In Front of Our Noses: Additional Trump-Musk Thoughts
It says a lot about the Trump era.
“To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.”-George Orwell.
For previous entries, click here.
On the one hand, this is not the most important story in the world. But on the other hand, it lays bare a lot of things that are right in front of our noses.
Here are a number of thoughts.
- Federal Contracts. Note how Trump threatens to take away Musk’s federal contracts. This is just another example of Trump treating federal contracts like his personal toys that he can give and take away. It is not hyperbole to call this a dictatorial approach to governance.
- Buying Influence. Musk clearly thinks he bought influence and is pouting in public that he didn’t get his money’s worth.
- Deficits and Debt. Really, everyone should see, yet again, how all of this is not a real issue for Trump or the Republican Party. It all put a lie to the whole DOGE bit, as we all knew.
- Rationalizations! Prepare yourself for the rationalizations. A bunch of MAGA types are now going to all of a sudden realize what a fool Musk is, and a lot of Musk fans are going to turn on Trump. At a bare minimum, a lot of people who embraced the Musk-Trump bromance are going to have to rewire their brains and opinions to accommodate this outcome.
- Epstein! The Epstein Files attack is playing to a certain segment of the right-wing internet. It will affect the rationalization stuff.
This fits into the “in front of our noses” thread because it is easy to look at all this stupid chaos and dismiss it as either a joke or a distraction.
But it should not be dismissed. This is a perfect illustration of the way Trump approaches government. It illustrates his poor character and chaotic decision-making. It shows how mercurial and transactional he is. It should help people see, if they will look, how you can’t trust what he says. Just look at the superlatives rained down on Musk and how quickly that became threats and invective.
This matters not because it shows him changing his mind. It matters because Trump, up and until recently, told us to trust Musk as he unleashed him on the federal government to the detriment of thousands of people and to the state capacity of the United States. It illustrates the capricious, irresponsible, and emotional way Trump makes decisions.
I would remind us all how it is impossible to envision any other president of either party over time acting anything like this. And yet, like Michael Bailey noted recently, this is “normal” for a lot of young people.
It is remarkably easy to see that all this is background noise, but this is core Trump on display.
(It says plenty about Musk as well as about how much dangerous power accrues to billionaires, but those are their own discussions.)
Some relevant social media entries.
Which goes to show how greed corrupts. Musk got a spectacular ROI on his investment. He’s hobbled every agency that had an open investigation into him, he has accessed a massive trove of data, probably is responsible for placing Vance, and he’s secured more contracts for Starlink.
@Jen:
Clearly, Musk wanted even more.
Speaking of in front of our noses, we may be looking at the emergence of a new species. I call it Bromo stultus.
It would be part of a whole new branch, the not-so-great apes. The name means “idiot human-like bro,” or maybe “stupid human-like bro.”
the name’s not settled, as some suggest Bromo ignarus, ignorant human-like bro, would be a better description.
Whatever the name, caution must be exercised in regard to this new species, as it remains interfertile with good ol Homo sapiens
Alas, it won’t cleve the MAGAts from their felon. The amount of cognitive dissonance that they can ignore is amazing.
Brad DeLong observed that this business highlights not so much that Trump is transactional, but that he is only transactional when he has to put his money down on the barrel first.
I mean, I’m sure some are going to portray this as, “Trump is strong and can’t be bought!” and maybe a few will celebrate how expertly Trump picked Musk’s pocket. Because we can’t resist a really good thief. There is a genre of film that celebrates really good theiving.
And really the extent to which we’ve all become inured to those in positions of real and significant power (and billionaires, no less) behaving publicly in ways that would likely get the rest of us fired.
My wife’s sister is visiting, and this topic came up in conversation. She couldn’t understand how these two men were acting so unprofessionally. But then really this kind of behavior was normalized during Trump 1.
It’s all out in front of the world. It’s (at least it should be) embarrassing. And yes, the naked corruption is astonishing.
My working theory is that 40% of Americans were turned Cis by rampant Cis Ideology in our institutions which teaches about the falsehoods of biological sex and how there’s no such thing as gender. In fact, there is only gender. Bodies don’t exist. They are manifestations of gender and it’s the lies of Cis Ideology which confuses these poor souls into believing they are biologically men or women. That’s why they have these problems. Blame the ideology.
One of these guys has the nuclear codes.
The other has all of your personal data.
Sleep well.
@Sleeping Dog:
No, it won’t. The latest rational among the MAGAs is that Trump and Musk are playing 5-D chess.
@PT:
It will never not amaze me that people think Trump shoud be hired to be POTUS when there is no way in hell they’d hire someone with that personality to do anything for them personally.
@Steven L. Taylor:
I’ve said since 2016…if someone like Trump [with a stupid combover, pancake makeup, telling lies, and stiffing local contractors] came into the local bar he’d be shown the door.
The idolatry has never made any sense to me.
But I’m also baffled by religion so maybe it’s just me.
Breakups can be hell.
You know, it’s always been hard, but it’s getting impossible for me to reconcile some of my friends’ and family’s Trump votes with their seemingly normal, real-life behavior. They seem to do the right thing, respect others including teh gheys (still taking their time on trans), heck they even have a noticeable amount of emotional intelligence. How do they look at these grown toddlers, nipples deep in corruption and behavior they’d never accept of their own children, and think, “yeah, that was a good vote”?
@Daryl:
It’s a mystery to me, too. Trump is so blatantly NOT what his admirers perceive
him to be: a brilliant businessman, a devoted husband, a loving father, a devout Christian, and an
outstandingly fine president. It’s comic how they can be so deceived. And blind to reality.
@Kathy: homo bromo
We are, sadly, in the same genus.
@Franklin: “How do they look at these grown toddlers, nipples deep in corruption and behavior they’d never accept of their own children, and think, ‘yeah, that was a good vote’?”
By “seem[ing] to do the right thing, [giving the appearance of] respect[ing] others including teh gheys (still taking their time on trans [this may be ‘the tell’]).” That “heck they even have a noticeable amount of emotional intelligence” does not indicate anything. Even Trump and Hitler had noticeable amounts of emotional intelligence (some people even go so far as to suggest that sociopaths need a higher-than-average amount). Lots of us portray people in public that we aren’t in private. The fact that you imagine that you “know” your friends and relatives may well be a chimera.
@CSK: Blind to reality? Wait, I thought that reality is constructed out of the aspirations and beliefs of the participants. These people aren’t blind to reality, they’re believing what they need to in order to reconstruct the reality in which they live to one more friendly to their goals and aspirations. They aspire to a world in which bigotry is king and prejudice is the order of the day.
And no, they don’t believe that they will be swept up in it too. Not even for a single second.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
Indeed. But you can be blind to actual reality and still construct your own personal version of reality to inhabit.
@CSK:
Ketamine helps in this, so I am given to undersatnd.
@JohnSF:
I’m sure it does.
@CSK: Not only can one be blind in that manner, I think it may well also be a requirement for some realities people want to construct these days.
Mind you, the MAGA reality is really pretty popular among Murkans. They circle back to this every few years and have all my life.
@Steven L. Taylor:
Every now and then there is a small flicker of light:
Makes me hopeful that there are more of these out there, out of the limelight of media drama.
It does take frequent immersion in MAGA discussion threads to get an inkling of their mentality. I do it in the comments section of the New York Post, where evidence-based argument is not entirely drowned out by MAGA abuse. The Musk/Trump brawl has put them on the defensive for once, which is an achievement in itself. However that defence consists of the belligerent claim that even if Trump has a few flaws, they are nothing compared to the disaster that would have befallen America under a radical Marxist Harris administration. Needless to say there is no way to rebut such deranged certainty.
@Ken Lovell:
Well, just consider the sheer disaster that has befallen Britain since the horrid rotten socialist! Labour Party took office!
Errm …
Something bad, surely, even if most people didn’t notice.
*eyeroll*
It’s interesting to look at Xitter for how nuts the MAGA are; and how the overly online sections of the UK right are following down their “culture war” rabbit holes.
imho, the US-ification of the UK right activist base and the Tory/Reform politicians who also inhabit that infospace are leading them to destruction.
Because they are linked in to US-right themes that resonate with the overly-online, but have sod all linkage to actual British public opinion.
I can’t help wondering if the MAGA are also becoming consumed by self-referntial, self-reinfocing, political isolation from the general public.
When the economic consequences of Trump begin to hit – in about six months? – the MAGA hardcore are likely to become incresingly disconnected from general public opinion, imho.
@JohnSF:
Yes, something I’ve been observing but not confined to just US-UK. Humans replicate what they see as “success” in business, science, political activism. Perfect storm: technology enabled instant access to every other person on the planet + keen awareness of our skillset abilities to commander worldview of others (thanks Madison Avenue! thanks religions!) + unreal boatloads of money/power in the hands of narcissistic ideologues.
The behavioral feedback loop MAGA inhabits ensures that they will intensify their rationalizations, disinformation (lies), and activism all of which are engineered for maximum damage. They will continue to drag their beguiled followers along. Drop off so far has been limited.
I’m not sure that economic catastrophe and resulting social upheaval is enough to redirect this socio-political vector. Historically, in the face of disasters, people can become even more unhinged, giving rise to increased irrationality as expressed through new ideological schisms. There are opportunists ready to embrace and exploit upheaval to whatever degree it occurs.
The question is how much “net rationality” will be retained in the “corporate body” of our society and to what degree it will have the capacity to assert itself given the extent to which we have loosened all our moral/ideological guardrails. Humans are forever forging new ground, responding to our own cultural invention and “hallucinations.”
That bit about the arc of civilization “bends towards justice” is self conceit. The same might be said about an arc of increasing rationality. The rapid advancement of technology and social connectivity caught human process/progress off guard. We simply, on the whole, were not developed enough to rationally integrate the ensuing freedom into our behavior. Our sense of discernment has been overwhelmed. The reason for that is a whole another discussion.
@JohnSF: The Australian conservative coalition has taken a few steps in Trumpian directions in recent years. Its biggest party, the Liberals, suffered their worst election defeat since the party was founded 80 years ago last month. Clive Palmer, who fancies himself as our Trump, spent tens of billions campaigning for his party’s candidates and didn’t come close to winning a seat anywhere. So despite superficial similarities between English-speaking countries, it appears America is the only one where MAGA sentiments thrive.