this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2025
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politics

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[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 17 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

What I really love about this is that Trump is so narcissistic that he earnestly believed that Elon liked him. That he believed in his vision for the country and that he wouldn't want anything in return, like a load more juicy government contracts, a bill to mandate that petrol cars would be phased out, or all safety regulations about self driving cars to be torn up.

Bless his cold dead heart for being exactly what everybody knows he is. Everybody except those idiots who jump into bed with him, because all those other people he betrayed were losers who just weren't smart enough.

[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 5 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

i mean...you could just as easily say the reverse, it honestly seemed like they needed each other just as much both ways

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 2 points 4 hours ago

Yeah, but Trump got what he wanted first.

[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 21 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

Who could see this coming said that one clueless guy who didn't.

[–] Vinstaal0@feddit.nl 49 points 11 hours ago (6 children)

I have this feeling that JD Vance is way worse than Trump

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 30 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (3 children)

He is much worse, but he's also far less of a threat, as he doesn't have ANY public mandate, in the form of any kind of following or cultish fandom.

Trump's power is almost ENTIRELY a product of how he tapped into the country's stupid fucking redneck hogs and narcissists and delusional conspiracy nuts. JD has exactly ZERO flat-earthers driving around with his face painted on the side of their van. Having a following of millions of people, even if they are mentally-deficient to a degree that is literally breathtaking, is still power, a great deal of power too because he has them under such tight control.

Vance might be dangerous in short-term policy decisions, but he doesn't have electoral power, he doesn't have chips in the game, he won't make a dent in senate/house bill votes, he won't have influence on local and state elections. He's pre-neutered. The only ones who should be worried about Vance are the white-house sofas.

[–] But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Vance also has no charisma or personality to speak of. He can’t lead a movement like MAGA.

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 1 points 9 minutes ago

Yep that's what I'm talking about, having a "movement" behind you is the strongest form of political currency. The right has wanted someone like Trump for a VERY long time because he's wealthy and not with cash. And he's dumb enough to be led around.

Vance is largely a nobody. You can accurately deduce he's a pile of shit, but he's always going to be largely ineffectual on the political stage because his ass is broke.

[–] zildjiandrummer1@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Vance is absolutely worse. He's the true disciple of Curtis Yarvin, and that's the end of the country as we know it.

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

Yes, I said he's worse. First line, first paragraph.

Do you understand political power though? It's a deep game but even at the highest levels, you can see that just being "bad" or "good" isn't enough to shape policy and leadership. A president has a job to do, and that job is almost entirely negotiating political favors between various groups and committees and lobbyists. To be able to do this, you have to have both a shrewd understanding of political law and precedent, AND you need political capital.

Donald Trump has very little understanding of political law and precedent, but he has MASSIVE political capital.

Vance has none. Just like Stephen Miller, someone who is also literally a sack of insects in human skin, someone like him even being as close to the president as he is, he has no political capital. He would never get elevated to an electoral position so he had to worm his way to an advisor status.

They could do some harm, but all their attempts at passing policy without political capital will get shot down in the other branches of government. There are a lot of examples of this in history, even recently with presidents who had waning capital like Biden. If you aren't actively gaming the game, you're getting left behind.

[–] zildjiandrummer1@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

You seem to be ignoring the entire class that owns them. Peter Thiel, Marc Andreeson, etc. can "create" political capital through manufacturing it. That's how Vance even got elected to Senate in the first place.

He doesn't resonate as strongly with the MAGA base as Trump of course, but since when did the will of the people matter, especially now that there are loyalists in every notable and important position in the whole of the executive (all agencies), legislative, and judicial branch.

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 1 points 11 minutes ago

We're still talking about different things. It's okay, we can agree that we don't want any of these people in power but I'm saying Vance doesn't have the political currency to have as strong of an impact as even Trump, nothing to do with "the will of the people."

[–] signalsayge@infosec.pub 1 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

I feel like you could have said the same thing about Chavez and Maduro in Venezuela...

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 4 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

While I do believe America is spiraling towards autocracy and dictatorship, it won't be Vance's face on the armbands. It will be someone but the way America falls into that hole will be a different path than Venezuela took, mostly because our government is so much larger and more complicated with far more international interests at play, requiring more long-term political capital to be spent to bend the system until it breaks.

[–] aceshigh@lemmy.world 32 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Yes, but he won’t be backed up by maga. There will be more internal fighting.

[–] Vinstaal0@feddit.nl 6 points 11 hours ago

OKey at least there is that. I just want somebody in the US office who will fix the political system to be more compromise based, but I think I'll sooner see a unicorn irl.

[–] barneypiccolo@lemm.ee 15 points 11 hours ago

Vance is totally owned by Peter Theil, who is a well-known Psychopathic Oligarch.

[–] mercano@lemmy.world 5 points 10 hours ago

Yeah, unfortunately, there’s no one in the line of succession I particularly like. At least RFK is #12 and Linda McMahon is #16, both pretty far down.

[–] Red_October@lemmy.world 2 points 8 hours ago

He might be, but that's a chance I'm willing to take given how fucking terrible Trump is.

[–] GladiusB@lemmy.world 1 points 8 hours ago

That's because he's dumb enough to follow the dumb guy. We all know he's a fuckin moron.

[–] TheDeadlySquid@lemm.ee 44 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

Is this a massive gamble by Elmo to rebuild his brand image by forcing me to agree with him on certain issues? Let’s not forget this was the same guy Nazi saluting this dude at his Inauguration a few short months ago.

[–] ours@lemmy.world 6 points 6 hours ago

I'm not forgetting anything. I'm just enjoying two enemies fight it out.

[–] PieMePlenty@lemmy.world 48 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

No, its not. Musk is just salty Trump used and discarded him. You have to understand, these are just children who stumbled into power and never really grew up.

[–] andros_rex@lemmy.world 14 points 8 hours ago

Yeah - nepo babies are like this. Made the mistake of marrying one, and any perceived slight needed punishment and retaliation.

[–] Auli@lemmy.ca 7 points 11 hours ago

It's all just show. Elon well get government contracts and we'll get wealthy from the stock market. Everything else is showmanship he's the current fall guy look everything thet sucks is Elons fault

[–] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 60 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

So let me get that straight, you spent hundreds of millions of dollars to get a guy, who you think should be impeached and is guilty of underage sex, to be the president of the United States?

[–] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 44 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

He spent hundreds of millions to scrape personal data of all US citizens and cripple investigations into his businesses.

[–] barneypiccolo@lemm.ee 10 points 11 hours ago

This is the real bottom line, right here

[–] rayyy@lemmy.world 13 points 12 hours ago

He KNEW about the underage sex stuff when he spent the nearly 300 billion dollars too.

[–] trumboner@lemmy.world 41 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (3 children)

Can we have both of these? Please please please?

  • Trump impeached
  • Musk deported
[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 5 points 8 hours ago

If we're dreaming of fantasies that will never happen, I also want nationwide ranked-choice voting, and maybe we can overturn Citizens United Vs Federal Elections and stop allowing corporations to literally run our country.

[–] Rakonat@lemmy.world 17 points 12 hours ago

I know there is some clause or stipulation that allows for the seizure of assets obtained by illegal immigrants.

Musk is an illegal immigrant who pursued business ventures in violation of his school visa and lied about it.

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[–] Hadriscus@lemm.ee 4 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

Impeach Trump, deport Musk... but then Vance gets couch-cast ? I'd rather not see this happen

[–] Kekzkrieger@feddit.org 15 points 15 hours ago

What a absolutely wild timeline we are living in

[–] RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world 7 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

Yes, I agree. We should put Trump in a peach and roll him off a cliff.

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