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Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin

(124,273 posts)
Sun Jun 8, 2025, 03:01 PM Sunday

Billionaires, Autocrats, and the Meaning of Musk vs. Trump

BY TRYGVE OLSON
I’ve been in rooms with men like Donald Trump, and I’ve worked in countries run by men like him. The names and currencies may be different — rubles, forints, dollars, crypto — but the power games are the same.

This spat between Trump and Elon Musk? It’s not just an ego clash. It’s a warning sign. And if you’ve worked with opposition leaders under autocrats the way I have — in Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia — you learn to read those signs.

1. This Isn't About Musk. It's About Trump Testing Power

Trump doesn’t do “disagreements.” He does dominance. Always has. Always will. Whether it’s Jeff Sessions, Ron DeSantis, or Elon Musk, if you don’t submit, he turns on you. It’s not personal — it’s structural. Trump’s worldview is zero-sum. You’re either for him, or you’re the enemy.

Elon Musk, in this case, signaled he might support third-party candidates or even Democrats with his money. That’s not just inconvenient for Trump — that’s betrayal. And betrayal, in the autocrat’s playbook, must be punished.

https://www.brightamerica.org/p/billionaires-autocrats-and-the-meaning

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Billionaires, Autocrats, and the Meaning of Musk vs. Trump (Original Post) Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Sunday OP
It was a stupid move by Trump... Dem4life1970 Sunday #1

Dem4life1970

(902 posts)
1. It was a stupid move by Trump...
Sun Jun 8, 2025, 03:06 PM
Sunday

...to ever allow Musk a position in the government. A smarter "4D chess move" would've been to promise Elon a DOGE role, then do nothing after he was elected. You know, treat Elon like he
treated all of the rubes who voted for him because they thought he was going to lower prices on Day 1.

Now he has an enemy who knows where all of the bodies are buried, and the illegal/shady stuff the Trumpers did during the campaign (most likely campaign coordination with Super PACS-acc. to Rick Wilson).

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