won't until he's tried every other avenue (including election interference). Either way he can't possibly think he's coming out of this intact, can he?
Or make all the necessary information public. Privacy is great, and preferable; but we must not do the equivalent of pretending we have privacy simply because we personally can’t access our own data while other people can
Another rich asshole who mistakes money for power, until he finds out that the money only has power when others play along and he's actually just some fucking chud.
But in a way, he does though right? Even under Trump, the US is not a dictatorship. Those "resources and money" are to some extent, democratically controlled. Elon's wealth is controlled by just one person.
The Dems may be able to subpoena Elon, but even then, Republicans will be on that committee. And you've seen that the Dems definitely do not all think with one mind.
Individual judges are effectively dictators over their own rulings, so anything that goes to trial will ultimately be ruled on by just one person. But that can be appealed. All the way up to SCOTUS for anything Federal and you know where SCOTUS stands for now.. maybe the Dems will stack it, but even then.. there will STILL be people on SCOTUS who will rule in Elon's favor.
Not that delirious I will take this piece by piece:
1) I'm unclear enough on the law to not know if there is a law that allows the President to arrest someone. I believe not. And there aren't any good examples. But there is a VERY good counter-example - Trump. He's clearly not following the law in many ways with zero consequences. And yet - who among his targets/enemies has he arrested and thrown in an oubliette? Yes - plenty of powerless poors have had that treatment INDIRECTLY by ICE, empowered by Trump. But Hilary? Biden? Anyone who he has even called for his own DOJ head to arrest? Comey is the closest and rather critically that is grinding through the process rather than resulting in what you're saying. So yes - we do still have SOME functioning, democratic-ish checks and balances. Compare this to true, final-stage dictatorships instead - not only do they make the law as they want it, they execute exactly what you said. Putin for example rather famously arrests and Siberias anyone he feels like, even if sometimes there is a formal cover. And defenestrations and novichoks. Each of these is simply done in the matter that sends the message he wants to his enemies, not in any way constrained by law or other forces of power. He definitely has to fight for power and alliances with various oligarchs that is true - if he got on the wrong side of too many of them at once he would not win. But that is it.
2) A court order could nationalize his holdings yes. But what court in this administration, or the next would do it? How much precedent does the USA have for doing this in ALL of USA history. And I'm not talking about nationalizing the property of some individual to build a railway for example. Show me an example of a true American oligarch - maybe one of the top 10 wealthiest individuals in the USA at the time getting their property nationalized. Just one example please.
All of those democratic checks and balances etc have in the USA so far worked very well to protecting private property rights of already-wealthy individuals and wealthier the individual, the better they work.
Same for US residency and for citizenship.
3) I don't doubt that a different administration could have effect on Musk. A strong one even. But I think you're running on pure hopium.
What exactly are they doing right now? It isn't like he's personally pushing all the buttons to censor & boost stuff on Twitter? He didn't personally push the button to downgrade Starlink for Ukraine defense.
Rumor has it many of his companies have "handler" teams so they can limit the damage he does.. to the company. Like when he says "oh fire that guy" they are like "yeah, he's fired" but then.. don't actually fire the guy. But these damage control teams are clearly not managing everything, including things the company does that is Lex Luthor adjacent.
But I think Twitter is an example of what goes on when he really gets unleashed. Very early on he fired many/most of the engineering staff - the people that control "the algorithm" and required those who remain to work crazy hours, sleep in the office etc. You think that people who go along with all that instead of quitting are going to push back when he says to censor someone with a left opinion or boost some Nazis?
I've been surprised on the specifics, but not surprised in general. The real benefit to a lifetime term for SCOTUS is they can really do what they want. It was clear from early on that Barrett said exactly what she needed and then immediately started going against the agenda.. a bit. Trump wants to think "they owe him" and has said so, but in reality they really really don't have to think that way. Which, in a way is why term limits are so important too.
Because they don't have to truly consider the law of the land in order to make it and as is now clear they can lie as much as they like to get appointed with zero consequences.
He technically does have more money than the US government. But what he is saying here is that he's been connected for so long, that if he's going down he's bringing everyone with him.
Has no one ever seen a movie? ever?
EDIT: If I have less debt than you. I’m technically worth more. Even though both of us have negative. Right?
Musk already has all the pertinent information of every single Democrat especially the powerful ones! He's allowed to threaten everyone of us but hell to those who threaten him & his actions!
And unlike in a movie, that really isn't a thing. If he actually had this damaging stuff on all these politicians, threatening to use it just means he's gonna get Epsteined and he might be too dumb/high to realize it lol
The federal government seems to have a bunch of chud idiots with guns that can send him all over the country before his lawyer even knows there's a problem.
Are you insane? At most, Elon Musk is worth $1 trillion if you assume he could sell all of his shares today at their current trading prices - which he certainly couldn’t. If Musk sold all his shares over the next three years, their value would tank by half or more because so much of the value is speculative and assumes that Musk will be leading the company’s efforts indefinitely. But let’s assume that he actually was worth $1 trillion for the sake of comparison.
The U.S. government spends $1 trillion every 2 months.
No, Musk does not have more money than the US government.
The US is allowed to be in more debt than he's worth, whatever inflated metrics he uses. The worth of the US dwarfs him in the "poodle vs elephant" sort of comparison.
If the US decided to crush hin, nothing he could do. That they probably won't even try is his best defense.
Financial capacity vs net worth. But yes. It’s a weak argument. This government might end up with him falling from a hotel building like putins adversaries.
Unfortunately, with Trump backing him again, he has the U.S. Government on his side. Unless the Democrats can get some power back, he and all other pro-Trump people can do as they wish.
To be very honest, after the time he spent digging into the governament files unchecked, I would be scared of him. The governament is made of people. Him threatening anyone should not be taken lightly imho.
What math on what planet are you talking about? Are you using the value of debt or assets? Because the oil in USA is worth more than 1000x Elons. Not counting the land and other resources.
He thinks he can "see the chessboard", which implies those involved are playing a perfect information game in which has has thousands of space lasers which aren't on the board yet
People really have no outrage or shame in the US. We saw he had more power than most congressmen get in a lifetime over 6 months with a bunch of 20 year old scape goats ripping the thumb drive out of every 3 letter agency confidential server.
Elon musk actually has more money than the United States. Even I have more money than the United States. The USA is in debts. I am not. That makes me richer than the USA as a state.
Now, when it comes to revenue, the USA beats me by a large margin. A very large one. But, unlike me, they are spending more than they are earning. Which implies: They become poorer every day. At least for me, my money accumulates, albeit modestly.
180
u/Phog_of_War 7h ago
Does...does Elon think he has more resources and money than the United States government? Lol.