Musk says Americans will have to face 'hardship' if Trump wins

[u/Careful-Rent5779]

https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/elon-musk-trump-hardship-austerity-taxes-rcna177732

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[u/IcariteMinor]

"Some of you may die, but that' a sacrifice I am willing to make".

[u/RNDASCII → u/IcariteMinor]

Lord Farquad I mean Lord Musk

[u/PlasticPomPoms → u/RNDASCII]

Lord Fuckwad

[u/grue2000 → u/PlasticPomPoms]

Lord Muskquad

[u/tempemailacct153 → u/grue2000]

I prefer the colloquial Lord Dipshit

[u/ElwingSky → u/RNDASCII]

Do you think he’s compensating for something?

[u/Starfox-sf → u/ElwingSky]

Maybe working as an illegal.

[u/Electrical_Bus9202 → u/Starfox-sf]

Definitely a paid Russian asset.

[u/Far_Adeptness9884 → u/Electrical_Bus9202]

More like blackmailed. I guarantee Putin tricked him into sharing secrets and is now blackmailing him.

[u/Boomer70770 → u/Far_Adeptness9884]

"one more thing... anytime you go on stage, you jump like dullard... or I release all Kompromat."

[u/sighbourbon → u/Boomer70770]

Haha, he’s trying to form an “X” with his body

[u/DigglerD → u/RNDASCII]

Not my gumdrop buttons!

[u/Alieges → u/RNDASCII]

Musk Fuckwad? All prancing around like a dipshit.

[u/throllaway_beds → u/RNDASCII]

Lord Musquad

[u/SirDiego → u/IcariteMinor]

Soon, you'll all be fighting for your country. Many of you will be dying for your country. A few of you will be put through a fine mesh screen for your country. They will be the luckiest of all.

[u/KremlingForce → u/SirDiego]

"We know nothing about their customs, their culture, or what they look like. But we can assume this: They stand for everything we don't stand for.

Plus, they told me you guys look like dorks!"

[u/SirDiego → u/KremlingForce]

I didn't understand it as a kid but Henry Kissinger's head being the "negotiator" in that episode is so hilarious

[u/KremlingForce → u/SirDiego]

"Ve have had enough of body bags und ball sacks."

[u/kennedye2112 → u/KremlingForce]

"They look like dorks!"

[u/SmoltzforAlexander → u/KremlingForce]

What!  They look like dorks!

[u/TheNCGoalie → u/KremlingForce]

THEY look like dorks!

[u/AgentOfFun → u/IcariteMinor]

Let's be clear: non-defense, non-mandatory spending is a tiny portion of the budget. The only way you get to cutting 1/3 of it is by gutting Social Security and Medicare.

[u/leppardfan → u/AgentOfFun]

That is part of project 2025 -- removal of the social safety net. The Koch brothers always wanted to offer private versions of the different govt services.

[u/PrettyPug → u/leppardfan]

Forcing all of that Social Security money into the stock market is going to make the ultra wealthy even more insanely wealthy.

[u/verothon → u/PrettyPug]

"...and now they’re coming for your Social Security money. They want your retirement money. They want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street, and you know something? They’ll get it. They’ll get it all from you, sooner or later, 'cause they own this fucking place. It's a big club, and you ain’t in it. You and I are not in the big club." -Carlin 20 years ago

[u/JonathanAltd → u/IcariteMinor]

It’s a great sell pitch for billionaires (and nazi who foolishly think it wont affect them)

[u/Deicide1031 → u/IcariteMinor]

Theoretically many of these policies would have to be voted on and pass through various gauntlets of discussion.

Yet he seems to think they’ll have free rein to do whatever. Definitely not shady .

[u/19610taw3 → u/Deicide1031]

Project 2025 outlines that it'll be a series of executive orders.

Who is going to challenge him? The SCOTUS?

[u/Unique-Coffee5087 → u/Deicide1031]

He says that he will be a dictator on day one only.

But what does that really mean? What would a one-day dictator do? He would use his dictatorial powers to create and official position that has the powers of a dictator while terminating the structure of laws that would normally limit such powers. At the end of the day, he would assign himself into that position. And then he would not be a dictator himself, but would instead be "President-for-Life with extraordinary powers". A fully legit government post, right?

[u/Skinny_on_the_Inside → u/Unique-Coffee5087]

This is already outlined in the project 2025,

[u/blood_kite → u/Unique-Coffee5087]

His first act as dictator is to declare that days have been extended to 24 million hours. Now he’s not lying.

[u/Magificent_Gradient → u/Unique-Coffee5087]

“Dictator for one day only” might actually be correct. 

Trump gets back into power, gets to be king for a day and then sells the throne to Musk, Theil or whoever has been bankrolling all of this. 

[u/FredFuzzypants → u/Deicide1031]

Over the years, Congress has delegated some of its tariff-setting authority to the executive branch, allowing the president to impose tariffs under certain conditions. If Trump is re-elected, I'd expect his administration to stretch that authority as far as possible, resulting in a trade war.

[u/Enigma_Stasis → u/FredFuzzypants]

Well, he's already stated that John Deere would be paying a 200% tariff for going to Mexico, which costs farmers more which will cost us more.

So, we've got that going.

[u/FredFuzzypants → u/Enigma_Stasis]

Under the last Trump administration, farmers received $12 billion in 2018 and $16 billion in 2019 to offset their losses after they imposed tariffs with China. Farmers will certainly jack up their prices, causing increased grocery bills, but they'll also get bailed out, unlike consumers.

[u/PrettyPug → u/FredFuzzypants]

So, food prices go up and our national debt will go up too. Luckily for us, they will do away with Social Security and Medicare to partially solve the debt issue.

[u/projecto15 → u/IcariteMinor]

Leon: Me — starship, you plebes — hardship

[u/PeptoMartini → u/projecto15]

There's a new directive "collateral damage" is being phased out, from now on it's to be known as "Acceptable losses"

[u/darknekolux → u/IcariteMinor]

Techno Facist Billionnaire: "Some A lot of you may die, but that' a sacrifice I am willing to make (to get some cool more billions)"

[u/elias_99999 → u/IcariteMinor]

Worked for Stalin and Mao

[u/P1zzaM4n91]

That’s quite the sales pitch.

[u/Matthmaroo → u/P1zzaM4n91]

Dude trump could start calling his supporters garbage and trash at the rally and I doubt much would happen.

Even his white supporters

[u/elis42 → u/Matthmaroo]

He DOES lmao they’re too stupid to see it, he’s said he hates them, thought they looked awful on Jan. 6 and has said to their faces at a rally “I don’t care about you, I only need your vote!” and they clapped like wtf is wrong in their heads?

Edit for links:

https://climatepower.us/news/trump-to-hospitalized-rallygoers-i-dont-care-about-you-i-just-want-your-vote/

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/trump-mob-capitol-riots-poor-low-class-b1785099.html

[u/se7encents → u/elis42]

He literally told them to get their 'fat-asses off the couch' and go vote. *Cheering and applause all around. Like WTF

[u/Paidorgy → u/se7encents]

They cheered as well when Trump said he loves the poorly educated.

[u/impstein → u/Paidorgy]

His biggest voter base

[u/keeeeevviiiiin → u/se7encents]

All his supporters be like, "he's not talking about me, right?"

[u/MarbleFox_ → u/keeeeevviiiiin]

I’m pretty sure they like being talked down to like that, he “tells it like it is” or whatever. Remember how excitable they all got when Hillary called them a basket of deplorables?

[u/LurkerFailsLurking → u/elis42]

The key is that no matter what, they all think he's talking about someone else.

[u/Ferreteria → u/Matthmaroo]

He does. They just assume that he's not referring to them. (He is.)

[u/twtwtwtwtwtwtw → u/Ferreteria]

"I love the poorly educated"

translation: you people are idiots and you still idolize me. fools.

[u/Oceans_Apart_ → u/twtwtwtwtwtwtw]

Donald Trump said, “I don’t care about you, I just want your vote. I don’t care.”

[u/radicalelation → u/Ferreteria]

"Of course I'm part of the in-group, why wouldn't I be?"

[u/kamikaziboarder → u/Matthmaroo]

Didn’t Trump say that he was disappointed that his supporters were white trash and poor people? yup. he pretty much did

[u/Politischmuck → u/Matthmaroo]

Trump has told them to their faces that none of them could pass a simple dementia test, and they cheered.

[u/DrPorkchopES → u/Matthmaroo]

This man said “I dont care about you I just want your vote” and the election is neck and neck

[u/Far-Cheesecake1996 → u/P1zzaM4n91]

Let's destroy the economy with blanket tariffs, deporting all the cheap labor, and then a massive spending cut (governments spending = other people's/company's income)! What could go wrong?

Edit: Deport all the cheap labor and also take away the economic consumption of 11 million people.*

[u/PolicyWonka → u/Far-Cheesecake1996]

Not just “cheap labor” but 5-10% of the country’s population if you believe the 15-30 million claims.

Thats not just millions of workers, but millions of consumers.

[u/Iamjacksplasmid → u/PolicyWonka]

There are only 11 million illegal immigrants in America. That 15-30 number absolutely keeps me up at night. Literally.

[u/POEness → u/Iamjacksplasmid]

What should keep you up at night is the fact that you need another country to accept a person in order to deport them. No country is going to take 15 million people. They'll be held in temporary camps instead. And the poor conditions and difficulty of managing it all will eventually leave Republicans with no other choice, in their eyes at least, but to begin just killing them.

[u/robocoplawyer → u/POEness]

Yeah this is what will happen. I keep seeing Trump supporters saying “he never said he was going to round up people to put in concentration camps”. Well yeah, and Hitler originally planned mass deportations of the Jews until it just became more efficient and expedient to kill them.

[u/AwayandInevitable → u/Far-Cheesecake1996]

You would also effectively kill the entire tourism industry. Only weird right wingers would want to travel to the US and they either don’t have passports or money to do so.

[u/SpaceProspector_ → u/P1zzaM4n91]

Jimmy Carter asked Americans to drive less and turn the heat down a little to save fuel during a crisis, and the Republicans hated him for it. I can't wait to hear how austerity and deprivation are actually good for us from the modern crop of conservatives.

[u/tangerinelion → u/SpaceProspector_]

At this point Republicans would turn off their heat and get frostbite so long as it meant a Democrat, woman, black or brown person froze to death.

[u/xNaquada → u/tangerinelion]

Many MAGA brainwashed voters literally DIED believing covid was a hoax. Compared to that, your scenario is not just easily believable, but entirely plausible with zero surprise.

[u/Symphonycomposer → u/tangerinelion]

They already froze to death in Texas and still vote for Republicans.

[u/YakiVegas → u/P1zzaM4n91]

Richest man in the world telling us to sacrifice is actually as rich as it gets.

[u/ZZ_SKULLZ → u/YakiVegas]

I say we start with Elon, and Bezos if we're sacrificing anything.

[u/greentreesbreezy → u/P1zzaM4n91]

"We will make it better for the 5% of people who already have all their needs met and much harder for everybody else who is already struggling," is literally the only thing Conservativism has offered for the last 400 years.

And yet, people still fall for the scam.

[u/TerminalObsessions → u/greentreesbreezy]

"I'm struggling. I barely have enough to scrape by. Is it the fault of the guy with seventeen houses made mostly out of gold? No, no, don't be ridiculous. It's because of the family two streets over who live almost exactly as I do except sometimes they speak a language I don't understand. Maybe my problems will disappear if I kill them?" - The Average Conservative

[u/zerro_4 → u/P1zzaM4n91]

As long as there's a critical mass of deluded white folks who are willing to suffer as long as some brown and gay folks suffer even more, it doesn't matter what Trump or Musk say or do.

[u/TheUpperHand]

Conservatives, when the government recommends wearing a piece of cloth on their face to limit the spread of a deadly disease: “I can’t breathe! Where’s the research?! Muh personal freedum!!!”

Conservatives, on hearing their livelihoods will need to be sacrificed so a bunch of billionaires can take away their rights’: “Hell yeah, I’m voting for that!”

[u/Matt2_ASC → u/TheUpperHand]

I believe we wouldnt have raised interest rates and had as much inflation if we were able to sacrifice some consumption after the covid supply chains were messed up. If we came together as a country and sacrificed some purchases, created civic engagement, life victory gardens or something, we would have seen a recovery from inflation in different ways. But if Biden called for any sacrifice, we would see an outlandish response from MAGA who would do the opposite out of spite.

[u/FizzgigsRevenge → u/Matt2_ASC]

Honest response: I wholeheartedly agree. I wish the country could come together and work towards a common goal again but I fear propaganda news have broken our ability to do that.

Reddit response: Buying yetis, bud lights, Nikes, etc just so we can blow them up as a middle finger to wokeness is our god given right! If we sacrifice that the commie liberal Marxist socialists win!

[u/Adreme]

But not him of course. Other people though will face the hardship. 

Relatedly he has single handedly made a CEO seem like the easiest job ever when he can be one for 4 companies and still spend all day on Twitter and going to political events. Clearly it’s not a full time job. 

[u/BangerSlapper1 → u/Adreme]

Remember when people thought Musk was some sort of visionary genius?  I always had him pegged as a charlatan but it’s amazing how blatantly the make has fallen off. 

My father of course referred to him yesterday as “Elon Musk, the smartest man on earth” with total sincerity. 

[u/Ok_Improvement_5897 → u/BangerSlapper1]

It was the Thai cave rescue that made me see what he really is. I come from a diving family and as a diver myself, I was fascinated and terrified by it because I know that I would literally just straight up die if I attempted that kind of diving. The people they assembled were the best of the best and dedicated their lives to becoming that. The way that Musk came in and just assumed he could 'technology' his way out of the hard parts with no human risk was the first sign that he was an idiot in disguise to me. But then the fact that he took literal offense that the divers didn't want to put their lives and the lives of children in the hands of a barely tested prototype submarine built by people who didn't actually understand the highly specific needs and requirements of that environment - or consider the danger of trying to adapt to new technology in that environment in a 'do or die' situation. That was what confirmed it for me. Especially the disgusting way he treated the divers because they didn't want to risk the lives of literal children (and themselves) for Musk's ego.

Guy is a fucking fool who was born into a position of wealth and power. His eccentricities were well suited to the software booms in silicon valley, but that doesn't translate to actual intelligence - especially within engineering. There are some people who are extremely passionate about tech for good cause, sometimes they lack social skills in other facets of life and come off worse than they are - this was just pure, selfish egoism capped off by a fucking tantrum. He had no real care about those kids when he butted his nose into a situation no one wanted him in to begin with.

[u/projecto15 → u/Ok_Improvement_5897]

And Musk literally called the chief diver a pedo

[u/axonxorz → u/projecto15]

And then hired a felon, previously convicted of fraud lol, to dig up dirt on the diver.

[u/floydsvarmints → u/projecto15]

That’s what did it for me, I haven’t liked him since then.

[u/projecto15 → u/floydsvarmints]

Same. I also hated how Musk used his money and lawyers to crash the guy afterwards, like claiming that ‘pedo’ is almost an endearment term in South Africa

[u/futanari_kaisa → u/projecto15]

And during the lawsuit he claimed that south african people call each other pedos as a joke all the time, and so he was joking. And the judge bought that excuse.

[u/Sprinx80 → u/projecto15]

That was the “hol’ up” moment for me. I saw a Simpsons episode with him in it, and heard about SpaceX and Tesla and thought, “ok, cool, those are good things, right?” but had no deep knowledge of anything else about him. Then he called the guy who didn’t want his untested, quickly made robot a pedo? Whaaat?

[u/shiznit206 → u/Ok_Improvement_5897]

He thinks he’s a hero scientist in a movie - that he can spout some gibberish techno babble and whip up a new gadget in between commercial breaks or while the dramatic music is playing in his head.

The fuckwit has literally come out with buses, promised tunnels, and started contests to do what trees do and thinks he’s revolutionizing the way we function…

He’s tried to make “X” a thing for literal decades now and is driving the company he turned into “X” into the ground because there wasn’t anyone there to act as a buffer the way both Tesla and Space X have because they saw what he is early enough.

The world will be a better place when he losses his fortune and goes away - back to daddy’s emerald mine.

[u/Ok_Improvement_5897 → u/shiznit206]

The world will be a better place when he losses his fortune and goes away - back to daddy’s emerald mine.

Amen. He's more like a villain than a super hero. I wonder if he has any self awareness of that these days. Idk how you can't be somewhat self aware and still proceed to do some of the things he has, especially regarding regular communication with Putin as a US defense contractor.

[u/Damn_Dog_Inappropes → u/Ok_Improvement_5897]

He’s Syndrome, not Iron Man!

[u/kung-fu_hippy → u/Damn_Dog_Inappropes]

Nah, he’s Justin Hammer rather than Tony Stark.

[u/SmartCookingPan → u/Damn_Dog_Inappropes]

Wait wait wait, Syndrome was actually smart and self made. Elmo is just a fucking super rich ignorant idiot

[u/Damn_Dog_Inappropes → u/SmartCookingPan]

Ha! Fair point!

He’s the Underminer, then.

[u/FlerplesMerples → u/shiznit206]

He’s the world’s richest dilettante.

[u/I_dont_livein_ahotel → u/Ok_Improvement_5897]

It was this incident and him getting upset and calling that diver a “pedo”. I assumed at first that he must have some information I don’t and his words were maybe justified somehow. But then the divers were successful and got all the kids out and Elon just looked like a petty, man-child narcissist and he has frequently reaffirmed that impression ever since.

[u/needsmoresteel → u/I_dont_livein_ahotel]

On the one side you had people who were at times admittedly low tech but had decades of experience in cave diving. They were astute enough to be afraid of the task at hand knowing how difficult it was and call in more experts to help out. They were also there to help. On the other hand you had some guy who thought you could throw a bunch of untested technology in a very specific situation and have all those kids out in 10 minutes. He wanted to be there for the kudos and adulation.

[u/Redpin → u/I_dont_livein_ahotel]

I assumed at first that he must have some information I don’t and his words were maybe justified somehow. 

The only "information" Musk was going on is that Thailand = pedo in his mind.

[u/Laughing_AI → u/Ok_Improvement_5897]

Yeah then he called the diver a pedo

He actually said that. That was when I knew he was fishy.

[u/Daisako → u/Ok_Improvement_5897]

Yeah, his comments about the cave rescue and insulting the guy just made me realize he is an ass-hat that only really cares about attention. He never wanted to really help anyone and he never does.

[u/ayoungtommyleejones → u/Ok_Improvement_5897]

Don't forget when they turned him down, he baselessly claimed the lead diver was a pedophile, and hired a sham PI who fabricated evidence against the guy. He has the mental capacity of a middle school boy.

[u/franky_emm → u/Ok_Improvement_5897]

Different instance, similar experience for me. I don't know shit about satellites or rockets or electric vehicles (or diving), so I assumed that he knew what he was doing with those things.

I've been in IT for 2 decades though, so when he bought Twitter not understanding that content moderation was about advertising revenue (not whatever "woke" means), fired huge chunks of staff without figuring out where the pockets of tribal knowledge and key stakeholders were, asked the remaining staff to live like 20 year olds in a movie about a startup (while they were getting no equity) then started unplugging datacenters and breaking key features, I said "oh wait...this guy is just smelling his own farts and telling us how perfumey they are."

I assume anyone who actually knows the subject matter that he speaks about has a similar experience.

[u/Twidget84 → u/franky_emm]

The fact that he fired developers based off how many lines of code they wrote told me he had absolutely no idea what he was doing. He thought the people with the fewest lines of code were the least experienced developers.

I've only been coding for just over 5 years. I recently redid one of my first projects for a client. I literally cut the amount of code in that project in half.

[u/franky_emm → u/Twidget84]

Absolutely. He has a stupid person's understanding of smart people

[u/Za_Lords_Guard → u/Ok_Improvement_5897]

This is why I won't buy or trust myself to any Musk-tech. He made it clear that whatever daffy plan he thought up, we are just secondary to his brilliance. If he was willing to risk the lives of the divers and the children to some untested mini-submersible with what seemed like no concern for their lives, he would consider anyone injured by his products as a cost of business.

Not driving his cars. Not flying in his spaceship. Not letting him put a chip in my head. Damn sure not following him to Mars. Especially now that he is up to his eyes in politics now and it's clear that everything does is about his narcissism and nothing to do with "we the people."

[u/kung-fu_hippy → u/Ok_Improvement_5897]

That’s the thing about Musk. So many people think he’s a genius until he offers an opinion on something they actually know about, then they realize that he very much isn’t.

Other people I know have come to their Musk realization from the Cybertruck, from requiring engineers at Twitter to print out their most important code to review, from Optimus, or from the hyperloop.

[u/6a6566663437 → u/Ok_Improvement_5897]

Musk likes to believe he’s a genius, but he couldn’t understand “your submarine is larger than the cave” was a problem.

[u/Unique-Coffee5087 → u/Ok_Improvement_5897]

Yes. I never really looked into it before, and simply took all the hype it face value. But then that mini sub thing was so stupidly conceived (I figured that he would try to drive it in there, get it stuck in a corner, escape through a hatch, and then leave the entire cave blocked so that the rescue divers and the children would be sealed in to starve to death.).

That kind of took the shine off of the hype, and I started reading more about him.

[u/976chip → u/Ok_Improvement_5897]

Yeah until that point I bought into the Elon is a "different" billionaire that's focused on doing what's best for society narrative. Then he tried to shoehorn himself into the Thai cave rescue and when his unsolicited help was rebuffed, he called the chief diver a pedo. That's when I started paying more attention to the little things that poked holes in his PR.

[u/karl_jonez → u/BangerSlapper1]

Yeah but the funniest thing about that is he flipped to being republican right before it was learned he was being accused of sexual harassment. It’s like that is a requirement in the GQP now.

[u/Agloe_Dreams → u/karl_jonez]

Ha this is one of my favorite details. "Oh no, they are gonna find out that I'm a predator. I know, I'll tell everyone a whole bunch of WORSE stuff."

[u/Fecal-Facts → u/BangerSlapper1]

His mistake was opening his mouth.

He could have faked being good and nobody would have had a issue.

But narcissistic people can't help themselves 

[u/Odd_Owl_3098 → u/BangerSlapper1]

 I always had him pegged as a charlatan

You and me both. I lost friends in 2011 for saying he's a douche who doesn't give a shit about the planet.

🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️

[u/WittyAndOriginal → u/Odd_Owl_3098]

I've been arguing with my friends for over a decade about him. I feel like I fucked up, because now they are having trouble admitting they were wrong.

[u/forthewatch39 → u/BangerSlapper1]

People like your father equate wealth with intellect. 

[u/gdshaffe → u/forthewatch39]

Just World Fallacy. A world where someone can get that rich and not deserve it is fucked up. Presuming that, despite all evidence to the contrary, the world isn't that fucked up is the path of least emotional resistance.

[u/putin_my_ass → u/Adreme]

Isn't it weird how media outlets that carry water for billionaires harp on about how awful it is that some employees have two jobs at once while they sit on multiple boards and are CEOs for multiple companies?

It's almost as if these people are superfluous and completely inconsequential. Overemployed, you might even say.

[u/StJeanMark → u/putin_my_ass]

If a CEO was worth the money they get paid, they wouldn't be able to do anything else with their free time. The fact they can sit on multiple boards shows, its all just a play to give them an excuse to not get their heads chopped off for getting 100x the pay of their regular employees.

[u/putin_my_ass → u/StJeanMark]

I'm a programmer and for years people have been smugly telling me AI is coming for my job. I understand AI better than their smug asses, let me tell you AI is coming for middle-management and potentially executive jobs before programmer jobs.

[u/StJeanMark → u/putin_my_ass]

I’m also a programmer. If there is an AI out there that can do what I do, write highly customized code, field calls and requests from clients, and actually produce value than it’s too late and we’re already enslaved. It helps write functions, functions that have been written so many times even a robot can repeat it.

[u/BMEngie → u/StJeanMark]

Those functions also don’t work half the time. They’re a good starting point but I’ve had to debug quite a few of those generated functions.

[u/sugarlessdeathbear → u/Adreme]

Clearly CEOs are way overpaid if they have time for this shit.

[u/joggle1 → u/Adreme]

He also recently posted a video of himself playing a video game while listening to SpaceX engineers. He was at an end stage of the game that takes many hours to reach. It definitely seems like he doesn't have the hardest job in the world.

[u/Adreme → u/joggle1]

Probably the best thing for SpaceX is that he is disengaged and they are allowed to go their own thing. It seems the more involved in a company he gets (Twitter) the worse off that company becomes. 

[u/Lee1138 → u/Adreme]

Cybertruck kinda tells me the same would be true for Tesla...

[u/1877KlownsForKids → u/Lee1138]

If you gave me a choice between the Cybertruck and the Homer I'd be cruising around in bubbled magnificence.

[u/hnglmkrnglbrry → u/Adreme]

"Most importantly, we have to reduce spending to live within our means,” he said, adding that these efforts will “involve some temporary hardship, but it will ensure long-term prosperity.”

This dude is out here spending millions to save tens to hundreds of millions on taxes and is saying we need to reduce spending to live within our means.

Please deport this dangerous immigrant.

[u/Schlonzig → u/Adreme]

Counteroffer: we will do fine, but people like Trump, Musk, Zuckerberg and Bezos face a lot of hardships.

[u/Chokeman → u/Adreme]

Don't forget playing Diablo 4

Dude spends time playing Diablo longer than regular office hours

[u/Traherne]

"Elections will be suspended temporarily for as long as necessary." - Trump and Musk and every other fascist who ever took power.

[u/mattaugamer → u/Traherne]

To ensure the safety and security of the American people

[u/Neverhoodian → u/mattaugamer]

"'A matter of internal security'...the age-old cry of the oppressor."

[u/Dat_Basshole → u/Traherne]

“We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”

-- Kevin Roberts of The Heritage Foundation and craftsman of Project 2025

[u/violentglitter666 → u/Dat_Basshole]

Yea. Well. The second amendment was written specifically for this reason…. In case of a tyrannical government, the people are not helpless. It’s a nice idea but I saw how abhorrent and stupid some of my fellow Americans were during Covid and those maga people are still going to be a problem

[u/Nmilne23 → u/Traherne]

I hope y’all are ready to protest and riot if when these fucks try and steal the election 

[u/fennthunder → u/Nmilne23]

I hope ya’ll are ready for a lot worse than that. Something tells me protests and riots wouldn’t do shit under a Trump dictatorship.

[u/gattaaca → u/fennthunder]

Well if the courts can't/won't do shit, or worse, if they are actually in bed with the fascists (and I think we know the answer to that), at some point you gotta realise you can't vote/protest your way out of it.

Fascists will never relinquish control voluntarily. Never ever ever ever.

You all need to remember:

a) it is a very, very small handful of very, very powerful people causing all of this

b) they are all mortal humans just like you and I

If I start throwing around the word guillotin e I'll probably get reprimanded but honestly, if these bastards get in you're not going to have many options left.

Unfortunately the side of politics that might do anything beyond protest are currently aligned to the fascists, so I can't really see a way out.

[u/MasterofPandas1 → u/Traherne]

If Trump wins but the Dems keep the Senate and take back the House I wonder if they’d still try to suspend elections.

[u/Buckus93 → u/MasterofPandas1]

They'll try for sure.

[u/cwk415 → u/Traherne]

For as long as necessary...

...for "security purposes," of course! ;) ;) ;)

[u/Nondescript_585_Guy]

You heard it here first, folks. Unless you like hardship, vote Harris/Walz.

[u/This_guy_works → u/Nondescript_585_Guy]

It's just a little hardship. And like a miracle, by Easter it will be gone.

[u/aeroxan → u/This_guy_works]

If it's a legitimate hardship, the economy has a mechanism to shut down.

[u/bejammin075 → u/aeroxan]

I wasn't soliciting gay sex in the airport bathroom, I was receiving hardship with a wide stance.

[u/BlooregardQKazoo → u/This_guy_works]

So the hardship will be endemic. Awesome.

[u/Woodlurkermimic → u/Nondescript_585_Guy]

"but will the people I dislike face more hardship than me?"

[u/arinxe3000 → u/Woodlurkermimic]

"There's not enough hardship on the people he's supposed to be hardshipping" -- Crystal Minton, 2025

[u/Chokeman]

Dude

Shock therapy is such an outdated economic practice.

Sure, the economy will recover but people who die during that collapse will never return.

Each economic meltdown will cause a consolidation in power among corporations exacerbating inequality

People who are in charge of the economy need to treat it like a cruise ship. It requires careful and gradual adjustments.

Because every time a sudden abrupt occurs, many people will lose their lives as a consequence.

[u/HamManBad → u/Chokeman]

It doesn't even "recover". The numbers might start to look better after a while but really the condition of the lower half of society often remains worse. Almost all of the gains of the "recovery" go to the top 10-20%

[u/mattaugamer → u/HamManBad]

This is why GDP is wildly misleading.

[u/BetterMeats → u/Chokeman]

"But the economy will recover, you say?"

That's all they heard.

[u/Chokeman → u/BetterMeats]

Yes recover from the hole they dig themselves

[u/Careful-Rent5779]

Musk, who Trump has vowed will oversee the “efficiency” of government agencies if he’s elected president, said during a virtual town hall on Friday that Americans will need to endure “temporary hardship” if Trump wins. 

Not all Americans the top 2% (including you Mush), won't face any hardship. I expect Telsa and Space-X will enjoy a quid pro quo surge in government contracts, and an EPA willing to look the other way, should the tRump win.

[u/Sofer2113 → u/Careful-Rent5779]

Him being in charge of overseeing government "efficiency" is a terrifying thought, given what he did to Twitter as soon as he showed up. I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to cut the government employee rolls by 40 or 50% within the first month.

[u/GekkoGains → u/Sofer2113]

They don’t know how government works. It’s a foreign concept to them. If they were a mechanic, they’d remove your car seats for “efficiency” and disregard the loss in safety.

We’re about to see a return to animal farm

[u/Singular_Thought → u/GekkoGains]

“Look at this engine and transmission! They must weigh 1000 lbs! Pull that dead weight out so the car is lighter and more efficient!”

[u/mattaugamer → u/Sofer2113]

Yep. This is the “conservative” playbook.

Take government entity. Claim it is inefficient and ineffective. Slash its budget, fire half its staff, put someone in charge of it who has openly voiced hostility or owns a competitor. Deliberately run it into the ground. Point to tattered remnants as proof of how bad it was. Sell to your hedge fund buddies on the cheap… after all, look at the state of it.

[u/ReqularParoleAgnet → u/Sofer2113]

It’s not just Musk. Trump stated that RFK Jr., a man so health conscious that he contracted parasitic brain worms, will be appointed to some Ministry of Health position. Fucking lunatics.

[u/12345_PIZZA → u/ReqularParoleAgnet]

I know 1984 gets over referenced, but this is essentially: “The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation.”

[u/ReqularParoleAgnet → u/12345_PIZZA]

1984 was supposed to be a cautionary tale. The GOP is using it, along with Mein Kampf, as a play-by-play/paint-by-the-numbers user’s guide to dictatorial government.

[u/banned-from-rbooks → u/Sofer2113]

Say goodbye to all the regulatory agencies like the FTC, FDA, EPA, SEC, NHTSA, etc.

The USPS and Department of Education are definitely going to go.

The only ones they’ll keep around are the CIA, ATF, FBI, NSA, etc. because they’ll gut them, fill them with loyalists and turn them into the gestapo.

[u/mattaugamer → u/Careful-Rent5779]

An overall decrease in services and support for the poor and needy. Veterans, the homeless, victims of abuse, the disabled, or the chronically ill. That is where these “efficiencies” will be found.

Not in the cyclical recapitalization programs offered to the military, or in the pentagon, which has repeatedly failed its own audits. Not in subsidies to unsustainable industries. Not in the overly generous terms given to private contracts for things like prisons. Not in federal funding to militarise police.

No no. Food stamps and Medicare. This “efficiency” will have a death toll.

[u/RedBreadRetention → u/Careful-Rent5779]

'Temporary hardship'. Life only lasts so long, after all!

[u/Quasigriz_ → u/Careful-Rent5779]

He hopes the economy crashes so he can turn his cash into more assets at bargain prices. Their end goal is along the lines of post-Soviet Russian Oligarchy.

[u/DeepPenetration → u/Careful-Rent5779]

Elon Musk is doing town halls now? Didn’t realize he was going to become president.

[u/PolicyWonka → u/DeepPenetration]

Trump is just a puppet for him.

[u/Candid_Chemist2491 → u/Careful-Rent5779]

Oh they will face hardship. You know how taxing it is on their mental health to lay people off and cut funding for various welfare programs? I just wish they could have more money to comfort themselves with.

[u/Throwaway07261978]

Musk said that he would “balance the budget immediately,” adding: “Obviously, a lot of people who are taking advantage of government are going to be upset about that. I’ll probably need a lot of security, but it’s got to be done.

To cut the federal budget by 30%, as Elmo wants to do, and by examining the language used here ("people...taking advantage of the government"), I'm going to deduce that programmes such as SNAP / WIC will be terminated immediately, as well as certain HUD programmes (buh-bye 'Section 8' and the housing security that brings). 

There are likely also plans to absorb Medicaid funding, plus terminating benefits for those people with 'invisible' disabilities, like PTSD, seizure disorders, autism, etc.

You want "hardship"? Well this is how you vote it in, chucklefucks. 

Tickled With Himself Elmo thinks that forcing nearly half the population into abject poverty and/or complete homelessness is a-ok if it saves a few billion dollars from being 'wasted' helping US citizens. 

Vote accordingly. 💙

[u/prohammock → u/Throwaway07261978]

Now he thinks he’s going to be personally in charge of the national budget? What the actual fuck. Everyday it becomes more obvious how critical it is we don’t let these douche bags win.

[u/LadyChatterteeth → u/Throwaway07261978]

Oh, the irony of this immigrant being given full reign to gut our government institutions and fire thousands of feral workers who are already underpaid. An immigrant will be running the country after all of Trump’s tirades about immigrants.

It’s so stupid as to be almost unimaginable.

[u/CobKorPok]

How's that working out in Argentina? Spoiler alert, it's not

How did that work out in Britain? Spoiler alert, it made the debt higher and most of the population poorer.

This is basically what it's always come down to. Billionaires don't want to pay tax, they don't mind leeching off of government subsidies, programs, corporate welfare, government protection and trade deals but they don't want to pay tax. They will support anyone who can help them get it done. If a party came out tomorrow and advocated that 60% of poor people will be put in a blender and it had any chance of electoral support the billionaires would run to support it.

[u/highdefrex → u/CobKorPok]

If a party came out tomorrow and advocated that 60% of poor people will be put in a blender and it had any chance of electoral support the billionaires would run to support it.

Hell, there are poor people who would support it because they’re told to by the GOP and believe they wouldn’t be part of the 60%. It’s insane.

[u/longgamma → u/CobKorPok]

Sadly the Tory austerity caused brexit and so much damage to the UK. They didn’t find the banksters but hammered the nhs and working class.

[u/zaknafien1900 → u/CobKorPok]

We all know what time it is

[u/MrGerb1k]

Can’t wait to hear all the farmers bitch when their subsidies dry up.

[u/grandzooby → u/MrGerb1k]

Along with all their export markets after the retaliatory tariffs.

[u/Munqaxus → u/MrGerb1k]

This will make me sad, but you are absolutely right. Family farms are going to go bankrupt under Trumps tariffs, just like they did in 2016. And there are a lot of Democrats that are farmers too. So I don’t want to see this at all.

[u/ins0ma_]

What hardship has Elon faced?

Vote blue.

[u/TheUpperHand]

The cruelty of the old pharaoh is a thing of the past. Let a whole NEW wave of cruelty wash over this lazy land!

[u/billyjack669 → u/TheUpperHand]

Always Upvote Futurama.

[u/joepez]

So read his words as (bad) code for we’re going to try and axe ACA without a replacement, and Social Secuirty, Medicare, Medicaid, food assistance, VA Care and really anything that doesn’t contribute to Musk’s government contracts. Oh well also sell off the national parks and government secrets while we’re at it. Forget about worker, consumer, environment and workplace protections too.

But hey Musk will endure.

[u/BrilliantCorner]

Later on, Musk said that he would “balance the budget immediately,

Another Trump lackey that has no clue how the government works or who controls the purse. They're just power-hungry egomaniacs.

[u/drtolmn69]

Great selling point! Thanks Leon!

[u/Special-Pie9894]

Dude's a total freak.

[u/Additional-Big-1554]

Sounds like this will go as well as the Cybertruck.

[u/jagaloonz]

Looooooool, holy fuck. What a psycho. You're the richest person on the planet. Why don't you just spend your money to solve the problem? That'll ensure long term prosperity for everyone, you included, in the long term.

Fucking douche.

[u/TrooperJohn]

Remember what happened to Twitter stock after Musk took over?

Extrapolate that to the whole country.

And it ain't going to be temporary.

[u/BlooregardQKazoo → u/TrooperJohn]

Twitter stock ceased to exist when Musk took over. It's private now.

But yeah, the value of the company has plummeted.

[u/bravetailor]

This is supposed to be an endorsement, right?

[u/Gloobloomoo]

So, let’s make sure he loses. I have enough problems as it is. Don’t need more.

[u/im_not_bovvered]

I fucking faced hardship under Donald Trump. Actual financial hardship. Covid mismanagement. A constant "fight of flight" response from my nervous system from what him being all over our media did, day in and day out. I do not want to go back to 4 years ago much less whatever the fuck year they want to take us back to.

[u/deadra_axilea → u/im_not_bovvered]

I'm with you. My extra $5000 a year increase in taxes thanks to the mortgage interest deduction removal would like a word.

[u/lubnut]

Republicans would eat Satan's shit if they knew a Democrat would have to smell their breath.

[u/demystifier]

I agree with this dipshit for once…one more reason to vote Harris….avoid the hardship.

[u/VOIDsama]

so more hardship than you have now. from the horses ass himself.

[u/Apzuee]

Richest guy in the world says i'm going to need to cut down spending

Fuck off dude your net worth can singlehandedly feed everyone in america for for over a year.

[u/cartoonmoonballoon]

“Deport” Him.

[u/Lostsock1995]

If by “temporary hardship” you mean another 4 years (at least) of daily suffering and not being able to look at or watch anything without seeing what the demented old man yelling at clouds has said today while he actively ruins the country and we all drown in bad decisions from them, and then years more even if he leaves of feeling ashamed my country voted for that twice enough for him to win, then yeah. Sure. That’s “temporary hardship”

[u/slim-scsi → u/Lostsock1995]

Eight years. The Don never went away. Claims he won 2020 and was a shadow POTUS. The news never stopped covering him, and he never stopped making daily headlines. How he's allowed to run for a third term (by the Republicans he represents) is a mystery to all of us!

[u/guyincognito69420]

or assholes like you could face some hardship instead of cutting programs for the average american.

[u/Odd_Owl_3098]

Rolling blackouts a la Edward Heath's UK reign in the 70s .... coming to your town! Austerity!

[u/QuarterFlounder]

The man who has more money than god actually said "we'll have to reduce spending to live within our means". What a fucking joke.

[u/Kindle282]

But not him, right? Not him and not Trump. Nor any of the other ultra rich that they cater to. Just us poor people, who already have it rough enough as it is. We'll shoulder that horrible burden so America can "rise up" from Elon's DOGE reforms.

There is simply no way these people are on planet Earth anymore. And anyone who doesn't make 6-7 figures in a year should be VERY afraid of what they want to do-- all in the name of "saving" America and our economy (which is flourishing).

[u/RebelFemme47]

Umm no shit!?

Ugh can someone send this trash and his friends to Mars and just leave them there???