#Corruption

Donald Trump Backs His Co-President; Says Attacks On Tesla Dealerships Will Be Treated As ‘Terrorism’
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/03/12/donald-trump-backs-his-co-president-says-attacks-on-tesla-dealerships-will-be-treated-as-terrorism/

"Only attackers of this one company will be treated as domestic #terrorists, even as the hundreds of literal #DomesticTerrorists who raided the #Capitol building for the sole purpose of preventing a #democratic election from happening now roam free, thanks to Trump’s blanket #pardon."

Headline:
Donald Trump Backs His Co-President; Says Attacks On Tesla Dealerships Will Be Treated As ‘Terrorism’

from the dumpster-where-the-top-doesn't-open-when-it's-on-fire dept

Wed, Mar 12th 2025 09:24am - Tim Cushing

#Musk #Trump #Coup

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**Zhi Zhu** @ZhiZhu@newsie.social · 9 Std.

9 Std.

#ElonMusk #DonaldTrump #Corruption

" #Republicans in #Congress are not being told that their appropriations will be ignored: they are being told that appropriations will be selectively ignored, and they will be protected.

#DOGE is accepting requests from Republican officials to reverse cuts in their jurisdictions. It is a form of #spoils system in reverse: your pet projects will be spared from elimination."
https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/trump-and-musk-are-building-a-new

Text from article(edited for length):
No member of Congress should support an illegal theory of governing that strips them of their power. No member of Congress should vote for a bill unless they are promised that the bill will be implemented as written. Breaking such promises should trigger Congress to use its oversight powers, all the way to impeachment.

This is all pretty straightforward checks-&-balances stuff. You protect your institutional power, or you become irrelevant, as does the US model for governing...

So why are Republicans going along with Trump’s promises to ignore their appropriations. Many genuinely want to cut government, and don’t care about the means. But they also... want to claim credit & minimize blame. Recall all of the Republicans who opposed Biden’s infrastructure bill, and then touted spending in their jurisdiction. So what gives?

Republicans in Congress are not being told that their appropriations will be ignored: they are being told that appropriations will be selectively ignored, and they will be protected.

DOGE is accepting requests from Republican officials to reverse cuts in their jurisdictions. It is a form of spoils system in reverse: your pet projects will be spared from elimination. CNN describes the pattern:

"Republican lawmakers are enjoying more access – and having more success – in their attempts to convince the White House to reverse cuts to certain programs and workers, while Democrats are largely striking out..."

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**Zhi Zhu** @ZhiZhu@newsie.social · 9 Std.

9 Std.

#ElonMusk #DonaldTrump #Coup

Trump and Musk are building a new spoils system

When ideological targeting becomes cronyism
https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/trump-and-musk-are-building-a-new

"Trump, via #Musk, is engaged in #impoundment, which is #illegal & #unconstitutional. It also vastly weakens #Congress. & yet, the #Trump pitch to get Congress to pass appropriations is that he will ignore what they actually pass! Impoundment is a feature, not a bug, in their model for governing."

Headline and illustration with credit.

Headline:
Trump and Musk are building a new spoils system

When ideological targeting becomes cronyism

by Don Moynihan
Mar 12, 2025

Illustration: Elon Musk is depicted as a robber baron during the gilded age.
Credit: Boing Boing/Midjourney

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**Zhi Zhu** @ZhiZhu@newsie.social · 9 Std.

9 Std.

$42.5 Billion Broadband Grant Program Being Rewritten To Benefit Elon Musk
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/03/12/42-5-billion-broadband-grant-program-being-rewritten-to-benefit-elon-musk/

"there are $42.5 billion in broadband #grants... courtesy of the 2021 #infrastructure bill. The #GOP voted against the bill, but have repeatedly... taken credit for its looming #benefits among our broadly misinformed electorate. And, as we predicted, they’re now redrafting key components of the program to the direct benefit of #ElonMusk"

Headline and text(edited for length):
$42.5 Billion Broadband Grant Program Being Rewritten To Benefit Elon Musk

from the and-by-"fix"-it-I-mean-smashing-it-to-bits dept
Wed, Mar 12th 2025 05:35am - Karl Bode

...there are $42.5 billion in broadband grants headed to the states courtesy of the 2021 infrastructure bill. The GOP voted against the bill, but have repeatedly... taken credit for its looming benefits among our broadly misinformed electorate... they’re now redrafting key components of the program to the direct benefit of Elon Musk.

To ensure that the $42.5 billion taxpayer money was spent wisely, the bill included numerous provisions, including a recommendation that states try to prioritize the funding of fiber. Because higher capacity fiber is generally future proof, whereas satellite services like Starlink are congested, expensive, harm the environment, and are seeing slowdowns as the network’s customer base grows.

The NTIA also included some bare bones requirements that ISPs taking taxpayer money try to ensure that any resulting service is made affordable to poor people. Big ISPs like Comcast and AT&T were quick to complain last year... the outrageous scandal that is trying to help poor people get online.

These fairly sensible restrictions (which I suspect would have never been enforced in any serious way anyway) are being declared “woke” by the Trump administration, which is changing key parts of the grant program to the direct benefit of Elon Musk:

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**Zhi Zhu** @ZhiZhu@newsie.social · 10 Std.

10 Std.

Elon Musk Finally Admits Social Security Is on the Chopping Block

The #DOGE chief has revealed his true goals in a #FoxNews interview.
https://newrepublic.com/post/192579/elon-musk-social-security-medicare-entitlements

"Trump has said he won’t touch #SocialSecurity or #Medicare, but Musk’s entitlement math makes it clear that both those programs, as well as #Medicaid, are on the chopping block. Millions of older #Americans—many of them red-state #Republicans—will lose the vital benefits"

Headline:
Elon Musk Finally Admits Social Security Is on the Chopping Block

The DOGE chief has revealed his true goals in a Fox News interview.

by Malcolm Ferguson
March 11, 2025 / 9:24 a.m. ET

Fortgeführter Thread

**Zhi Zhu** @ZhiZhu@newsie.social · 10 Std.

10 Std.

#Trump #Putin #Corruption

"Without gaining anything for the #UnitedStates, Trump has:

[done lots to help #Russia]

The result of a bad deal—making concessions to Russia while getting nothing in return—will not be fewer attacks against #Americans, but more. Having gotten Trump to roll over without conceding anything, why would Putin stop?"
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-courts-putin-russians-trying-kill-americans-gray-zone-hybrid-war

Text from article(edited for length):
...Without gaining anything for the United States, Trump has:

-started bilateral talks with Russia to end the war in Ukraine on terms favorable to Russia;

-deprioritized Russia as a focus of cyber defense;

-stopped offensive cyber operations against Russia;

-reassigned federal employees who were working on protecting the United States from covert foreign—including Russian—interference;

-begun negotiations to open Russian consulates in the United States and allow back hundreds of Russian officials, many of whom will be spies; and

-initiated the lifting of sanctions on Russia, including on oligarchs, who play an integral role in funding clandestine operations.

All this as Russia is on its back foot in Ukraine... in the last year Russia managed to advance only 30 miles, at the cost of 100,000 soldiers, 4,000 tanks and fighting vehicles, and $140 billion. The Russian economy is teetering, with interest rates at 21%, mortgage rates hovering at 30%, and food inflation through the roof. And the Russian military, suffering from corruption and bereft of resources, is sending soldiers on crutches to the front lines... Trump’s push to cease the fighting comes at the exact moment Putin most needs a respite.

The result of a bad deal—making concessions to Russia while getting nothing in return—will not be fewer attacks against Americans, but more. Having gotten Trump to roll over without conceding anything, why would Putin stop?

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**Zhi Zhu** @ZhiZhu@newsie.social · 11 Std.

11 Std.

Trump Holds Bizarre, Rambling Tesla Commercial at White House

WTF were #DonaldTrump and #ElonMusk doing?
https://newrepublic.com/post/192623/donald-trump-elon-musk-tesla-commercial-white-house

"Trump claimed that the #boycott was unlawful...

Fact check: Boycotts are not illegal and are protected by the #FirstAmendment...

But #US regulations do prohibit federal employees from using their public office... “for the endorsement of any product, service or enterprise.”"

Headline:
Trump Holds Bizarre, Rambling Tesla Commercial at White House

WTF were Donald Trump and Elon Musk doing?

by Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling
March 11, 2025 / 4:58 p.m. ET

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**Zhi Zhu** @ZhiZhu@newsie.social · 12 Std.

#ElonMusk #Coup #Corruption

Elon Musk and the the Threat of the Over-Mighty Subject, Part I
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/elon-musk-and-the-the-threat-of-the-over-mighty-subject-part-i

"Trump isn’t able to manage #Musk in the way he abuses and brutalizes the other toadies who crowd around him. Musk is clearly driving this train, with #Trump perhaps excited by the pain and anguish he’s creating, but still at best only okaying things after the fact."

Text from article:
Donald Trump, a legitimately if misguidedly elected President, who is licensing Musk’s wilding spree through the federal govt. If and when he chooses to shut this down, he can. But it’s clear that even Trump isn’t able to manage Musk in the way he abuses & brutalizes the other toadies who crowd around him. Musk is clearly driving this train, with Trump perhaps excited by the pain & anguish he’s creating, but still at best only okaying things after the fact. Trump has an on/off switch. But that’s it. And costs of flipping the switch to off are great, even for Donald Trump.

As public opinion has turned decisively against Musk, if not yet Trump, we’ve seen his megalomania grow totally untethered. He now routinely accuses critics of crimes, demands their imprisonment. Yesterday he called Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) a “traitor” for having the temerity to show up in Ukraine while Musk is trying his best to, in his phrase, put that country into the wood chipper. Lots of people mouth off on Twitter, of course. But Musk isn’t anyone. He’s got everyone in the federal government scared of him, running on a short leash and needing to do whatever they can to appease him. He speaks with the power if not the authority of the state.

But the issue is not only Elon Musk. It’s a general problem that isn’t going anywhere. It’s the reductio ad absurdum of the economic inequality debate, when levels of super power get concentrated in the hands of a single monomaniacal individual.

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**Zhi Zhu** @ZhiZhu@newsie.social · 12 Std.

#Corruption #CorruptGOP #GOP

Trump Turns White House Into an Elon Musk Marketing Gimmick

#DonaldTrump proves he’s totally subservient to #ElonMusk with his #Tesla stunt.
https://newrepublic.com/post/192586/donald-trump-subservient-elon-musk-tesla-stunt

"Elon Musk took such a massive financial hit Monday that ... #Trump is now moonlighting as a #car salesman...

It’s not clear why Trump’s spotlight would lend any help to #Musk now—the two are already publicly linked, and isn’t that part of the problem?"

Photo and headline:

Photo: A protester holds up a drawing of Elon Musk doing a Nazi salute. His extended hand holds a puppet of Donald Trump
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Headline:
Trump Turns White House Into an Elon Musk Marketing Gimmick

Donald Trump proves he’s totally subservient to Elon Musk with his Tesla stunt.

by Edith Olmsted
March 11, 2025 / 10:07 a.m. ET

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**MicronH** @impy@mastodon.social · 12 Std.

MicronH @impy@mastodon.social

@DeniseG Welcome back to that old time Fossil Fuel religion!!! #Pollution #GOP #Corruption

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**Zhi Zhu** @ZhiZhu@newsie.social · 12 Std.

Trump’s Crazed Midnight Tirade Over Musk’s Unpopularity Shows Weakness

#Trump hates #green energy—but he loves Teslas, which he’s now pathetically pleading with his followers to buy as a show of loyalty & devotion to #ElonMusk.
https://newrepublic.com/article/192609/trump-tesla-musk-unpopularity-shows-weakness

"Trump unleashed a wild rant endorsing Elon Musk’s signature #EV. Trump pledged to buy a #Tesla himself as a “show of confidence” in Musk’s so-called #Doge, whose actions have grown ever more... politically toxic"