Turning On The Giant Faucet Of Bullshit - US Politics February 2025

I wonder what would happen if someone quietly offered Trump a massive amount of untraceable cash to step down.

We’d have President Vance. Yay.

There'll need to be some Big Event to turn around a lot of ambivalent or indifferent Americans - for example, a failure to send out tax refunds, or social security payments being delayed... but for now, I think a lot of MAGA-adjacents are happy to watch the shitshow from the sidelines

For now I'm just watching developments, because all this is leading up to what the media will call a "Constitutional Crisis", which is simply code for Trump committing a raft of impeachable crimes amounting to a coup d'etat. My current self-assessment is that I'm not too old to protest in the streets, but I am too old to riot in the streets.

if you go into right wing world, all they are talking about is the waste and fraud doge has uncovered at USAID. this is where they want to keep the conversation. i am sure they will find all sorts of irregularities in the government books, but it isn't the point. this is going to be the dems' biggest messaging hurdle --- defending the integrity of the constitutional system without getting sucked into the whataboutism over this or that particular expense. budget cuts are one thing; this is another thing.

Someone I went to high school with posted on Facebook: "Elon is attacking corruption, and corruption is attacking Elon. Couldn't be clearer. The side you choose reveals your character."

This is someone I was once good friends with, but haven't spoken to in 25 years. He was vaguely liberal in high school (as most of my friends were) but not especially political. (I do recall that his parents were kind of racist, though.) The first time I saw him posting on FB about politics was in 2016, when he cheered on Bernie Sanders -- but then he quickly turned MAGA during the first Trump term. From what I can tell, most of it is motivated by anti-establishment energy. It's why he hated Hillary in the 2016 primaries and why he's convinced himself that USAID is evil in 2025. In this view, Trump and Musk are taking bold action and draining the swamp, just like they promised.

"Elon is attacking corruption, and corruption is attacking Elon"

I just heard that the WH is claiming Musk will be 'self-policing' his conflicts of interest, i.e. all the gov't contracts and taxpayer dollars he's been syphoning from the coffers

It feels like the plan here is: fuck shit up until protesting ratchets up and Dem congresspeople act in opposition, declare martial law and send in the military/militia, dissolve Congress, consolidate absolute power “temporarily” (which power is never then relinquished). Maybe this goes in the doomposting thread. Feels like no matter what happens (resistance or no resistance) we are playing into their hands either way. Maybe it’s just meant to feel that way and it’s a big bluff they’re hoping won’t be called before they have all the pieces in place.

send in military where? everywhere?

Jaymc is correct about the spin from magaland.

Top Story

The biggest breach of US government data is underway. (Tech Crunch)

What Tech Crunch means here is that decades of government malfeasance is being brought to light.

And they hate it.

The biggest heist in American history: DC is just waking up to the Elon Musk takeover. (The Verge) (archive site)

What The Verge means here is that decades of government malfeasance is being brought to light.

And they hate it.

https://acecomments.mu.nu/?post=413558

Yeah, I know, we shouldn't do/not do the right thing because of how the right will characterize them.

But part of how Dem resistance is being defanged in the media is with the message "of course government workers and liberals (but I repeat myself) are freaking out. Their calumny is being discovered!"

So the more strident Dems seem, the guiltily they seem, on this view. And then they get hit simultaneously with "why aren't you fighting harder?" rhetoric from our side. Damned if they do and damned if they don't, rinse, repeat.

(Again, not to entreat activists to pity them, just sayin what it seems like.)

Keeping things tied up in courts interminably until it’s too late and/or things work out in his favor and/or get appealed to a pet judge is his specialty- it’s hard to see the judicial system as a real long term resistance play, some principled judges notwithstanding

at some point the repubs are gonna need to pass spending abd debt ceiling, both of those are next month

At some point the repubs are going to have fish or cut bait about whether Trump is allowed to destroy the present system of government and replace Congress with a new government by Executive Order.

Dems rightfully get a lot of shit from both liberals and progressives (or whatever everyone labels themselves) for being toothless, centrist wastes but I do think there's a misattribution of strategic genius and "grit" to win towards the republicans because they've effectively given up their entire platform. They aren't gonna take a stand on any of this.

I was thinking something similar the other day, and it's been brought up in other places— will Republicans in congress really cede all their power? I somehow doubt this— at some point there will be a rebellion by a number of Republicans, not out of any sort of integrity, but because they see that their own hold on power will be compromised.

sorry, xpost there.

yes exactly.

repubs are uneasy with trump and they hate Musk even more

would be nice if that mattered at all

After they retire we'll find out about all their uneasiness in their memoirs.

They are losers

As far as I've seen, Republicans are generally happy with this outcome.

repubs are uneasy with trump and they hate Musk even more

Musk is fucking things up for Trump. Project 2025 (which was always the goal, and anybody who tried to tell you different was either lying or a fucking mark) was about tearing shit out root and branch, but doing it in a legally defensible way. What Musk is doing, just running in with a private goon squad of groypers and wrecking everything in sight, is the exact opposite of the methodical teardown they had in mind, and it's going to make the plan that scumbag Vought who just took over OMB had in mind untenable in many ways.

I suspect most Rs in Congress despise Trump but are also power hungry fascists themselves who know the ultimate sin would be crossing him

maybe I'm more optimistic than some here, but I think they're riding a sugar rush right now and the crash is coming... the bromance will absolutely fail, Trump will distance himself from Musk and he'll go back to excessive golfing and mumbling strange things at reporters

Re: courts, it would be different if there were such a thing as the judicial police that could go arrest people. Not so great when you tell the executive to arrest itself and it says "no, I don't think I will."

Congress at least has the sergeant at arms. Which I must admit would be a badass mid-tier action movie. (Teal and orange poster.

Starring I dunno Aaron Eckhart as... the Sergeant at Arms. His buff actual arms showing a tattoo of the Capitol dome, cradling a machine gun. Tagline: "He's Gonna Get Legislative on Your Ass."

Sidekick: Alison Brie as... The Parliamentarian. She takes off her glasses and loosens her bun when shit goes down. Comic relief character is a pot-smoking IT guy they call "Joint Session." Played by I guess Kal Penn.

Trump only ever turns on ppl less rich than him. he is awed by Elon the same way he is with Putin, the whole reason he got into this is to get the respect of people like that. imo he'd be happy to let Elon be acting president going forward as long as Elon pats him on the back once in a while

The whole thing with Trump turning on people because he gets jealous of the attention only ever happens with people Trump thinks he is superior to. He definitely does not think that about Elon, because Elon is richer than him.

In terms of Trump and Elon, we should in no way rule out the possibility of straightforward bribery. It would be nothing for Elon to have had a conversation during the transition, with a promised payout per year in exchange for various things. Whatever Trump‘s actual net worth is, I’m pretty sure a $5 or $10 billion lump sum would be enough to get his attention.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-07/musk-s-doge-teen-was-fired-by-cybersecurity-firm-for-leaking-company-secrets?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTczODk1NzgyMSwiZXhwIjoxNzM5NTYyNjIxLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJTUkJXMTlUMVVNMFcwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiIyQjE3NzFFOTlEODc0QzRDOTY1Njg1RTZBQkJGM0QwRCJ9.PzPv9vq6-ukfVt3y5WF0PBy_lGW7WBwsNaXdP8fUOSo&leadSource=uverify%20wall

One of the DOGE staffers (the chud in the blazer and shorts) was fired from an internship for stealing company information and giving it to a competitor.

this guy

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/beavisandbutthead/images/b/b1/Butt-head.png

Amanda Marcotte's Salon column today points out that Trump is fine with Musk taking control because it's less work for him and lets him just be the tv president like he was the tv businessman on the apprentice.

eh, I have a feeling Trump's ego isn't going to like this:

https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/TIM250224-Musk-Cover-FINAL.jpg

Anything to boost his blood pressure.

yeah its plain to me that trump just wants a "head of state" role this time and dgaf about the rest of it. in his first term he clearly assumed thats all that being the president meant, and was massively frustrated and disappointed to discover that there was more to it than that and he was expected/required to do things. not this time.

I’d suggest Trump isn’t following or even particularly interested in the Project 2025 playbook. He is following the Putin playbook for taking and consolidating authoritarian power. Republicans in Congress see the writing on the wall and are probably calculating that they’d rather stay on his team and be part of his puppet government rather than getting jailed or disappeared. He is allowing Project 2025 to happen as a display of his overwhelming power, and as a means to an end. Basically he is signing whatever executive orders are put in front of him, in his usual transactional manner, either to reward the factions who helped him to power, or as part of a negotiation for more power. Musk is a wildcard who is following his own playbook and has been given free reign as a reward for financing Trump’s win, but also because what he is doing serves Trump’s goals of sowing chaos and destabilizing/defanging agencies that are not seen as loyal (and maybe also to serve as a distraction or patsy). But then I also think that Trump promised Netenyahu Palestine on a platter if he kept killing Palestinians long enough to divide Democrats and swing the US election his way.

he's pretending that the Time cover doesn't bother him ('They're still around?') but you know it does... he made fake Time covers for his office in Mar-a-Lagoo!

The New Yorker had a similarly themed cover for its inauguration week issue, but you know Trump cares way more about Time.

https://media.newyorker.com/photos/6781b40651e5eadfb23015da/master/w_1600,c_limit/2025_01_20.jpg

a federal judge has put a stay on the plan to put usaid on administrative leave. guess we find out tonight if we still have a constitutional order

In response to Maxwell Frost's post about trying to enter the Department of Education, Musk tweeted, "No such department exists in the federal government."

This is a department created by an act of Congress, signed into law by a U.S. president, and an unelected South African billionaire is telling us it no longer exists.

Reagan tried to get rid of Dept of Education

2+2=5

Republicans have talked about it for years but they’ve never had the votes for it (because for whatever reason abolishing the Department of Education sounds bad to people). But it can’t be deleted in a tweet.

yeah its plain to me that trump just wants a "head of state" role this time and dgaf about the rest of it. in his first term he clearly assumed thats all that being the president meant, and was massively frustrated and disappointed to discover that there was more to it than that and he was expected/required to do things. not this time.

― waste of compute (One Eye Open), Friday, February 7, 2025 4:27 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

I have a very different read

Project 2025 *is* the Trump agenda. The point is to purge the government of disloyal elements and build a dictatorship.

don't forget selling everyone else out for personal gain, along the way

Right. I see Doge as just project 2025 on doublespeed. Gut it all as fast as possible, before anyone had a chance to stop them.

Still waiting for Trump's future best selling book where he lays all this out very clearly, The Audacity of Crime.

A figurehead tv president wouldn’t be as ambitious as he has been… or take on so much personal risk by breaking the law constantly for nine years

He is going for a big prize

From a Facebook acquaintance:

"I always get my social security direct deposit on the first Wednesday of every month, without exception. Not this month though. Still waiting. WTF?"