Salon: Elon Musk revealed as one of the largest donors for a House Republican PAC
- Thread starter Ottaro
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I realize I am but a humble goat farmer from Alabama and not some big city billionaire genius entrepreneur, but it seems like it'd be better to work to get people who you already agree with elected, rather than giving money to people who literally campaign on climate change being a liberal conspiracy created by Al Gore, and think locking children in cages is good,
It is, I don't get it.
Well, how do you think his investment's worked out for him in that case? I mean, either he continues to throw money away on an investment that's clearly not going to show any returns, it has gotten him returns just in the form of laxer regulations and lower taxes and not in the areas you hoped he was buying access for or he's a shitty investor.
Well, is that wrong? I guess it depends on why you believe Musk would donate to Republicans. If you believe he's paying Republicans to hopefully somehow get him enough access to get them to save the planet, then the answer's either yes he should ban donations to the GOP and it'd be more effective to donate to Democrats or he'd need to outspend Koch, Exxon and the like. Now, if we allow ourselves, for just a moment, to entertain the theory that he's not trying to save the world and is instead just looking to keep and expand his wealth then the behavior makes perfect sense. If you're hellbent on assuming Musk's clearly just trying to save the world and amassing all this wealth just to save the world I guess the last option is that he's so narcissistic that he believes that he and his money alone can save the world and that loose regulations and lower taxes that make him richer, even though it rolls back EPA actions across the country and pulls us out of the Paris accords, is the only way he can save the world, but that's just crazy talk.
Oddly enough more than you need to make a year to get your dick sucked in real life, lol.
also it's not like musk giving money to conservative PACs could ever influence their positions on climate change or science policy, all he's doing is trying to preserve tax breaks and subsidies for his own companies which are the only reasons he's still in business at all
Who's the mod that issued this warning? I need to PM them. I'd rather not derail the thread.
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I gotta be honest, when I posted this news I wasn't expecting nearly this much debate reframing. I am genuinely baffled by the mental gymnastics I've seen that would never be afforded to anyone else.
Even setting motivations aside (pay to play or ideological, its basically meaningless when considering the impact of the act itself) donating money to Republican campaign efforts is unequivocally bad. There has got to be a name for this fallacy of refusing to confront a singular action without bringing up another. Is it a flavor of whataboutism? Like "Sure he throws trash on the ground, but what about all the trash he picks up?" Why are we refusing to confront that they are making a choice to throw shit on the ground to begin with it?
There is nothing misleading about the article or its title. Musk is in the top 15% of donors in that PAC. Does he donate to other organizations, yes and great! But he also donates to GOP efforts and that's what we're confronting. If he is paying for influence, people need to realize that transaction doesn't stop at a congressman lending their ear. This money doesn't just vanish—it literally goes to supporting the campaign. Musk's donation is being used to buy ads that stengthen the GOP's hold on their seats. He and others can justify it as buying influence all yall want, but the price yall are paying is enabling the GOP to continue their shit policies to begin with.
Even setting motivations aside (pay to play or ideological, its basically meaningless when considering the impact of the act itself) donating money to Republican campaign efforts is unequivocally bad. There has got to be a name for this fallacy of refusing to confront a singular action without bringing up another. Is it a flavor of whataboutism? Like "Sure he throws trash on the ground, but what about all the trash he picks up?" Why are we refusing to confront that they are making a choice to throw shit on the ground to begin with it?
There is nothing misleading about the article or its title. Musk is in the top 15% of donors in that PAC. Does he donate to other organizations, yes and great! But he also donates to GOP efforts and that's what we're confronting. If he is paying for influence, people need to realize that transaction doesn't stop at a congressman lending their ear. This money doesn't just vanish—it literally goes to supporting the campaign. Musk's donation is being used to buy ads that stengthen the GOP's hold on their seats. He and others can justify it as buying influence all yall want, but the price yall are paying is enabling the GOP to continue their shit policies to begin with.
Oh, cool, well assumptions that add no arguments to support your position are a great way to have a conversation. I've had correspondence with several ACLU members over the years, your assumption is completely bunk, I'm fairly intimately familiar with the organization.
There is nothing preventing them from standing up for the speech of minorities without also standing up for Nazi's. There is no gun to their head where they are being forced to stand up for Nazi's, their philosophy of standing up for everyone's right to speech regardless of what they have to say or the harm they do is bogus, just like the concept that those views should be protected under the first amendment. They are defending a constitutional amendment that is not worth the paper it is printed on if it would allow literal Nazi's to spew their hatred. We need common sense laws that restrict hate speech in this country like yesterday. They believe all speech should be equally protected, it should not.
If you don't want to derail the thread just send a PM instead of posting it in the thread. https://www.resetera.com/threads/general-faq.9777/
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I just saw this on reddit and looked up the tweets.
As far as i understand Twitter, he didn't call the diver a pedo but @zeynep or whatever that guys name is, right?
Of course that's still stupid but I mean that's not the diver is it?
Edit : just saw the rest. Wow
Yeah you're right - there is more to it here. It is: he's either an idiot or a liar.
The notion that he has ever called any republicans to complain about their policies is almost certainly nonsense, but the notion that any of them give a FUCK about what he thinks of their policies which negatively affect humanity is simply laughable.
So, he is giving money to them while they use it to negatively affect humanity and he honestly believes it's providing him some kind of clout. Like I said: either an idiot or a liar.
You are too far gone if you think that actually made Musk look more reasonable.
Supporting a group that condones facism in one of the 3 biggest influential countries in the world is a huge step back for humanity.
He's giving money to a group to beat more liberal/reasonable/progressive candidates. What would lead to more success... someone winning who already agrees with him on the progressive issues he wants to promote, or someone winning who he has to convince to do a 180?
If his idea is to get Republicans to listen to him on issues like the enviroment, then it's a really stupid way to go about it. Personally, I lean towards him just liking tax cuts and their anti-labor stance.
If his idea is to get Republicans to listen to him on issues like the enviroment, then it's a really stupid way to go about it. Personally, I lean towards him just liking tax cuts and their anti-labor stance.
So, uh, just noticed the usual suspects from basically all other Musk threads are suddenly a lot quieter this time around. Huh. Weird.
Musk calling the British Naval officer that helped rescue the Thai children that were stuck in a cave a "pedo" should cool off more than a few of his stans for a little while.
Looking forward to linking musk stans this and the pedo thread until the end of time (then they'll acknowledge this).
I can't even tell what's parody anymore.
Fuck you, Bill Gates! What have you done lately? Lol
I honestly have a big boner about futuristic high tech shit, and musk does seem to be the only billionaire who's visibly invested in that shit.
Gate's humanitarian efforts are great, but his innovative days are long behind him. Plus, I don't have much goodwill towards the Microsoft brand.
He just wants to shut down the critical press about him, is a Unionbuster and helps corrupting the political system with his money, nothing important ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
An update for those claiming that he donates to both sides equally because that's how you play the game.
Incidentally, for those again who claim that smart people donate to both parties...
Go down this list of top donors and see how many do that.
https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/summ.php?cycle=2016&disp=D&type=V&superonly=N
Almost none of them!
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entr...b4e4bd8e4b0b15aba897481?utm_source=reddit.com
Incidentally, for those again who claim that smart people donate to both parties...
Go down this list of top donors and see how many do that.
https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/summ.php?cycle=2016&disp=D&type=V&superonly=N
Almost none of them!
I've been ignoring this thread for a while but clicked on a whim,
and this is the first thing I see.
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I'm not surprised. I though many billionaires often donated to both parties so they have influence over certain policy decisions.
Man, I thought there is nothing as black and white as giving and donating lots of money to a party that is home to Nazis, corrupt politicians, racists, and bigots.
But apparently not. Apparently such a thing is still a "grey" area. "Acceptable" even, if some responses in this thread are to be believed.
But apparently not. Apparently such a thing is still a "grey" area. "Acceptable" even, if some responses in this thread are to be believed.
People keep saying this and I feel are REALLY glossing over the fact of how problematic this is. We've gotten so used to the fact that our politicians are literally bought and paid for we just say things like this so nonchalantly like this doesn't matter.
Donations should really start and end at; 'I believe in this person's vision and I want them elected.' vs the mega-rich who use donations to get their foot in the door and bend the ear of politicians because they donated x-amount of money.
Really we should just create kickstarters for politicians. Some are bought off for such paltry sums, like from the NRA that surely you'd think we could just buy all of congress if we could pool our resources. It's apparently how things work.
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I know it's not news at this point, but still SMH at the Perlmutters.
Y'all want them green paychecks to keep flowing? Back my stupid shit up on Twitter.
just like how if you saved 3 dogs from a pound fire and fuck only 1 and you're forever known as that dog fucker guy and not the dog saviour smh people are so petty about what they want to hear
Since it's not that easy to "get the republicans out", it seems he's opting to compromise some of ideals.
So to add some nuance to this point:
The dude started Trump's term in a specialist advisory group on tech and science topics, and only pulled out when Trump pulled out of the Paris climate treaty, iirc. He's shown a willingness to engage with the current leadership since the start. However, it's been consistently "I want a dialogue with the Republicans" rather than "I support the Republicans".
His justification for the donation is that he wants to keep channels open and he donates to both sides. If that is his logic, he is wasting his money.
I think most would rather he donate his spare change to places like the ACLU rather than engage in politics.
I think that is where the grey area for some people is coming from. He's in the wrong, but not for the straightforward reason of him being a moustache-twirling villain.
EDIT: Is there a stat sheet around that compares Musk's contributions to both sides over the years? Not seen an actual breakdown of the numbers yet.
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It was obvious to me since before the election, but it should be obvious to everyone now, given how Trump, the GoP et al have treated Silicon Valley business leaders, the LGBTQ community, the Congressional Black Caucus, etc. from the get-go.
Get these people in the room. Lie to them. Snap a photo. Claim co-operation. Break the promise. Repeat.
These billionaires are "smart," sure, in their fields. They were dumb-as-hell to walk into a meeting with Trump and think he was going to do anything for them.
Silicon Valley needs to wake up and realise they are the enemy of old media, arms manufacturing, and the fossil fuels industry, and that the GoP wants the new-money tech billionaires d-e-a-d dead. Fucking fight, you morons.
hey guys don't know if anyone's mentioned it yet but it's actually really common for billionaires to donate to republicans and democrats, it's just their little trick for buying political influence, no big deal.
perhaps it would be easier if he did not give them lots and lots of money to help them get elected? just some food for thought.
perhaps it would be easier if he did not give them lots and lots of money to help them get elected? just some food for thought.
I feel like this is the dumbest post I have ever read.
And I've been to the r/The_Donald...