[digdugdirk]

Really? It's what he did after he spent nearly a third of a billion dollars to influence an election (which doesn't include the incalculable value of his influence via Twitter!) that makes him a Bond villain.

It's Chesterton's Fence[0] in action - Elon took a self-proclaimed woodchipper to the United States government without understanding what he was destroying and without concern for the repercussions to society. He used that influence to benefit himself and his companies directly. It's not sharks with laser beams, but it's far more impactful and the world will living with it for decades to come.

[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._K._Chesterton#Chesterton's_...

[ethbr1]

If you think that was Elon's doing, read up on Stephen Miller^, who was talking about what he'd like to do to the federal bureaucracy even before Trump won a second term.

Elon has some racist and oligarchical views, but was also a convenient, socially-awkward autistic guy to brand as the face of DOGE (and stupidly fell for that) while Miller et al. rolled out their preexisting plans.

Then knifed him in the back and tossed him overboard when public opinion soured on DOGE's excesses, since Elon never developed a political base.

^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Miller#White_House_dep...

[rapind]

Miller is the Antichrist, but I don't buy Elon as a victim for a second. I suspect he'll be spending some of that wealth on image rehabilitation and political influence though as the turns tide. The retcon will be entertaining at least.

[ethbr1]

I wouldn't say victim, but I would say ideologically-aligned patsy.

Watching Elon seem flummoxed at politics as usual was entertaining.

Like, yeah, of course this administration is going to try to dump the blame at his feet and cut him out as soon as it's in their benefit to do so.

And the only reason they're still vaguely nice to him is because he owns a strategically important rocket+telecom company and Twitter.