[kortilla]

> Do people in the US still use X? If yes, why?

Are you seriously asking that question? If so, I suggest looking at the nov election results. The votes for Trump were for this (his relationship to Elon and intention of “having him make the government efficient” were well known in advance of the election).

[philipdavis]

I feel only MAGA are happy & comfortable staying on X, voting for trump != maga

hence the question

[culi]

It's not just about Trump though. I jumped ship the second Musk pushed the change to increase the weight of tweets made by a paying account. Also the first thing he did when he took over was cut the entire a11y team. Then he login-walled Twitter and broke the API. Reddit communities went crazy when the Reddit team paywalled their own API.

There's an incredibly long list of reasons to ditch x beyond musk's political activity

[kortilla]

No, I’m suggesting the political supporters of Trump/Elon are the reason people use X.

If you are one of them or want to see the mainstream US right-wing zeitgeist, X is where it’s at. That alone is a massive reason for people to keep the app and an account.

Otherwise I agree, all of its utility as a general platform is gone otherwise.

[timacles]

quite frankly, your argument is dishonest, whether intentionally or not. I do not trust anyone repeating online, and no one else should. Especially since its repeated verbatim every time it comes up, its clear that this is "the play" and propaganda.

> I suggest looking at the nov election results.

What should we be looking at exactly? How the curiously 100% flipped swing states voted? I agree, theres much to look at there.

> The votes for Trump were for this (his relationship to Elon and intention of “having him make the government efficient” were well known in advance of the election

That is an outright lie.

No one knew Musk would be running amok dismantling government institutions like a rabid dog, while side stepping all government processes. Project 2025 had something like a 6% approval rating. What is being "implemented" right now is Project 2025.

The US is in a constitutional crisis, and the saving money is a farce to permanently disable the US as a functioning body.

[kortilla]

> No one knew Musk would be running amok dismantling government institutions like a rabid dog

Trump approval ratings are at a high. His supporters are clearly happy with what’s going on.

The question was quite simple, it was about why anyone would use X.

There are at least 60 million people that are happy with what is going on and like to be on X, which is an echo chamber of what they like.

Nothing about what I said is dishonest. This is exactly the type of outcome Trump supporters were looking for. Approval ratings don’t lie.

I don’t like what’s going on either, but this constant hand-wringing of “nobody supports this, I don’t understand, crisis crisis crisis” is unproductive and ignorant of the reality of the political landscape in the US right now.

If you want to interact with the right wing people or read what they are thinking, that’s effectively what X is for right now.

[timacles]

This is all ignoring that we live in a world almost completely dominated by disinformation.

The media have clearly aligned themselves to not report on whats actually happening. Right wing supporters get a carefully curated "view" of whats going on. Left wing media pushes outrage over ever minuscule detail while purposefully obfuscating whats really going on.

> This is exactly the type of outcome Trump supporters were looking for.

Trump supporters or republicans? Trump supporters at this point are rabid lunatics who post nothing but "librul tears" memes on facebook. They have no connection to reality. Republicans are trapped in an algorithmic cage, where everything might not be ideal, but gosh darn it, its for the good of the country!

> If you want to interact with the right wing people or read what they are thinking, that’s effectively what X is for right now.

I dont know how a rational, technologically inclined, person can scroll through X and not see that its 60% bots and propaganda. X is not reality, it is Elon's personal propaganda machine.

> this constant hand-wringing of “nobody supports this, I don’t understand, crisis crisis crisis” is unproductive and ignorant of the reality of the political landscape in the US right now.

What is the political reality of the US right now? You're conflating the peoples' response to the information they're getting to the actual reality: The US government is being destroyed by a hostile group of actors, with most likely criminal motives.

[genewitch]

The sky is still falling?

I especially like the part about the media not reporting on what's actually happening.

[timacles]

You are the frog sitting in the pot of water on the stove. All you are saying is that no one turned on the gas yet

[kortilla]

> What is the political reality of the US right now? You're conflating the peoples' response to the information they're getting to the actual reality: The US government is being destroyed by a hostile group of actors, with most likely criminal motives.

You’re still not understanding what I’m saying. You can hand-wring about “the destruction of the government”. That part is fine because it’s complaints about actions by DOGE.

What isn’t fine is to pretend that nobody supports this. “All the republicans I know have regret, etc” is all bullshit. Not just Trump supporters, everyone who voted for him.

Trump approval ratings are at a high, they love the destruction.

That is the reality in the US, the right loathes the government, including “the moderate republicans” who voted for them. Like all Trump topics they don’t say it out loud, but the polls certainly indicate they are still on the MAGA train.

X gives you an unfiltered view of that side of the country. Take it or leave it.