Trump / Musk (other than DOGE)

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nycfan said:

Musk team’s push to gut federal workforce bypassed key Trump officials​

Billionaire Elon Musk has worked behind the scenes on an initiative aimed at depleting the civil service, prompting questions about its legality.


“Billionaire Elon Musk’s influence over a traditionally nonpartisan agency that oversees the federal workforce culminated in the government’s stunning proposal Tuesday offering employees an inducement to resign, according to four people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal talks.

The proposal, emailed late in the day to many of the nation’s 2.3 million federal workers, blindsided some advisers to President Donald Trump, including officials in the budget office and agencies that typically would be consulted in advance of such monumental changes to personnel and spending policies, the people said.

Since Trump took office, Musk has moved quickly to exert control over the Office of Personnel Management, the small independent agency that acts as a kind of human resources department for the federal government, issuing policy for agencies to implement.

Musk personally visited the OPM’s offices Friday, and several of his longtime surrogates — including Anthony Armstrong, who helped Musk buy Twitter; Brian Bjelde, who ran human resources for Musk’s firm SpaceX; and Amanda Scales, who worked at Musk’s artificial intelligence firm, xAI — have been installed in senior leadership roles at its offices in downtown Washington, the people said. …”
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For those who support Trump because, “he would run government like a business.”
This is absolutely not how to run a successful business. And anyone being honest would agree.
 
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They're everywhere. You can't have a discussion with someone that disagrees with you without one popping up somewhere. Glad a few brave folks on here have the finely tuned radar to be able to spot a Nazi and the walnuts to call them a Nazi on an anonymous message board.
 
Two man landing party, including unidentified Musk rep, arrive at FBI ahead of nominee Patel

www.thedailybeast.com

Now Elon Musk’s SpaceX Buddy Is Going to Help Run the FBI

One former official shared fears of the agency “infusing a one-sided ideology and purging the people who don’t share that viewpoint.”
www.thedailybeast.com www.thedailybeast.com

“… Tom Ferguson, a former agent and aide to Rep. Jim Jordan, has reportedly returned to the agency. He said he was “just going back home to help.” Jordan (R-OH) often claimed that the FBI was a corrupt Joe Biden tool. He famously led a 2023 subcommittee on the apparent “weaponization” of the agency against conservatives and even suggested moving the agency from Washington, D.C., to Alabama to shield against what he saw as liberal politics.

NBC stated that the other new arrival, an individual with links to Trump’s “first buddy” Elon Musk, has not been previously reported and is still currently unidentified. And while it is unclear who actually paved the way for the pair to bag the new gigs, or even what their exact areas of focus will be, the news still adds to fears of an eroding of the FBI’s non-political, non-partisan heritage.

… One former agent, Rob D’Amico, told the publication that the new hires are there to oversee reform. This will include sending headquarters staffers into the field. “That’s absolutely needed,” he said. “Things have gotten too headquarters-centric, and when headquarters is in D.C., the natural thing that happens in D.C. is that things get political.”

…
D’Amico conceded, however, that it is not the usual modus operandi to have people with ties to partisan figures in such areas. “This will have to be done very carefully,” D’Amico said. “How does that chain of command work? You have to be very careful that it doesn’t become like the Russian political officer on a Russian nuclear sub, enforcing party discipline.”

Another shared fears of the agency “infusing a one-sided ideology and purging the people who don’t share that viewpoint.” …”

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Musk and Trump have their own landing party reps, which is what I had read would happen at a lot of agencies, with the DOGE Commissar being a temporary hire to dodge any Congressional oversight…

Since it hasn’t started yet, we don’t know for sure it’s a purge by reassignment, but that’s what it sounds like.
 
Look. In isolation, I think we could all agree that an overexcited autistic man might do something akin to a nazi salute by accident. But, come on, he's been courting the far right party in Germany, posting a variety of white nationalist related memes on twitter (such as pepe), and making some pretty incendiary comments.

When Steve Bannon (STEVE BANNON) accuses someone of being "racist" and "truly evil," then maybe we acknowledge that that person might just be problematic. Steve Bannon condemns Elon Musk as ‘racist’ and ‘truly evil’
 
Y’all have got to stop arguing with gtyellowjacket and ZenMode. Their only purpose is to try to antagonize and annoy y’all. Don’t let them succeed. If y’all were arguing that Musk did not do a Sieg Heil, they would be going to the mat on here arguing that he did. It’s just what they do.

I don’t know whether Musk intended to do the Sieg Heil. If he did, I hope he chokes on his next meal. If he didn’t, it’s unfortunate for him that his open support of the far right Nazi-adjacent party in Germany does not earn him the benefit of the doubt in a situation like this, and hopefully he will be more thoughtful moving forward as to how his words and actions are perceived in context with his other actions.
 
sringwal said:
Look. In isolation, I think we could all agree that an overexcited autistic man might do something akin to a nazi salute by accident. But, come on, he's been courting the far right party in Germany, posting a variety of white nationalist related memes on twitter (such as pepe), and making some pretty incendiary comments.

When Steve Bannon (STEVE BANNON) accuses someone of being "racist" and "truly evil," then maybe we acknowledge that that person might just be problematic. Steve Bannon condemns Elon Musk as ‘racist’ and ‘truly evil’
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I think you can cherry pick for any of that.

"Look, in Isolation I think we can all agree that Tim Walz's Nazi salute might have been a wave, but he worked at a school that handed out jewish stars to freshmen and had seniors play the Gestapo. His brother is a rabid MAGA supporter. As a Congressman, he constantly voted to increase our militaristic spending and he also voted for Bush's war in Iraq. He was a Nazi apologist when a political opponent called out some fascist police state tactics in his state. He lavished praise and shared a stage multiple times with a Nazi sympathizer who posted a pro-Hitler video. Do we really want to give a guy like that the benefit of the doubt?"

I think Nazi has become the new tag like racist or communist. People are going to believe it on the flimsiest of evidence or not. Its lazy at best.

And yes to anyone that didn't get it. I read the articles and I know they are at best half truths. That's the point of the argument.
 
gtyellowjacket said:
I think you can cherry pick for any of that.

"Look, in Isolation I think we can all agree that Tim Walz's Nazi salute might have been a wave, but he worked at a school that handed out jewish stars to freshmen and had seniors play the Gestapo. His brother is a rabid MAGA supporter. As a Congressman, he constantly voted to increase our militaristic spending and he also voted for Bush's war in Iraq. He was a Nazi apologist when a political opponent called out some fascist police state tactics in his state. He lavished praise and shared a stage multiple times with a Nazi sympathizer who posted a pro-Hitler video. Do we really want to give a guy like that the benefit of the doubt?"

I think Nazi has become the new tag like racist or communist. People are going to believe it on the flimsiest of evidence or not. Its lazy at best.

And yes to anyone that didn't get it. I read the articles and I know they are at best half truths. That's the point of the argument.
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I see where you are going with this. At the same time, I'm not one to throw around terms like "nazi" haphazardly, or even "white nationalist." I tend to shy away from those terms as much as possible. I agree that they are overused. And I'm not saying that Musk IS a Nazi. Far from it.

I do believe that he is someone who happens to have some terrible ideas regarding a variety of topics, including race, and I think he is deliberately trolling the left and trying to egg them on, so that he, and his supporters, can point to the left for overreacting. Because of this, I think he is normalizing some pretty abysmal behavior and perspectives.

Whether or not he, himself, is a Nazi is almost immaterial in this discussion. It's what he encourages in others that deeply concerns me.
 
sringwal said:
I see where you are going with this. At the same time, I'm not one to throw around terms like "nazi" haphazardly, or even "white nationalist." I tend to shy away from those terms as much as possible. I agree that they are overused. And I'm not saying that Musk IS a Nazi. Far from it.

I do believe that he is someone who happens to have some terrible ideas regarding a variety of topics, including race, and I think he is deliberately trolling the left and trying to egg them on, so that he, and his supporters, can point to the left for overreacting. Because of this, I think he is normalizing some pretty abysmal behavior and perspectives.

Whether or not he, himself, is a Nazi is almost immaterial in this discussion. It's what he encourages in others that deeply concerns me.
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I agree he has gone off the deep end with his nonsense and does the trolling thing. I do think he legitimately sees a portion of the Democratic party that has lost its way when it comes to demonizing white males and he doesn't like it. He used to at least lean Democrat and voted for Hillary. I also think he has probably gone a bit manic maybe from some of his drug usage.

I don't think he's a Nazi sympathizer and that wave is just weak evidence of some peoples' boogeyman du jour.
 
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gtyellowjacket said:
I agree he has gone off the deep end with his nonsense and does the trolling thing. I do think he legitimately sees a portion of the Democratic party that has lost its way when it comes to demonizing white males and he doesn't like it. He used to at least lean Democrat and voted for Hillary. I also think he has probably gone a bit manic maybe from some of his drug usage.

I don't think he's a Nazi sympathizer and that wave is just weak evidence of some peoples' boogeyman de jour.
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You have things a little backwards. At least for me, it capped all the other things he has done recently. Otherwise, I'd have put it down to this.


I dribble when I nibble
And I quibble when I scribble
Hello to you out there in Normal Land
You may not comprehend my tale or understand
As I crawl past your window give me lucky looks
You can be my body but you'll never read my books
I'm spasticus, I'm spasticus
I'm spasticus autisticus
 
gtyellowjacket said:
I agree he has gone off the deep end with his nonsense and does the trolling thing. I do think he legitimately sees a portion of the Democratic party that has lost its way when it comes to demonizing white males and he doesn't like it. He used to at least lean Democrat and voted for Hillary. I also think he has probably gone a bit manic maybe from some of his drug usage.

I don't think he's a Nazi sympathizer and that wave is just weak evidence of some peoples' boogeyman de jour.
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Honestly I have a difficult time taking the "white men are the real victims" craze seriously. Welcome to a taste of how everyone else has been treated for much of the American experience. Maybe show some empathy, rather than doubling down.
 
gizmodo.com

Federal Employees Sue Agency Over New Email System Allegedly Linked to Elon Musk

The litigation shows concerns within the government over Musk's growing influence.
gizmodo.com gizmodo.com

Two anonymous federal employees have sued the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), alleging that a newly circulated email system is actually linked to Elon Musk.

Last week, OPM circulated a series of unusual emails in which the agency claimed it was testing “a new capability” to contact all federal employees. Employees were encouraged to reply to the OPM emails to confirm they had received them. Amanda Scales, a former xAI employee (Musk’s company), was recently made chief of staff at OPM. The new class-action lawsuit claims that Scales and others may be helping to build a database of federal staff that could be used in the future to create contact lists for mass layoffs.

The suit is brief and doesn’t provide much evidence for its assertions other than a Reddit post, which the litigation claims is sourced from an “unknown OPM employee” who is self-described as having been an agency employee for “nearly a decade and a Federal Employee for almost 20 years.” This employee posted a message to an internal “Union chat” in the government and then proceeded to upload that same message to a public-facing subreddit.


According to claims made in that subreddit, an email server was set up inside the OPM office, in an effort to make it appear that a Musk-linked email system was actually emanating from the public office. It reads:

Our CIO, Melvin Brown, (also a non political career public servant) was pushed aside just one week into his tenure because he refused to setup email lists to send out direct communications to all career civil servants. Such communications are normally left up to each agency. Instead, an on-prem (on-site) email server was setup. Someone literally walked into our building and plugged in an email server to our network to make it appear that emails were coming from OPM. It’s been the one sending those various “test” message you’ve all seen. We think they’re building a massive email list of all federal employees to generate mass RIF notices down the road.
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sringwal said:
Honestly I have a difficult time taking the "white men are the real victims" craze seriously. Welcome to a taste of how everyone else has been treated for much of the American experience. Maybe show some empathy, rather than doubling down.
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I come from the school of two wrongs don't make a right. I can't imagine a worse way to end racism than for us to continue being racist.
 
ZenMode said:
I'm not making an excuse for anyone. I'm saying all three made the same gesture, but Elon specifically said "My heart goes out to you" after doing it.
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Sure, if you believe an edited video of a wave that is cutoff to make the wave look like a salute. Ok.

But most non trolls can tell the difference between a wave and a Nazi salute. One has the hand violently held our rigid in front of you and one is, ya know, a wave.
 
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