Want to remind everyone that it’s not just Elon who’s done the Nazi salute. Steve Bannon has followed his example. A couple others as well, including a fucking pastor. The Fourth Reich wasn’t on my 2025 bingo card but I guess here we are.
I choose to believe they’re also being edgy in a very untasteful way, but mostly because I honestly can’t do much about it. My options essentially are:
assume the best - still bad, but it ends in 4 years with a peaceful handover of power to the next President
assume the worst - we turn into something like Nazi Germany and it doesn’t end after 4 years
My actions now assuming either are equivalent. I’m going to keep going to my day job, spending time with my family, and helping people in my community. If my country actually goes fascist, am I going to join some resistance group? Probably not, because there’s no way I’m standing up to the US military. Am I going to move to another country? Probably not, because the US would likely crush whatever country I move to anyway.
The chances of the US actually going fascist are incredibly small; higher than I’d like, but still small. Trump and Musk will certainly shake things up, but I highly doubt they’ll achieve a hostile takeover, or even try. Because why would they? Trump is old, surely he doesn’t really want more than 4 years anyway, and trying to justify Musk as the President isn’t happening (he’s ineligible constitutionally, he didn’t win any election, and he doesn’t even hold an office in the line of succession).
The simplest explanations are:
Musk is really persuasive - look at how he convinced investors to invest with him and give him a $50B bonus
Trump is a narcissist, so which means he’s easy to convince if you appeal to that
Musk is childish and entitled, so he’s cosplaying as a powerful figure
This explanation makes a lot more sense than some weird obsession with fascism: Trump wants to be remembered (for good or ill) and Musk is just messing around. Jumping to fascism is a leap, but again, my actions in either scenario are the same, so I’ll choose to believe the more likely, less bad option.
Want to remind everyone that it’s not just Elon who’s done the Nazi salute. Steve Bannon has followed his example. A couple others as well, including a fucking pastor. The Fourth Reich wasn’t on my 2025 bingo card but I guess here we are.
I choose to believe they’re also being edgy in a very untasteful way, but mostly because I honestly can’t do much about it. My options essentially are:
My actions now assuming either are equivalent. I’m going to keep going to my day job, spending time with my family, and helping people in my community. If my country actually goes fascist, am I going to join some resistance group? Probably not, because there’s no way I’m standing up to the US military. Am I going to move to another country? Probably not, because the US would likely crush whatever country I move to anyway.
The chances of the US actually going fascist are incredibly small; higher than I’d like, but still small. Trump and Musk will certainly shake things up, but I highly doubt they’ll achieve a hostile takeover, or even try. Because why would they? Trump is old, surely he doesn’t really want more than 4 years anyway, and trying to justify Musk as the President isn’t happening (he’s ineligible constitutionally, he didn’t win any election, and he doesn’t even hold an office in the line of succession).
The simplest explanations are:
This explanation makes a lot more sense than some weird obsession with fascism: Trump wants to be remembered (for good or ill) and Musk is just messing around. Jumping to fascism is a leap, but again, my actions in either scenario are the same, so I’ll choose to believe the more likely, less bad option.