History called the period after the Civil War “Reconstruction “. I believe history will name this era as “The age of narcissism “. Are we sick of this yet?
Reconstruction was a legal response to the war, and it only applied to states that seceded. Trump's 4 year reign may have been the age of narcissism, but we stopped him in 2020 and have to do do it again. IMHO we are confronting the death throes of Fascism. The remedy is purgation. A blue tsunami can end it.
I am not sure there is a laxative ( part of a definition of "purgation") strong enough to cleanse the world of Trump and Musk. If there was surely it could be put in Trunp's Diet Coke, and what ever Musk drinks.
Jacqueline, maybe we need some caring scientists to work on something that can interrupt the narcissistic draw that people like Musk and Trump have that can be put into drinks of people so they would look at these narcissists as what they really are and not what the narcissists want them to believe. I get it that it is predominantly a fascination with money and its acquisition, but not all because Trump is far far less wealthy than he tells everyone, even if one counts all his properties. Must is extremely wealthy but the illusion of wealth is strong with these guys no matter how much money they actually have.
But at least the party of love and peace is happy to try. You always out yourselves as destroyers instead of being builders of things of substance. Rampant fear of boogeymen is truly sad.
Whoa, so you’re a creep. “builders of things of substance was something you could have said before elon became a drug addled dick, but now? He’s an asshole among assholes. Everyone is saying it.
But the other part you wrote is particularly biased and wrong. Especially since the stock market is at peak levels and because our country was founded on liberal values. But frankly, I wouldn’t expect an extremely biased person like YOU 🫵🏼 to know anything about it. You could use a history lesson comrade gorman.
Musk is quickly heading into “pariah” territory. He will continue being an asshole among asdholes. You will too.
P.S. I had enough money to buy one of his cars but after the fucked up moves he’s made, I went with a less authoritarian auto manufacturer and I sure love not having to think about him and cursing my purchase.
This is a silly and u serious response. Whether Elon Musk isa douche has nothing at all, whatsoever, even a little bit to do with whether or not he is correct about speech or a host of other things. His ego is enormous. So what? Bill Clinton has voracious appetites for sex with a host of women. I think his actions are detestable; I also think that in retrospect he was a good President, notwithstanding him destroying a young woman's life while in the WH.
Don't use pretzel logic when arguing a case, it only appeals to people who use emotion instead of rational thought. Robert Reich is a dirty provocateur using his kindly grandfather style to espouse curtailment of Constitutional freedoms. Anything else is just gilding that lily. You can't win this argument.
And the word "creep" isn't terribly useful in your response.
What! Chris, what are you talking about. Clinton did have sexual relations with an intern, but it was also she, her friend, Ken Starr, and Republicans like Gingrich who was also cheating that wrecked a young woman's life. Prof. Reich is a definite supporter of freedom of speech, but he and you know that freedom of speech does not mean freedom to use your speech to do harm to others through lies, misinformation, and character assassination. Must is OK with all of those, it seems, as long as no one is aiming those at himself. He is a child-man who has too much money and is smart enough to think he is better than everyone else. His huge ego is letting him be the one who is influencing in ways his abilities would not approve or warrant. And, his sense of reality is not always on point. He is a critic of immigrants while he, himself is an immigrant who was given a quick chance at American citizenship because of his wealth. He escaped no discrimination, no terror; he came here to get more of what he wanted, money and power, and knew people of a certain kind would fall all over themselves to give him, this super rich guy whatever he wanted. Let's face it, he is just not a good guy no matter what the definition of good is.
IMHO, the passage of the Reconstruction Acts was a political response to the end of the Civil War in a grossly failed attempt to bring the Confederate states back into the union in a cautious but *dignified* way, help rebuild the south, and provide protections for recently emancipated African slaves. Reconstruction never provided these protections as envisioned by Frederick Douglas, who wrote an impassioned paper about its need but faulty implementation. Moreover, the confederate states *demanded*, and got, representation in congress again before agreeing to rejoin the union. The post-Lincoln Johnson administration was weak and incompetent in its efforts to reconstruct the south and hold the confederate states accountable for their treasonous actions. For his efforts, Johnson, an NC Republican, was impeached by the House but acquitted in the Senate. Reconstruction was an abysmal failure; Jim Crow laws in the south were not.
Meaning? We need more unbridled use of weapons under a twisted rationalization over self defense from a law written when there were only muskets with one shot every few minutes? Interpretation is everything in the law. The war weapons on the street today are assault weapons, not for self defense.
It seems DJT suffers from an especially virulent and untreatable form of malignant narcissism exacerbated by oral diarrhea and selective hearing. I would like to see him self-treat with sodium hypochlorite injections followed by a regimen of UV suppositories.
Betty, the answer to what else "project 2025" would like to erase, women's voting, women's participation in public life unless men agreed to it, older women forced to babysit kids for free in lieu of child care, and erasing women's history. Republican men and their female surrogates are already working on those and we keep somehow voting for them as though they have our interests at heart; they don't. Now how do we get that message across to women and our allies?
Bot much? Where’d you attend third grade? So Reich has employed a bot farm?! Talk about a Narcissist! He also has short man, little penis mega ego bloatism! What he lacks in height and dick he makes up with his large undeniable flapping asshole! If the name Reich isn’t hint enough as to where his OWN angry hate filled lineage hails then if you are a real person, you are indeed shit for brains.
Hippies of the 1960's were advocates of doing their own thing, without the guilt that conventional society placed upon them for doing so. They eschewed the violence they saw taking over the country and tried to counter it with messages of peace. I was never a hippie (though, as a musician I did have long hair), but I related to their message.
They may call this time "WW2.1". The powers that lost WW2.0 haven't gone away, and they've learned a lot in the past 80 years. Fascism was a tool to prevent the spread of communism and now it's a tool to destroy democracy. The powers behind the current movement are legacy monarchs and present day oligarchs, just as it was 100 years ago.
Paul, what you say is true as far as it goes, but fascism was and is more than crushing Communism or the Left in general. Fascism wishes to return to a mythical past; it is a manifestation of anti-modernity. It is a form of denial of reality.
Polls show that yes, yes we are. Bunkerboy is losing in 6 of 7 asinine swing states with one a tie. TEXAS is in play this year!!! I knew our Texas brothers and sisters wouldn't stand for this despite it's regressive policies and Dear Leader.
Kamala has a LOT of money coming her way during this election. Maybe record amounts. I hope they target some of that toward Texas. If she wins Texas, the election is over by 8 pm.
steve - I wondered that myself but the recent raids of people who are trying to help register people have me wondering if the republicans in Texas are in fact afraid.
Texas polling is unreliable, but the most reliable pollster there, YouGov (that's not saying much) has a 5% spread favoring Trump. Polls in past elections skewed wrongly and underestimated Trump's strength. I think the opposite is happening this time. So yes, I think it's in play, but just barely.
I think the polls are misjudging Harris' strength this time, whereas in prior polls they underestimated Trump's strength. They've spent years trying to make corrections to how to more accurately poll potential Trump voters, but have had zero time to deal with the new Harris phenomenon. Additionally, many Harris voters will simply not respond to polls.
A very small sample size of one is me. I never answer my phone when I don't know who it is or it doesn't, at the least, come from a verified number (most polls are marked as spam by Google Fi, which is my provider). I don't think I'm particularly unusual within the pool of Harris voters.
I think the polls are misjudging Harris' strength this time, whereas in prior polls they underestimated Trump's strength. They've spent years trying to make corrections to how to more accurately poll potential Trump voters, but have had zero time to deal with the new Harris phenomenon. Additionally, many Harris voters will simply not respond to polls.
A very small sample size of one is me. I never answer my phone when I don't know who it is or it doesn't, at the least, come from a verified number (most polls are marked as spam by Google Fi, which is my provider). I don't think I'm particularly unusual within the pool of Harris voters.
Totally Virginia.. totally sick of this and so sick can’t sleep at night over the lack of protection the tax paying , moral majority of good truth telling and intelligent citizens are lacking. Other countries are warning these out of control freaks! What we should boycott are these phones and the inter-net. Never have we been under attack mentally and socially like today.
How dare we put up with paying taxes that then go to those who lie and cheat .
"The Age of Narcissism" is the title of a book, written by a Catholic if I am not wrong. Vance accuses "cat ladies" of being narcissists, and he, as you know, converted to Catholicism in 2019. The women who "kill their babies by abortion are "narcissists," too , in this narrative. So be aware that the term "narcissism" has become a political weapon that can be used by all sides, hence of dubious utility. All the main religions condemn self-centereredness, but have a poor track record in containing it.
No, it's the age of the globalists. And the globalists are using censorship to stop people from talking about how awful so many policies have been.
The founding fathers made freedom of speech an ABSOLUTE RIGHT, and put it in the FIRST AMENDMENT to the bill of rights, along with freedom of religion, for a reason.
Let’s get JB Pritzker to sort things out… with Reid Hoffman… and Alex Soros… (and maybe Oprah?). OUR kind of billionaires! They can tell us what to do and think!
Professor Reich: elon musk is wildly out of control in a deranged trumpian meltdown sort of way. every day on twitter is like stepping through a live minefield, although things have improved (for me) since i muted and blocked musk -- i am not often subjected to his crazed drooling nowadays (although he does sometimes force his way onto my timeline, as i am sure, he does to millions of others who simply want some peace.)
i've also been astounded at musk's audacity: musk grew up a poor little rich racist boy on the proceeds of his daddy's South African emerald mines that indentured native peoples scratched around in to (barely) feed the great massuhs' greed, before departing for canada, then becoming an illegal immigrant to the united states, where he decided that, if he can't be voted in as president, he CAN declare himself emperor, where he can destroy countless lives -- now that's power, according to fElon musk!
like trump, musk broke the law countless times. his wealth should be stripped (most of it came from US taxpayers) and he should be deported because he entered the country illegally.
When Musk purchased twitter, I deleted my app! Why haven’t other Americans done the same! Where is the US Government? Where is the DOJ? There are no laws in the US for trump or musk! Have Americans had enough of this autocratic takeover? You couldn’t give me a free Tesla!
Both of these things, ( MUSK and TUMP) need to be destroyed as soon as possible. These two horrific freaks of nature are an extreme and present danger to the entire world! I have never been a follower on his BS propaganda site, X or twitler. Hmmm, twitler rhymes with Hitler! That says it all. I wouldn't have one of his crummy ass Tesla piece of junk cars.
I fear it is not going to happen. I've noticed the use of smart phones and the rise of the right.
If it weren't for cell phones, Trump would have stayed nothing more than the star of Apprentice.,
If it weren't for cell phones, there would have been no Jan 6th. Boebert used hers to give the go signal for the attack on the Capitol, She typed 1776, the moment the electoral votes from Arizona were to be counted.
Not me Vic. I enjoy the peace and quiet of not having my life constantly distrubed. Bad enough with the homephone, starts ringing betwen 0630 and 0700 hrs, damn Indian and Philippine call centers. My blocked memory is used up. I have caller ID so I pick it up and hang it up without answering.
Just the fact that MUSK is profiting off of his rattletrap Tesla cars makes them a a piece of crap. MUSK is just as bad as TUMP is. He is an arrogant, narcissistic, greedy SOB that doesn't give a damn about the average American citizen. May one of his ''Roman Candle'' exploding rockets crash on his ugly head and destroy his sorry ass. I despise that cocky a/hole and can only wish they would deport his ass back to South Africa, or wherever he is from!
Just so we are clear, what exactly has Joe Biden or Kamala Harris done for the average American? Your argument that “just the fact that musk is profiting off of his rattletrap Tesla cars makes them a a piece of crap.” 🤣 I call bot or third grade education. You undoubtedly have NO idea why or where your hatred of either Musk or Trump comes from. You just know it does come.😂😂😂
I know where my hatred comes from, both MUSK and TUMP are out to take everything away from people that are disabled, old, and unable to work until they die. I will hate those low life creeps if i damn well please. Mind your own damn business and you know nothing about me, so shut your ass up. You are nothing, and you can go to he*l. Fizzy in the head. I will hate who i want to, and MUSK and TUMP are hated by many thousands. You know nothing!
Unless you’re the poor little African kids mining the rare earth elements which are extremely toxic and poison to humans, just to be able to eat a meal once a day! Idiot! Are you as deformed on the outside as much as your brain on the inside or is?
Musk harms the environment of government with his extreme wealth. He is not the only one, but he IS the richest of them all. Now he wants to hitch his wagon to tRUMP, and take over completely. EVs have little to do with that threat : Musk is not the only one who has tech people to make electric vehicles. But the may be the worst one to support.
I also deleted my account when news broke that Musk intended to buy Twitter. I agree that people just need to stop using it. I have been wondering whether the White House could establish its own thread on the White House website for official short comments.
I wished the heck i could get my daughter to delete her account with X, or Twitler or whatever that silly nonsense is. She is a hard core Democrat like i am.
I would like answers to all the above. As with Trump none of this should have surprised anyone. I cannot imagine it worse had the military contracted with Russians or Chinese.
Do you realize that Joe Biden's family has taken a lot of money from foreign nations for very little work, it's gone through shell companies, and some of it HAS gone on to Joe Biden?
And that some of that money came from China? Not to mention Ukraine?
Yes, really. Never take anyone who opens with, "Do you realize...?" or "You do realize that..." even quasi-seriously. You immediately know they've assumed a baseless superiority.
Oddly leaves out a good portion of the articles he/she quotes. And GYM Jordan, seriously, if anyone lacks honesty and even morals. Another one that belongs in handcuffs and behind bars.
At first, social media lured us in by allowing us to connect with friends and family all over the world. Then, little by little, our personal information has been stolen and sold to marketers and scam artists who now dominate and pollute these channels of communication. Simply put, these amazing technologies have been co-opted and turned on us to make us the product and enslave us to information real or false. If we are to continue using them, all social media must be nationalized as public utility and forbidden to private ownership. Call it Socialism or whatever you like, anything that supports the common good works for me.
You know what I mean! The government and mainstream media make announcements on it and therefore people use it to get the news. Happy? I didn't say "force."
I don’t trust anything owned by Zuckerberg and Company. It all starts out with good intentions and pretty quickly turns the table on us. It’s just another lousy device to rob of our identities and information and money if we allow it.
Thankfully I was hacked out of my pre musk account and never bothered to return. Best non move I could have made. The government has other ways of getting messages out to people so surely it would be worth your peace of mind to get rid of your account. Musk world isn’t what we need at all. As for advertisers still there, they must just be masochists especially since he told them they could go fuck themselves.
You can keep yelling at clouds about cellphone usage, but it’s not going away anytime soon. Refusing to learn how the modern world functions will only leave you impotent and frustrated.
I wouldn’t say your anti-cellphone rants have harmed me. You have before you two choices:
a) continue down the path you’re on, rail against the poison we’re all addicted to (on this point, I do not disagree with you. Smartphones have become an opiate for the masses. For all the good things they bring, they also bring exponentially larger amounts of chaos. Steve Jobs refused to let his child own or operate smartphones/tablets, I think that says a lot)
b) knowledge is power. Turn the negative aspects of this technology into a weapon against dis/misinformation, as this very post we’re commenting on is doing.
You affect no change by shouting from the outside. Especially when the VAST majority of your fellow citizens are on the inside. Use it to your advantage and try to reach out to people where they are.
I don't, for one minute, think that I am going to affect change by expressing my opinion. That would be very narcissistic. Nay, I am merely expressing my opinion.
I know that I will not achieve anything by being on the "inside". One person against society?
As regards what the vast majority of my fellow citizens do. I have an allergy to jumping on bandwagons and jumping off cliffs.
Why would any American delete an app because the platform allows some form of “free” speech? You dumb or just retarded? Btw no one is trying to give you a free Tesla! What do you mean no laws in the US for Trump or Musk? You mean the laws that apply to everyone equally? Or you mean the non existent laws Reich and the rest of the communist bastards are trying to make so they can arrest political opponents? Total bird brain!
Here is a sample of the horrible crimes occuring before the internet and even TV
Bank Robberies were very common however
On 15 December 1927, Hickman kidnapped Marion Parker -- the 12-year-old daughter of Los Angeles banker Perry Parker -- and ransomed her. However, before Parker could pay the ransom, Hickman killed little Marion. He decapitated, dismembered and disemboweled her.[note 1]
When Hickman met Parker to collect the ransom, he placed the reassembled parts of Marion's body in the passenger seat of a parked car. He had stitched Marion's eyes open so her father would think that she was still alive. When Parker gave Hickman the ransom money, Hickman jumped into the car and sped off. At the end of the block, Hickman opened the door and shoved Marion's body parts out onto the street and sped away.
Because Hickman had stuffed towels from the flophouse where he was staying into Marion's torso, his identity was quickly traced. He was caught a week later in the northeastern Oregon town of Echo. He later confessed to a dozen armed robberies and at least one more murder. He was hanged for his crimes on 19 October 1928 at the age of 20.
This psychopath was the model for the hero in everyone of Ayn Rands books
from Danny Renahan (Little Street) and Roarke, (Fountainhead) to John Galt.(Atlas Shrugged)
She admired Hickman because: His sociopathic qualities: "Other people do not exist for him, and he does not see why they should," she wrote, gushing that Hickman had "no regard whatsoever for all that society holds sacred, and with a consciousness all his own. He has the true, innate psychology of a Superman. He can never realize and feel 'other people.'"
Sound like Musk? Sound like Trump?Sound like MAGAts?
There have always been criminals and crimes, true. There have always been sociopaths, true. The farther we get from Hitler and the others of that time and the ensuing years, the more people forget and refuse to learn from history. HOWEVER, SCOTUS was once on the side of the citizenry. Now corruption has rotted that too. Never before have we had such rot running for President just to stay out of jail. Nixon was not even as bad as the #mangomoron. I sincerely hope I do not live to a "ripe old age" because it is too dispiriting.
WOW! Didn’t know this about EM. Am throughly disturbed and concerned about what he will be doing before the election. Dr Reich as always, outlined great points of what can be done to prevent further damage by this greedy, power hungry asshole.
If you don't like what someone is saying, counter what they are saying. That's the principle of free speech. The founding fathers were very wise, and they thought free speech was essential.
Yeah but it’s not good to say someone’s a bollox and ought to be offed for example. So there’s limits. Then to avoid accusation of incitement to violence some ppl will just say “he’s a bollox” -- but everyone knows the rest that’s implied.
You can check out my substack. The actual math doesn't lie, but statistics can be tortured until they confess - there are many methods. You have to dig in to the methods and see if they are robust. Also, any studies that are funded by companies that stand to gain if their products passes should be viewed with extra skepticism.
There have been many studies that were so skewed they found a particular drug had a protective effect from something or other where there was no conceivable mechanism of protective effect.
In a lot of recent studies it's been noticed that people getting the COVID vaccines tended to be strongly protected against death (I mean, their death rates were WELL below background rates) for the following two weeks, while people who WEREN'T vaccinated had death rates that spiked for that same period (in times when many people were vaccinated). That's kind of odd, or maybe people just weren't being counted as vaccinated if they died in the next two weeks.
Yet here is an entire comment section of Hitler’s shitlist of democrats calling for violence and censorship of two fellow Americans! Go figure what a bunch of brainwashed outcast narcissists!
So what of all the illegal thug gangs and criminals being taken care of with tax payer funds who are a worthless bleed on our system? Wow can’t fix stupid.
Have we forgotten the meaning of the word, ‘ treason’? The behavior Of Elon Musk, autocrats and other obscenely wealthy individuals is treason on a global scale. These monsters must be removed by the populace of their countries from their seats of power, stripped of their wealth and punished accordingly. Of course it’s easier said than done, but here in America, we must set the example for the rest of the world with a giant blue tsunami.
I just hear a lot of negativity, and I can see him getting it because of his obnoxious personality, but these accusations of treason seem pretty hyperbolic. Something easily handled by any AG that wants to actually prosecute it.
Instead, these responses come off as more petulant and immature than some sort of measured expose on him being a traitor to America or something.
Wow! I guess this is this where good little NAZI wannabe girls who just want Robert’s approval and maybe a pet about the head, maybe a scritch behind the ears like a good little feline? Could you symp any harder? He has little man syndrome and tiny dick disease, there is nothing wrong needing a man, but you must be ugly as fuck or retarded.
He's only "dangerously out of control" because he disagrees with your completely whacky world view. The entire left is TRULY DANGEROUSLY OUT OF CONTROL - and it couldn't be more obvious. I know crazy people never understand that they're crazy - but holy fuck.
Your hate is being whipped up by an extremely biased mainstream media. 30 years ago we had a mainstream media that at least pretended to be neutral. I don't know what the answer is, but ask yourself, what did Trump do that is so bad?
I know you will say "KIDS IN CAGES!" Perhaps there were kids in holding areas that might have resembled cages for a while. But under Biden we have kids crossing the border with people who are not their parents (no one is DNA testing anymore), and 200,000 of them have DISAPPEARED. That's a lot worse than a few thousand kids being detained in more or less humane conditions for a few weeks.
Give it up. It is pearls before swine here. Nobody here is on board with critical thinking. In fact, they are here backing Reich; a guy who explicitly denounced critical thinking.
I’ve felt for quite a long time that musk has too much power and is out of control. For the government to continue to rely on him and his companies for any aspect of government business/functioning is asking for trouble and puts us all at risk and at the mercy of a megalomaniac. Add trump to the mix and this would definitely be a marriage made in hell and an existential danger to the US and the world.
Musk could 'own' the military and thus the country if he is allowed to govern communication. Our government has failed us in not being ahead of the oligarchs. Artificial intelligence can save the planet, solve health issues and otherwise make life wonderful. My fear is the ownership of that technology ------history has proven that to be a problem.
If the ying yangs in Congress continue to act like the government has little to say on the development and implementation of new technologies, esp. in the sphere of information, these things left to the market will get worse.
What, exactly, did Trump do that was so dangerous?
Biden has let a minimum of 10 million unvetted people into the US, a large fraction of which are men of military age, from countries which are hostile to the US. 200,000 kids have crossed into the US and DISAPPEARED.
Biden has been running a proxy war against Russia, and has crossed "red" lines, including using cluster bombs, and bombing targets inside Russia. Russia is running out of patience and has declared it is "reevaluating" it's policies on nukes.
What has Trump done that could be worse than that? Mean tweets?
You just have a problem when anyone with some kind of presence has a voice that counters the narrative?
Wouldn't it have been nice if someone had been able to say back in 2020 and 2021 that the COVID shots weren't guaranteed to keep you from getting it, that your kids were at almost no risk, that there would be societal costs of shutting down schools and "nonessential" businesses? All those voices were silenced, because of government pressure. Missouri v. Biden proved it, and Mark Zuckerberg confessed it very recently.
Where's your evidence that was the reason? Trump did make a dumbass threat (and yes he says dumbass things) about putting Zuckerberg in prison if he commits FUTURE election interference, but that came out AFTER Zuck's confession.
I'm here because the average left leaning person doesn't hear the conservative perspective at all. When Reich says that Musk swore at the EU guy telling him to be careful, you guys have no idea of the full context.
The full context was that the EU was acting all on his own in regards to the upcoming talk between Trump and Musk. Musk's response was pretty "salty", granted, but other people in the EU quickly backed away from the EU tool and said MUSK WAS RIGHT. The EU tool was treading in US election matters, ie interfering in US elections, and one EU official put it in so many words. You would not hear that from the NY Times, the Washington Post, or Robert Reich. So you need to hear it from me.
Meanwhile conservatives hear the liberal perspective ALL. THE. TIME. It's hard to avoid.
You also need to hear that FREE SPEECH IS GOOD. FREE SPEECH IS IN THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. LOOK IT UP IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME.
You can do that on Threads where it is civil and a lot of articles are shared. I read a lot of articles posted on Threads. It's a good place to be. No nasty comments or very few.
Mary gets at the point: there's a gap between inertia (in doing the things one must do day to day) & something better; presumably, that is how folks wound up with a Twitter/Tesla/etc. to choose from...
Before Elon bought Twitter the tells were there. He runs his businesses with constant gaslighting. He will promise the world and underdeliver constantly. When he does deliver on time it is more happenstance than anything else and shareholder self congratualations occurs. Once you see his prophecies come and go wide multilple times it is easy to see the similarities of how Trump manipulates his followers to how Musk manipulates his share holders and followers. One weird observation. On bullying, both these kids would have been beat up in public school due to their behaviour. It seems that their money insulated them from any reprocussions for their behaviour and thus from having any empathy for others that they themselves beat up verbally.
Musk forgets that his companies would be nothing without the engineers and people there that are doing the hard work and trying to appease a megalomaniac.
Thank you Sean. For anyone who is still on the fence, the interview with Don Lemon and Elon Musk is on YouTube! Don Lemon is able to get Elon to expose his true self on many different topics.
Rare? How about right wing celebrities, billionaires, talk show hosts. Malignant narcissism maybe be rare, but if that is the case then that is apparently what it takes to rise to the top.
I would say crime is the career choice for malignant narcissists, be it an El Chapo , a John Gotti or Donald J. Trump
Actually, I think there needs to be some studies as to the effect of extreme wealth on on a person. We seem to have so many deranged wealthy people. Would they be that way without the wealth? Elon seems to have uncontrolled mental health issues. He has a fear of the masses and needs to control their thoughts.
Not sure we need studies to tell us why. I really don't care why Musk and Trump are deranged, selfish and evil. There have always been people like that.
But here is an experiment that might be helpful. Take the money away and see what's left of their brains. Neither one of these monsters "earned" the money.
Claw back the wealth with a "special assessment tax". Use the money to help Ukraine, feed and educate kids, pay for child care, boost healthcare coverage, invest in technologies to save the Earth from the Climate Catastrophe!
How about making it a federal crime for lawyers to defend dangerous would-be dictators and out-of-control megalomaniacs? Their punishment should be permanent discreditation and disbarment. If that were to happen, I wonder how many greedy legal eagles would be so eager to jump on Musk or Trump’s gravy train?
Weird how MAGA glommed o to the rumor that Bill Gates wanted to implant chips in people’s brains (Covid shots) and went nuts, whereas Musk is actually doing that (I know it’s medical) but what the hey?
drumpf and musk, two professional con artists who have lied, cheated, and stolen their way to power remorselessly. For them, too much is never enough. Whatever it takes to strip them of their power is required, for the sake of humanity's survival. Look up: Gustav Krupp making a deal with Hitler to supply arms to the Wehrmacht in 1933, to seal a guarantee of World dominion. Desperate times.
Why do you think the Administration should be “controlling” what Americans say and do?
What is with this obsession with how people are outside of the petty US power structure, they are suddenly public enemy no.1? I understand people who serve the powerful in the country having that obsession, but why would normal Americans push for that?
Elon Musk must surely be controlled by the Monopolies Board? The President can and should be using his enormous power and issuing an Executive Order as granted by the Supreme Court.
That's right. SCOTUS ruled that anything the president does is not illegal, they actually said immune, but if he is immune then anything he does is legal.
Thank you Robert for your excellent and accurate commentary on Elon Musk. He is out of control and acting like a dictator. It’s time to pull in his reins and make his X unavailable to all until he removes the hateful and inaccurate messages. Also, I too am concerned about his dominance in the space industry. Other companies should be given the opportunity to contribute their knowledge and ideas to the US space industry. I am hopeful that my fellow Americans will see through the lies and hate that Trump is spreading and support the Democrats for President and a majority in the House and Senate.
The Justices gave enormous power to the President, who can manage this by using an executive order if he sees fit. Monopolies commission can suspend the take-over of YouTube.
Immobilized by fear of the terrorists that are working for tRUMP and now Musk. Don't forget the death threats. They also have AI impersonating a very popular presidential candidate. Talk about election interference. They want to incite civil war every place where democracy is strengthening. Where ever the humans are winning. They want US to destroy each other. It is a very old tactic: Divide and conquer.
I disagree on only one point made in this analysis, that Musk should not be charged with any crime as he incited violent crimes against asylum seekers in the UK.This is indeed a crime under English laws although the extradition treaty signed with the USA is in practice one sided and only allows British citizens to be extradited on request luckily for Musk.
I enjoyed your interesting article, Sam. It analyzes how Musk became the man who created "Darth Twitter" from having Asperger's, his apartheid-influenced childhood with affluenza, and how libertarians and Peter Thiel's Roy Cohn-like influence during his PayPal days turned Elon into the malignant narcissist that made him the perfect BFF for Trump.
Regarding Musk and others like him, whatever goes up usually comes down. Hopefully, one day, he and others will blast off on a rocket to somewhere and never be seen or heard from again. Have an X, Space X, and Tesla-free day, month, year, and century.
Robert: Thank you for once again standing up to bullies. Americans now need to do their part, first by defeating Trump but also by boycotting Tesla and X. The government should also go after SpaceX as a monopoly instead of contracting with it for our space launches.
History called the period after the Civil War “Reconstruction “. I believe history will name this era as “The age of narcissism “. Are we sick of this yet?
Reconstruction was a legal response to the war, and it only applied to states that seceded. Trump's 4 year reign may have been the age of narcissism, but we stopped him in 2020 and have to do do it again. IMHO we are confronting the death throes of Fascism. The remedy is purgation. A blue tsunami can end it.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
I am not sure there is a laxative ( part of a definition of "purgation") strong enough to cleanse the world of Trump and Musk. If there was surely it could be put in Trunp's Diet Coke, and what ever Musk drinks.
Jacqueline, maybe we need some caring scientists to work on something that can interrupt the narcissistic draw that people like Musk and Trump have that can be put into drinks of people so they would look at these narcissists as what they really are and not what the narcissists want them to believe. I get it that it is predominantly a fascination with money and its acquisition, but not all because Trump is far far less wealthy than he tells everyone, even if one counts all his properties. Must is extremely wealthy but the illusion of wealth is strong with these guys no matter how much money they actually have.
But at least the party of love and peace is happy to try. You always out yourselves as destroyers instead of being builders of things of substance. Rampant fear of boogeymen is truly sad.
Whoa, so you’re a creep. “builders of things of substance was something you could have said before elon became a drug addled dick, but now? He’s an asshole among assholes. Everyone is saying it.
But the other part you wrote is particularly biased and wrong. Especially since the stock market is at peak levels and because our country was founded on liberal values. But frankly, I wouldn’t expect an extremely biased person like YOU 🫵🏼 to know anything about it. You could use a history lesson comrade gorman.
Musk is quickly heading into “pariah” territory. He will continue being an asshole among asdholes. You will too.
P.S. I had enough money to buy one of his cars but after the fucked up moves he’s made, I went with a less authoritarian auto manufacturer and I sure love not having to think about him and cursing my purchase.
This is a silly and u serious response. Whether Elon Musk isa douche has nothing at all, whatsoever, even a little bit to do with whether or not he is correct about speech or a host of other things. His ego is enormous. So what? Bill Clinton has voracious appetites for sex with a host of women. I think his actions are detestable; I also think that in retrospect he was a good President, notwithstanding him destroying a young woman's life while in the WH.
Don't use pretzel logic when arguing a case, it only appeals to people who use emotion instead of rational thought. Robert Reich is a dirty provocateur using his kindly grandfather style to espouse curtailment of Constitutional freedoms. Anything else is just gilding that lily. You can't win this argument.
And the word "creep" isn't terribly useful in your response.
What! Chris, what are you talking about. Clinton did have sexual relations with an intern, but it was also she, her friend, Ken Starr, and Republicans like Gingrich who was also cheating that wrecked a young woman's life. Prof. Reich is a definite supporter of freedom of speech, but he and you know that freedom of speech does not mean freedom to use your speech to do harm to others through lies, misinformation, and character assassination. Must is OK with all of those, it seems, as long as no one is aiming those at himself. He is a child-man who has too much money and is smart enough to think he is better than everyone else. His huge ego is letting him be the one who is influencing in ways his abilities would not approve or warrant. And, his sense of reality is not always on point. He is a critic of immigrants while he, himself is an immigrant who was given a quick chance at American citizenship because of his wealth. He escaped no discrimination, no terror; he came here to get more of what he wanted, money and power, and knew people of a certain kind would fall all over themselves to give him, this super rich guy whatever he wanted. Let's face it, he is just not a good guy no matter what the definition of good is.
Except he's wrong about free speech - he does not support it. In fact, quite the contrary..
Do dirty provocateurs talk, write and act about the common good or do they talk about and incite revenge and retribution?
IMHO, the passage of the Reconstruction Acts was a political response to the end of the Civil War in a grossly failed attempt to bring the Confederate states back into the union in a cautious but *dignified* way, help rebuild the south, and provide protections for recently emancipated African slaves. Reconstruction never provided these protections as envisioned by Frederick Douglas, who wrote an impassioned paper about its need but faulty implementation. Moreover, the confederate states *demanded*, and got, representation in congress again before agreeing to rejoin the union. The post-Lincoln Johnson administration was weak and incompetent in its efforts to reconstruct the south and hold the confederate states accountable for their treasonous actions. For his efforts, Johnson, an NC Republican, was impeached by the House but acquitted in the Senate. Reconstruction was an abysmal failure; Jim Crow laws in the south were not.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/12/how-long-reconstruction-period-black-americans/675805/
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/12/frederick-douglass-atlantic-reconstruction-essay/675485/
Thanks for the "bon mots" and encouragement. ("heart")
Worse. It's the Age of Malignant Narcissism.
Paula Dean : yes, malignant and metastasizing
malignant, metastasizing, and, consequently, unsustainable narcissism.
Good!
Most untreated malignancies result in death of the host. Nuff said.
Wayne : self destruction, in this case. They should be cut off somehow. Maybe with a tsunami of blue 🗳 votes.
Or a Second Amendment.
Meaning? We need more unbridled use of weapons under a twisted rationalization over self defense from a law written when there were only muskets with one shot every few minutes? Interpretation is everything in the law. The war weapons on the street today are assault weapons, not for self defense.
We must stop "hosting" them . Tax the hell out of them and prosecute the ones who should be prosecuted., and punished.
It seems DJT suffers from an especially virulent and untreatable form of malignant narcissism exacerbated by oral diarrhea and selective hearing. I would like to see him self-treat with sodium hypochlorite injections followed by a regimen of UV suppositories.
UV suppositories !? Hot stuff! May send him in orbit. Accompanying the eeel - on Musk in space.
It's the "age of destruction:" destruction of democracy and destruction of the biosphere.
The truth will set us free or . . . wreak havoc upon us if we don't soon hurry up and heed the BLARING WARNINGS!
Erasing words such as "reproductive rights" from all Federal documents , what else would. Project 2025 like to erase women's right to vote?
Betty, the answer to what else "project 2025" would like to erase, women's voting, women's participation in public life unless men agreed to it, older women forced to babysit kids for free in lieu of child care, and erasing women's history. Republican men and their female surrogates are already working on those and we keep somehow voting for them as though they have our interests at heart; they don't. Now how do we get that message across to women and our allies?
Bot much? Where’d you attend third grade? So Reich has employed a bot farm?! Talk about a Narcissist! He also has short man, little penis mega ego bloatism! What he lacks in height and dick he makes up with his large undeniable flapping asshole! If the name Reich isn’t hint enough as to where his OWN angry hate filled lineage hails then if you are a real person, you are indeed shit for brains.
How's the weather in St. Petersburg, Komrade?
Actually that would be you asshole. You’re doing it right now.
Christopher Lasch (1932-1994) saw it coming.
"The Age of Narcissism" -- 1979. The book took a clinical diagnostic term and made it into a common word.
I recall the book. It was prescient.
wan't the hippie movement narcissistic?
Victor---
The flower children were all about enjoying nature and free love. I don't see any room for the way Trump views himself.
a denial of responsibility, perhaps?
Hippies of the 1960's were advocates of doing their own thing, without the guilt that conventional society placed upon them for doing so. They eschewed the violence they saw taking over the country and tried to counter it with messages of peace. I was never a hippie (though, as a musician I did have long hair), but I related to their message.
Responsibility for what, Victor? Vietnam?
Victor K. : Not any more than the attempt to ",make America "great' Again " (,for the obscenely greedy). Now THAT is narcissism.
Thank you for the reference.
WHY do you feel the need to post these long diatribes MORE THAN ONCE? WE CAN ALL READ, YOU KNOW (THE FIRST TIME AROUND!!)!
Then just read it once silly!🤪 BUT APPARENTLY EVERYTHING must BE EXPLAINED TO you because your only response was to chastise him for writing. 🤦🏽♀️
Just report him as a spammer, people, and stop yelling.
And who appointed you bitch for the day, Bitch? Wow! Having a seriously bad day, are you??
They may call this time "WW2.1". The powers that lost WW2.0 haven't gone away, and they've learned a lot in the past 80 years. Fascism was a tool to prevent the spread of communism and now it's a tool to destroy democracy. The powers behind the current movement are legacy monarchs and present day oligarchs, just as it was 100 years ago.
Paul, what you say is true as far as it goes, but fascism was and is more than crushing Communism or the Left in general. Fascism wishes to return to a mythical past; it is a manifestation of anti-modernity. It is a form of denial of reality.
Polls show that yes, yes we are. Bunkerboy is losing in 6 of 7 asinine swing states with one a tie. TEXAS is in play this year!!! I knew our Texas brothers and sisters wouldn't stand for this despite it's regressive policies and Dear Leader.
Kamala has a LOT of money coming her way during this election. Maybe record amounts. I hope they target some of that toward Texas. If she wins Texas, the election is over by 8 pm.
I don't know. Is Texas even in play for president?
steve - I wondered that myself but the recent raids of people who are trying to help register people have me wondering if the republicans in Texas are in fact afraid.
They are desperate and now, criminal.
Laurie - “like” Yes, it’s sad.
Texas polling is unreliable, but the most reliable pollster there, YouGov (that's not saying much) has a 5% spread favoring Trump. Polls in past elections skewed wrongly and underestimated Trump's strength. I think the opposite is happening this time. So yes, I think it's in play, but just barely.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2024/texas/
We should let Abbot secede, without government handouts.
I only have one reply to that (written before I started my substack newsletter):
:-)
About 5% seems the answer. https://www.newsweek.com/kamala-harris-chances-beating-donald-trump-texas-polls-1947135
Why would you think its the opposite this time?
I think the polls are misjudging Harris' strength this time, whereas in prior polls they underestimated Trump's strength. They've spent years trying to make corrections to how to more accurately poll potential Trump voters, but have had zero time to deal with the new Harris phenomenon. Additionally, many Harris voters will simply not respond to polls.
A very small sample size of one is me. I never answer my phone when I don't know who it is or it doesn't, at the least, come from a verified number (most polls are marked as spam by Google Fi, which is my provider). I don't think I'm particularly unusual within the pool of Harris voters.
I think the polls are misjudging Harris' strength this time, whereas in prior polls they underestimated Trump's strength. They've spent years trying to make corrections to how to more accurately poll potential Trump voters, but have had zero time to deal with the new Harris phenomenon. Additionally, many Harris voters will simply not respond to polls.
A very small sample size of one is me. I never answer my phone when I don't know who it is or it doesn't, at the least, come from a verified number (most polls are marked as spam by Google Fi, which is my provider). I don't think I'm particularly unusual within the pool of Harris voters.
Totally Virginia.. totally sick of this and so sick can’t sleep at night over the lack of protection the tax paying , moral majority of good truth telling and intelligent citizens are lacking. Other countries are warning these out of control freaks! What we should boycott are these phones and the inter-net. Never have we been under attack mentally and socially like today.
How dare we put up with paying taxes that then go to those who lie and cheat .
My God America!!!!! Have you no pride?????
Have you no common sense America?
You won't find that with 6 on the Supreme Court. This court has jumped the track and come crashing down the mountainside.
And we all know who stacked that deck. Ugh
steve--That crash you heard wasn't the court's fault the cause rests squarely on Donald Trump.
Yes, we should stop "hosting" the parasites.
The "eve of destruction"? II can't believe we're on the eve of destruction" old early 60's or mid 60's song. Prescient.
<https://genius.com/Barry-mcguire-eve-of-destruction-lyrics> 1965
Louis : Thank you for this..
"The Age of Narcissism" is the title of a book, written by a Catholic if I am not wrong. Vance accuses "cat ladies" of being narcissists, and he, as you know, converted to Catholicism in 2019. The women who "kill their babies by abortion are "narcissists," too , in this narrative. So be aware that the term "narcissism" has become a political weapon that can be used by all sides, hence of dubious utility. All the main religions condemn self-centereredness, but have a poor track record in containing it.
Yes but the right uses it in an antonymic fashion. They don't understand that many words, mean the exact opposite of how they use them.
Having a deficiency in originality, "their side" simply echos ours.
They project what they are doing onto everyone else who opposes them.
No, it's the age of the globalists. And the globalists are using censorship to stop people from talking about how awful so many policies have been.
The founding fathers made freedom of speech an ABSOLUTE RIGHT, and put it in the FIRST AMENDMENT to the bill of rights, along with freedom of religion, for a reason.
There is no single "absolute right" because having that infringes on other rights.
No, it will e more accurately referred to as Cold War 2.0 - The Russians almost won it in 2020 (and it was a near thing) - this is the rematch.
Virginia - “like”
Let’s get JB Pritzker to sort things out… with Reid Hoffman… and Alex Soros… (and maybe Oprah?). OUR kind of billionaires! They can tell us what to do and think!
America needs an Emetic to get rid of nausea. Lock them up. They will be out of circulation, and we all feel better!
Professor Reich: elon musk is wildly out of control in a deranged trumpian meltdown sort of way. every day on twitter is like stepping through a live minefield, although things have improved (for me) since i muted and blocked musk -- i am not often subjected to his crazed drooling nowadays (although he does sometimes force his way onto my timeline, as i am sure, he does to millions of others who simply want some peace.)
i've also been astounded at musk's audacity: musk grew up a poor little rich racist boy on the proceeds of his daddy's South African emerald mines that indentured native peoples scratched around in to (barely) feed the great massuhs' greed, before departing for canada, then becoming an illegal immigrant to the united states, where he decided that, if he can't be voted in as president, he CAN declare himself emperor, where he can destroy countless lives -- now that's power, according to fElon musk!
like trump, musk broke the law countless times. his wealth should be stripped (most of it came from US taxpayers) and he should be deported because he entered the country illegally.
When Musk purchased twitter, I deleted my app! Why haven’t other Americans done the same! Where is the US Government? Where is the DOJ? There are no laws in the US for trump or musk! Have Americans had enough of this autocratic takeover? You couldn’t give me a free Tesla!
Both of these things, ( MUSK and TUMP) need to be destroyed as soon as possible. These two horrific freaks of nature are an extreme and present danger to the entire world! I have never been a follower on his BS propaganda site, X or twitler. Hmmm, twitler rhymes with Hitler! That says it all. I wouldn't have one of his crummy ass Tesla piece of junk cars.
Zuckerberg and Bezos as well.
No.
I trust Robert Reich. How dare Musk insult him !!! Money corrupts absolutely
It’s not money that corrupts. It is the Love of money that corrupts…
Bunkerboy has ZERO chance of winning in 2024 IF WE VOTE and Twitter is in the throes of bankruptcy. Sad! RIHGOP!
I fear it is not going to happen. I've noticed the use of smart phones and the rise of the right.
If it weren't for cell phones, Trump would have stayed nothing more than the star of Apprentice.,
If it weren't for cell phones, there would have been no Jan 6th. Boebert used hers to give the go signal for the attack on the Capitol, She typed 1776, the moment the electoral votes from Arizona were to be counted.
The cell phone is more powerful than the gun--use it!
Victor --Agreed, and no one under the age of 16 should be allowed to have one.
Not me Vic. I enjoy the peace and quiet of not having my life constantly distrubed. Bad enough with the homephone, starts ringing betwen 0630 and 0700 hrs, damn Indian and Philippine call centers. My blocked memory is used up. I have caller ID so I pick it up and hang it up without answering.
Tesla is a good product. Don't throw the baby with the filthy water, which X is.
Just the fact that MUSK is profiting off of his rattletrap Tesla cars makes them a a piece of crap. MUSK is just as bad as TUMP is. He is an arrogant, narcissistic, greedy SOB that doesn't give a damn about the average American citizen. May one of his ''Roman Candle'' exploding rockets crash on his ugly head and destroy his sorry ass. I despise that cocky a/hole and can only wish they would deport his ass back to South Africa, or wherever he is from!
Just so we are clear, what exactly has Joe Biden or Kamala Harris done for the average American? Your argument that “just the fact that musk is profiting off of his rattletrap Tesla cars makes them a a piece of crap.” 🤣 I call bot or third grade education. You undoubtedly have NO idea why or where your hatred of either Musk or Trump comes from. You just know it does come.😂😂😂
I know where my hatred comes from, both MUSK and TUMP are out to take everything away from people that are disabled, old, and unable to work until they die. I will hate those low life creeps if i damn well please. Mind your own damn business and you know nothing about me, so shut your ass up. You are nothing, and you can go to he*l. Fizzy in the head. I will hate who i want to, and MUSK and TUMP are hated by many thousands. You know nothing!
Good for what, if it enriches Musk?
EVs do not harm the environment as fossil fuel powered cars.
Unless you’re the poor little African kids mining the rare earth elements which are extremely toxic and poison to humans, just to be able to eat a meal once a day! Idiot! Are you as deformed on the outside as much as your brain on the inside or is?
Musk harms the environment of government with his extreme wealth. He is not the only one, but he IS the richest of them all. Now he wants to hitch his wagon to tRUMP, and take over completely. EVs have little to do with that threat : Musk is not the only one who has tech people to make electric vehicles. But the may be the worst one to support.
We should talk.
I also deleted my account when news broke that Musk intended to buy Twitter. I agree that people just need to stop using it. I have been wondering whether the White House could establish its own thread on the White House website for official short comments.
I'm going to become a paying member. I'm canceling my NYTimes subscription to pay for it (and also downgrading my Netflix subscription).
Musk would subvert it.
The Whitehouse should use Bluesky instead.
Prof. Reich's post is already making news there https://bsky.app/profile/brasil247.bsky.social/post/3l34zolhlsh25
I wished the heck i could get my daughter to delete her account with X, or Twitler or whatever that silly nonsense is. She is a hard core Democrat like i am.
Good 💡 idea
I would like answers to all the above. As with Trump none of this should have surprised anyone. I cannot imagine it worse had the military contracted with Russians or Chinese.
Do you realize that Joe Biden's family has taken a lot of money from foreign nations for very little work, it's gone through shell companies, and some of it HAS gone on to Joe Biden?
And that some of that money came from China? Not to mention Ukraine?
Sources, please?
Yes, really. Never take anyone who opens with, "Do you realize...?" or "You do realize that..." even quasi-seriously. You immediately know they've assumed a baseless superiority.
Oddly leaves out a good portion of the articles he/she quotes. And GYM Jordan, seriously, if anyone lacks honesty and even morals. Another one that belongs in handcuffs and behind bars.
https://oversight.house.gov/release/oversight-judiciary-and-ways-and-means-committees-release-report-on-impeachment-inquiry-finding-joe-biden-has-committed-impeachable-conduct/
Oh yes GYM jordan, such a reliable source!!!! Another maga asshat like his owner/handler.
ROFL! THIS is your source?!? Get serious.
We will say POX on you and your quasi truths. Joe Biden is such a bad dude!!! Let's see, took on big pharma for medicare, next up everyone else. Fixed infrastructure that no one else tackled for how long???? Renewable energy AND https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/02/02/joe-biden-30-policy-things-you-might-have-missed-00139046#:~:text=Drone%20armies,%20expanded%20overtime%20pay%20and%20over-the-counter%20birth%20control%20pills
I won't use it because of him. But our government makes announcements on it, forcing people to use it!
Forcing?? There are literally hundreds of millions of us who don't use it and suffer no ill effects.
Agree 100%! I also deleted my Twitter account when em took over. I am disgusted and angry that our taxes enrich such a dangerous person.
I am doing fine, in fact I am 1000 times happier and content than a Shitter user.
X + Twitter - Xitter, Greek X pronounced Sh = Shitter.
Yes kleenex needed to remove X.
Stephen, I'm one who quit and suffer no ill effects. In fact, among the good effects is relief from aggravating trolls and misinformation.
I have never been on any anti-social media. I only see it when professional journalists quote it with links.
Louis - “like” I am right there with you. I don’t understand the lure of social media either. Glad to know that I am not alone. ;)
At first, social media lured us in by allowing us to connect with friends and family all over the world. Then, little by little, our personal information has been stolen and sold to marketers and scam artists who now dominate and pollute these channels of communication. Simply put, these amazing technologies have been co-opted and turned on us to make us the product and enslave us to information real or false. If we are to continue using them, all social media must be nationalized as public utility and forbidden to private ownership. Call it Socialism or whatever you like, anything that supports the common good works for me.
You know what I mean! The government and mainstream media make announcements on it and therefore people use it to get the news. Happy? I didn't say "force."
Go to Threads. It is an increasingly popular platform and provides fact based information.
I don’t trust anything owned by Zuckerberg and Company. It all starts out with good intentions and pretty quickly turns the table on us. It’s just another lousy device to rob of our identities and information and money if we allow it.
If the people boycott Twitter (stupidly known as X), the government would also. Wouldn't they?
I'm pretty sure the government makes announcements thru multiple media channels, not just X.
Government should move immediately to Bluesky. Reich is already making news there!
https://bsky.app/profile/brasil247.bsky.social/post/3l34zolhlsh25
There are other sources. There is no "forcing".
Thankfully I was hacked out of my pre musk account and never bothered to return. Best non move I could have made. The government has other ways of getting messages out to people so surely it would be worth your peace of mind to get rid of your account. Musk world isn’t what we need at all. As for advertisers still there, they must just be masochists especially since he told them they could go fuck themselves.
It is pretty funny that Biden announced he wouldn't run for election via X. The irony...
What a remarkable sense of humour you must have! The irony...
The law struggles to keep up with technology. It seems everything moves faster and faster except the law.
steve - “like”
I never did Twitter and I left face book 2 years ago. If I want pictures my nieces text me….my old friends will reach me if they have my number!
I left fb the first time they censored me in 2020, that was it.
So did I! What a Sick person! Why isn't the DOJ doing anything!😬😡😡😡😡😡
Amen. I deleted my account over a year ago.
What is with people? They can't live without their cell phones, and especially their apps.
10 years ago I carried a flip phone, only used it twice, each time I need help to even turn it on.
Helicopter parents, yech. The world is no more dangerous today than in the 1930's, just more and rapid news, makes it seem so.
You can keep yelling at clouds about cellphone usage, but it’s not going away anytime soon. Refusing to learn how the modern world functions will only leave you impotent and frustrated.
I am not yelling at clouds vainly. Silence is consent. I am not a buggy whip manufacturer, but I will not keep quiet because the herd imbibes poison.
Believe me I am neither impotent or frustrated, if you are emotionally harmed by my anti cell phone rants, well that is your problem.
You have your addictions. I had mine.
I wouldn’t say your anti-cellphone rants have harmed me. You have before you two choices:
a) continue down the path you’re on, rail against the poison we’re all addicted to (on this point, I do not disagree with you. Smartphones have become an opiate for the masses. For all the good things they bring, they also bring exponentially larger amounts of chaos. Steve Jobs refused to let his child own or operate smartphones/tablets, I think that says a lot)
b) knowledge is power. Turn the negative aspects of this technology into a weapon against dis/misinformation, as this very post we’re commenting on is doing.
You affect no change by shouting from the outside. Especially when the VAST majority of your fellow citizens are on the inside. Use it to your advantage and try to reach out to people where they are.
Just my $0.02
Thanks G May, but personal opinions aren't rants.
I don't, for one minute, think that I am going to affect change by expressing my opinion. That would be very narcissistic. Nay, I am merely expressing my opinion.
I know that I will not achieve anything by being on the "inside". One person against society?
As regards what the vast majority of my fellow citizens do. I have an allergy to jumping on bandwagons and jumping off cliffs.
But thanks for your considered advice.
I did the same.
Exactly!
Why would any American delete an app because the platform allows some form of “free” speech? You dumb or just retarded? Btw no one is trying to give you a free Tesla! What do you mean no laws in the US for Trump or Musk? You mean the laws that apply to everyone equally? Or you mean the non existent laws Reich and the rest of the communist bastards are trying to make so they can arrest political opponents? Total bird brain!
"You dumb or just retarded?"
I see irony is not dead here.
You are X now.on
Well said!
Here is a sample of the horrible crimes occuring before the internet and even TV
Bank Robberies were very common however
On 15 December 1927, Hickman kidnapped Marion Parker -- the 12-year-old daughter of Los Angeles banker Perry Parker -- and ransomed her. However, before Parker could pay the ransom, Hickman killed little Marion. He decapitated, dismembered and disemboweled her.[note 1]
When Hickman met Parker to collect the ransom, he placed the reassembled parts of Marion's body in the passenger seat of a parked car. He had stitched Marion's eyes open so her father would think that she was still alive. When Parker gave Hickman the ransom money, Hickman jumped into the car and sped off. At the end of the block, Hickman opened the door and shoved Marion's body parts out onto the street and sped away.
Because Hickman had stuffed towels from the flophouse where he was staying into Marion's torso, his identity was quickly traced. He was caught a week later in the northeastern Oregon town of Echo. He later confessed to a dozen armed robberies and at least one more murder. He was hanged for his crimes on 19 October 1928 at the age of 20.
This psychopath was the model for the hero in everyone of Ayn Rands books
from Danny Renahan (Little Street) and Roarke, (Fountainhead) to John Galt.(Atlas Shrugged)
She admired Hickman because: His sociopathic qualities: "Other people do not exist for him, and he does not see why they should," she wrote, gushing that Hickman had "no regard whatsoever for all that society holds sacred, and with a consciousness all his own. He has the true, innate psychology of a Superman. He can never realize and feel 'other people.'"
Sound like Musk? Sound like Trump?Sound like MAGAts?
There have always been criminals and crimes, true. There have always been sociopaths, true. The farther we get from Hitler and the others of that time and the ensuing years, the more people forget and refuse to learn from history. HOWEVER, SCOTUS was once on the side of the citizenry. Now corruption has rotted that too. Never before have we had such rot running for President just to stay out of jail. Nixon was not even as bad as the #mangomoron. I sincerely hope I do not live to a "ripe old age" because it is too dispiriting.
Ayn Rand was a disgusting narcissist and a sex predator, not unlike Trump.
Just like another legacy of British Empire colonisation and another ‘placed’ poor little rich boy, Murdoch, Musk embodies brutalist colonialism.
Apartheid Musk.
WOW! Didn’t know this about EM. Am throughly disturbed and concerned about what he will be doing before the election. Dr Reich as always, outlined great points of what can be done to prevent further damage by this greedy, power hungry asshole.
If you don't like what someone is saying, counter what they are saying. That's the principle of free speech. The founding fathers were very wise, and they thought free speech was essential.
Yeah but it’s not good to say someone’s a bollox and ought to be offed for example. So there’s limits. Then to avoid accusation of incitement to violence some ppl will just say “he’s a bollox” -- but everyone knows the rest that’s implied.
S.A. Exactly what is an Actual actuary skeptical about? Figures? Facts, Outcomes, Probability projections?
You can check out my substack. The actual math doesn't lie, but statistics can be tortured until they confess - there are many methods. You have to dig in to the methods and see if they are robust. Also, any studies that are funded by companies that stand to gain if their products passes should be viewed with extra skepticism.
There have been many studies that were so skewed they found a particular drug had a protective effect from something or other where there was no conceivable mechanism of protective effect.
In a lot of recent studies it's been noticed that people getting the COVID vaccines tended to be strongly protected against death (I mean, their death rates were WELL below background rates) for the following two weeks, while people who WEREN'T vaccinated had death rates that spiked for that same period (in times when many people were vaccinated). That's kind of odd, or maybe people just weren't being counted as vaccinated if they died in the next two weeks.
Obviously, he is skeptical of anything that happens to take his fancy & fuels his misguided belief that he is genuinely skeptical.
Do you think I WANT to believe that Democrats are openly calling for censorship? No.
Yet here is an entire comment section of Hitler’s shitlist of democrats calling for violence and censorship of two fellow Americans! Go figure what a bunch of brainwashed outcast narcissists!
Thank you GrrlScientist,
I have been meaning to bring up muck’s immigration status!!! Well done . Thank you.
So what of all the illegal thug gangs and criminals being taken care of with tax payer funds who are a worthless bleed on our system? Wow can’t fix stupid.
Rump & Muck in 2024? 💩🤢🤮🤧😷
Have we forgotten the meaning of the word, ‘ treason’? The behavior Of Elon Musk, autocrats and other obscenely wealthy individuals is treason on a global scale. These monsters must be removed by the populace of their countries from their seats of power, stripped of their wealth and punished accordingly. Of course it’s easier said than done, but here in America, we must set the example for the rest of the world with a giant blue tsunami.
What did they do that was treasonous?
Really?
Yeah, what did Musk do that was treason? I imagine the DoJ, who has no love for musk, would like to know.
Well, I guess I shouldn’t spout off without knowing the answer, but I feel that he may have. 🤷🏼♀️ Sorry for my rudeness.
Np.
I just hear a lot of negativity, and I can see him getting it because of his obnoxious personality, but these accusations of treason seem pretty hyperbolic. Something easily handled by any AG that wants to actually prosecute it.
Instead, these responses come off as more petulant and immature than some sort of measured expose on him being a traitor to America or something.
Wow! I guess this is this where good little NAZI wannabe girls who just want Robert’s approval and maybe a pet about the head, maybe a scritch behind the ears like a good little feline? Could you symp any harder? He has little man syndrome and tiny dick disease, there is nothing wrong needing a man, but you must be ugly as fuck or retarded.
He's only "dangerously out of control" because he disagrees with your completely whacky world view. The entire left is TRULY DANGEROUSLY OUT OF CONTROL - and it couldn't be more obvious. I know crazy people never understand that they're crazy - but holy fuck.
What law did he break that deems stripping him of all of his wealth and get deported? Countless times at that.
Yes! Take away everyone from folx that don’t agree with us!!
Your hate is being whipped up by an extremely biased mainstream media. 30 years ago we had a mainstream media that at least pretended to be neutral. I don't know what the answer is, but ask yourself, what did Trump do that is so bad?
I know you will say "KIDS IN CAGES!" Perhaps there were kids in holding areas that might have resembled cages for a while. But under Biden we have kids crossing the border with people who are not their parents (no one is DNA testing anymore), and 200,000 of them have DISAPPEARED. That's a lot worse than a few thousand kids being detained in more or less humane conditions for a few weeks.
Give it up. It is pearls before swine here. Nobody here is on board with critical thinking. In fact, they are here backing Reich; a guy who explicitly denounced critical thinking.
You are talking to stones at this rate.
Give it up. Your comments are disingenuous, and pathetic.
why are you choosing to be on X? Reich at least has an excuse.
Musk seems to want to recreate apartheid S Africa in America. He is a white supremacist like Trump.
I’ve felt for quite a long time that musk has too much power and is out of control. For the government to continue to rely on him and his companies for any aspect of government business/functioning is asking for trouble and puts us all at risk and at the mercy of a megalomaniac. Add trump to the mix and this would definitely be a marriage made in hell and an existential danger to the US and the world.
You are so very correct. They both have me scared for my very life as well for our Democracy.
Musk could 'own' the military and thus the country if he is allowed to govern communication. Our government has failed us in not being ahead of the oligarchs. Artificial intelligence can save the planet, solve health issues and otherwise make life wonderful. My fear is the ownership of that technology ------history has proven that to be a problem.
If the ying yangs in Congress continue to act like the government has little to say on the development and implementation of new technologies, esp. in the sphere of information, these things left to the market will get worse.
Yes, thanks. We must all guard ourselves, and the country, from their poison.
What, exactly, did Trump do that was so dangerous?
Biden has let a minimum of 10 million unvetted people into the US, a large fraction of which are men of military age, from countries which are hostile to the US. 200,000 kids have crossed into the US and DISAPPEARED.
Biden has been running a proxy war against Russia, and has crossed "red" lines, including using cluster bombs, and bombing targets inside Russia. Russia is running out of patience and has declared it is "reevaluating" it's policies on nukes.
What has Trump done that could be worse than that? Mean tweets?
His upcoming book should be interesting.
You don't have any problem with facebook though?
You just have a problem when anyone with some kind of presence has a voice that counters the narrative?
Wouldn't it have been nice if someone had been able to say back in 2020 and 2021 that the COVID shots weren't guaranteed to keep you from getting it, that your kids were at almost no risk, that there would be societal costs of shutting down schools and "nonessential" businesses? All those voices were silenced, because of government pressure. Missouri v. Biden proved it, and Mark Zuckerberg confessed it very recently.
Oh good gravy. Trump was president when all those things happened. I don’t trust a word out of Zuck’s mouth. Remember Cambridge Analytics?
Zuckerberg "confessed" because Trump
has threatened Facebook/Meta over those decisions. Please take your lies and half-truths elsewhere, troll.
Where's your evidence that was the reason? Trump did make a dumbass threat (and yes he says dumbass things) about putting Zuckerberg in prison if he commits FUTURE election interference, but that came out AFTER Zuck's confession.
I'm here because the average left leaning person doesn't hear the conservative perspective at all. When Reich says that Musk swore at the EU guy telling him to be careful, you guys have no idea of the full context.
The full context was that the EU was acting all on his own in regards to the upcoming talk between Trump and Musk. Musk's response was pretty "salty", granted, but other people in the EU quickly backed away from the EU tool and said MUSK WAS RIGHT. The EU tool was treading in US election matters, ie interfering in US elections, and one EU official put it in so many words. You would not hear that from the NY Times, the Washington Post, or Robert Reich. So you need to hear it from me.
Meanwhile conservatives hear the liberal perspective ALL. THE. TIME. It's hard to avoid.
You also need to hear that FREE SPEECH IS GOOD. FREE SPEECH IS IN THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. LOOK IT UP IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME.
Who would follow who? Rump would follow Muck. Rump is weak. Muck is far more dangerous. Together? Yikes !
At this point, it’s hard to imagine why anyone would continue to use Twitter or buy a Tesla.
I use twitter to share articles like this one, in hopes someone will actually read them
You can do that on Threads where it is civil and a lot of articles are shared. I read a lot of articles posted on Threads. It's a good place to be. No nasty comments or very few.
Yet. Thread is still on a honeymoon.
Share elsewhere. You are strengthening the twitter network and making it harder for other better networks to break in.
Too many MAGAS on Twitter
Me too but I block so many idiots that I jave the tiniest possible level of interaction. Still, any small twist of the knife …
We’re looking at EVs. Tesla was not even considered.
Mary gets at the point: there's a gap between inertia (in doing the things one must do day to day) & something better; presumably, that is how folks wound up with a Twitter/Tesla/etc. to choose from...
Elon Muskow and Trump are cut from the same cloth! Inherently wealthy and inherently EVIL!
Before Elon bought Twitter the tells were there. He runs his businesses with constant gaslighting. He will promise the world and underdeliver constantly. When he does deliver on time it is more happenstance than anything else and shareholder self congratualations occurs. Once you see his prophecies come and go wide multilple times it is easy to see the similarities of how Trump manipulates his followers to how Musk manipulates his share holders and followers. One weird observation. On bullying, both these kids would have been beat up in public school due to their behaviour. It seems that their money insulated them from any reprocussions for their behaviour and thus from having any empathy for others that they themselves beat up verbally.
Musk forgets that his companies would be nothing without the engineers and people there that are doing the hard work and trying to appease a megalomaniac.
Midwest - “like”
Thank you Sean. For anyone who is still on the fence, the interview with Don Lemon and Elon Musk is on YouTube! Don Lemon is able to get Elon to expose his true self on many different topics.
Musk is another reminder that the only difference between those with wealth and those without wealth is the money.
Actually a case study in malignant narcissism, which is rare.
Not rare enough!
Not out of the gene pool yet. Evolution is on the case! That is my take.
Rare? How about right wing celebrities, billionaires, talk show hosts. Malignant narcissism maybe be rare, but if that is the case then that is apparently what it takes to rise to the top.
I would say crime is the career choice for malignant narcissists, be it an El Chapo , a John Gotti or Donald J. Trump
More common than you think, evidently.
Actually, I think there needs to be some studies as to the effect of extreme wealth on on a person. We seem to have so many deranged wealthy people. Would they be that way without the wealth? Elon seems to have uncontrolled mental health issues. He has a fear of the masses and needs to control their thoughts.
Not sure we need studies to tell us why. I really don't care why Musk and Trump are deranged, selfish and evil. There have always been people like that.
But here is an experiment that might be helpful. Take the money away and see what's left of their brains. Neither one of these monsters "earned" the money.
Claw back the wealth with a "special assessment tax". Use the money to help Ukraine, feed and educate kids, pay for child care, boost healthcare coverage, invest in technologies to save the Earth from the Climate Catastrophe!
We need a progressive tax system, with 100% tax on income over 500 million.
Tax Musk and all billionaire s
How about making it a federal crime for lawyers to defend dangerous would-be dictators and out-of-control megalomaniacs? Their punishment should be permanent discreditation and disbarment. If that were to happen, I wonder how many greedy legal eagles would be so eager to jump on Musk or Trump’s gravy train?
Weird how MAGA glommed o to the rumor that Bill Gates wanted to implant chips in people’s brains (Covid shots) and went nuts, whereas Musk is actually doing that (I know it’s medical) but what the hey?
The same can be said of someone lacking class.
drumpf and musk, two professional con artists who have lied, cheated, and stolen their way to power remorselessly. For them, too much is never enough. Whatever it takes to strip them of their power is required, for the sake of humanity's survival. Look up: Gustav Krupp making a deal with Hitler to supply arms to the Wehrmacht in 1933, to seal a guarantee of World dominion. Desperate times.
Yes, indeed. The US is busy upgrading all of its nuclear missiles.
... or worse, from a mental and spiritual point of view....
All of these “shoulds” yet no one in the administration is taking any action. Musk has already been allowed to reach an uncontrollable status.
I would like an answer to why the administration is sitting on the issue.
Because they can't do an ything without congress and you know who congress belongs to, don't you.
So true!
Why do you think the Administration should be “controlling” what Americans say and do?
What is with this obsession with how people are outside of the petty US power structure, they are suddenly public enemy no.1? I understand people who serve the powerful in the country having that obsession, but why would normal Americans push for that?
Elon Musk must surely be controlled by the Monopolies Board? The President can and should be using his enormous power and issuing an Executive Order as granted by the Supreme Court.
That's right. SCOTUS ruled that anything the president does is not illegal, they actually said immune, but if he is immune then anything he does is legal.
Well said
Thank you Robert for your excellent and accurate commentary on Elon Musk. He is out of control and acting like a dictator. It’s time to pull in his reins and make his X unavailable to all until he removes the hateful and inaccurate messages. Also, I too am concerned about his dominance in the space industry. Other companies should be given the opportunity to contribute their knowledge and ideas to the US space industry. I am hopeful that my fellow Americans will see through the lies and hate that Trump is spreading and support the Democrats for President and a majority in the House and Senate.
The Justices gave enormous power to the President, who can manage this by using an executive order if he sees fit. Monopolies commission can suspend the take-over of YouTube.
Prez and Garland asleep at the wheel or compromised.
More like asleep!
Immobilized by fear of the terrorists that are working for tRUMP and now Musk. Don't forget the death threats. They also have AI impersonating a very popular presidential candidate. Talk about election interference. They want to incite civil war every place where democracy is strengthening. Where ever the humans are winning. They want US to destroy each other. It is a very old tactic: Divide and conquer.
Prez snoozing, Garland part of the problem.
Words hurt trump just like any school yard kid that he behaves like. This to please his peanut gallery, and pump them up.
Money we know weakens the moral/ethical fortitude of many and this is his trading card, his hammer.
We are at a trump/musk historic crossroads... Don't go down it.
Musk and Trump belong in the same playground as the other 'mouthy' 10-year olds.
I disagree on only one point made in this analysis, that Musk should not be charged with any crime as he incited violent crimes against asylum seekers in the UK.This is indeed a crime under English laws although the extradition treaty signed with the USA is in practice one sided and only allows British citizens to be extradited on request luckily for Musk.
Only things that will stop someone acting as malignantly narcissistic as Musk are firm barriers.
https://samray.substack.com/p/the-grooming-of-elon-musk-a-psychological-139
I enjoyed your interesting article, Sam. It analyzes how Musk became the man who created "Darth Twitter" from having Asperger's, his apartheid-influenced childhood with affluenza, and how libertarians and Peter Thiel's Roy Cohn-like influence during his PayPal days turned Elon into the malignant narcissist that made him the perfect BFF for Trump.
Yo Sean shitter what’s up bot?
Regarding Musk and others like him, whatever goes up usually comes down. Hopefully, one day, he and others will blast off on a rocket to somewhere and never be seen or heard from again. Have an X, Space X, and Tesla-free day, month, year, and century.
Musk claims in an interview that he’s an alien from outer space. It appears he’s on the road to be a megalomaniac along with the orange one.
Musk actually looks like an alien!
He’s already there.
Robert: Thank you for once again standing up to bullies. Americans now need to do their part, first by defeating Trump but also by boycotting Tesla and X. The government should also go after SpaceX as a monopoly instead of contracting with it for our space launches.