Evil Rich People

[Overlander]

you don't have a 401k. it's never too late to start saving for the future.

I would gladly compare income statements and balance sheets any time.

[pdub]

Not really defending MICH here but that sounds like something an Evil Rich Person would say.

[Overlander]

Not really defending MICH here but that sounds like something an Evil Rich Person would say.

True.
Dammit

Anyway, I feel my money is much better invested about as far as it can get from a 401k

[Sparko]

you don't have a 401k. it's never too late to start saving for the future.

Future ended Tuesday, but some cannot see the checkmate in 25 moves.

[jfish26]

Translated: aw, man, we were just figuring out how to make money on this stuff.

[BiggDick]

Trump appoints Elon and Vivek to run the "Department of Government Efficiency"

if that department sounds like completely made up bullshit, then realize it's abbreviated, "D.O.G.E."

[jfish26]

Trump cannot legally create a department out of whole cloth. Nor can he unilaterally appoint cabinet-level people (like Secretary of Defense, etc) - he can only nominate them.

It’s important to get the language right, because the whole program on their side is to make people miss how abnormal and wrong it is for a President (or -elect) to grab the sort of power he (and Musk) are attempting to grab.

This is exactly how autocrats seize power. It is not in all caps, HELLO FRIENDS I AM YOUR DICTATOR.

[RainbowsandUnicorns]

Trump cannot legally create a department out of whole cloth. Nor can he unilaterally appoint cabinet-level people (like Secretary of Defense, etc) - he can only nominate them.

It’s important to get the language right, because the whole program on their side is to make people miss how abnormal and wrong it is for a President (or -elect) to grab the sort of power he (and Musk) are attempting to grab.

This is exactly how autocrats seize power. It is not in all caps, HELLO FRIENDS I AM YOUR DICTATOR.

I believe he can create an "outside" department. Or can't he? I guess I don't really know.

[KUTradition]

if it’s outside the government, then what is it a department of?

[RainbowsandUnicorns]

if it’s outside the government, then what is it a department of?

Good question!
Would it be wrong if I referred to it as the the Department of Jagoffs instead of D.O.G.E.?

[jfish26]

Trump cannot legally create a department out of whole cloth. Nor can he unilaterally appoint cabinet-level people (like Secretary of Defense, etc) - he can only nominate them.

It’s important to get the language right, because the whole program on their side is to make people miss how abnormal and wrong it is for a President (or -elect) to grab the sort of power he (and Musk) are attempting to grab.

This is exactly how autocrats seize power. It is not in all caps, HELLO FRIENDS I AM YOUR DICTATOR.

I believe he can create an "outside" department. Or can't he? I guess I don't really know.

The issue isn’t really what he can and can’t do. It’s that he thinks he CAN do anything.

My optimism that we will be anywhere recognizable in a few years is dependent now on people - Rs, mostly - killing bad and illegal ideas off in the womb.

[BiggDick]

with Musk at least, it's kind of amazing he even has the time to run a whole new department, considering he's already the CEO of like 5 other companies too.

and we all know how hard CEOs work!

[RainbowsandUnicorns]

Trump cannot legally create a department out of whole cloth. Nor can he unilaterally appoint cabinet-level people (like Secretary of Defense, etc) - he can only nominate them.

It’s important to get the language right, because the whole program on their side is to make people miss how abnormal and wrong it is for a President (or -elect) to grab the sort of power he (and Musk) are attempting to grab.

This is exactly how autocrats seize power. It is not in all caps, HELLO FRIENDS I AM YOUR DICTATOR.

I believe he can create an "outside" department. Or can't he? I guess I don't really know.

The issue isn’t really what he can and can’t do. It’s that he thinks he CAN do anything.

My optimism that we will be anywhere recognizable in a few years is dependent now on people - Rs, mostly - killing bad and illegal ideas off in the womb.

Your first two sentences - very well put!
The problem I foresee in the not too distant future is that I feel that there are too few "moderates" in the Pub party and way too many "extremists". Trump brainwashes them - we may be (probably be?) significantly fucked.

[jfish26]

I believe he can create an "outside" department. Or can't he? I guess I don't really know.

The issue isn’t really what he can and can’t do. It’s that he thinks he CAN do anything.

My optimism that we will be anywhere recognizable in a few years is dependent now on people - Rs, mostly - killing bad and illegal ideas off in the womb.

Your first two sentences - very well put!
The problem I foresee in the not too distant future is that I feel that there are too few "moderates" in the Pub party and way too many "extremists". Trump brainwashes them - we may be (probably be?) significantly fucked.

Which again comes back to the importance of framing.

In these hours last week, it appeared that Trump had won in a landslide. That the American people had overwhelmingly and decisively chosen Trumpism over liberalism.

As the picture becomes clearer, though, that conclusion doesn't hold up.

Trump will win by about the same Electoral College margin as Biden won by in 2020. However, instead of winning by 7 million votes, he'll win by about 1 million.

Downballot, voters were (relatively speaking) kinder to other D candidates than they were to Harris. Voters were significantly kinder to D policies than D candidates.

All of us expected Trump to declare victory even if he lost. What is happening now is not so different, it's just shifted over to the right: Trump and MAGA are declaring possession of a mandate that comes from a landslide victory, even though that is not what happened.

It is vital that people with the power of influence do NOT simply accede to authoritarian rhetoric and processes on the basis of claims that Trump won overwhelmingly. He did not. He won by a margin of, essentially, two people in one hundred. And within those same hundred people, liberal policies won.

This isn't hopium-fueled wishcasting - it's urgently important that liberal-thinking people do not conclude that their positions and policy preferences are minority ones. The country is no more homogenous today than it was two weeks or two years ago.