Tech tycoon Elon Musk joined a call between US President-elect Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky the day after the presidential election, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
God, I feel for Zelensky… Imagine fighting for your existence against Russia and having to talk to these morons for help.
Remember when we had a whole impeachment hearing against Trump for withholding aid to Ukraine so he could get a political hit piece on Biden? I’m wondering how long it will take before a quid pro quo scenario pops up again. Either in Ukraine or elsewhere. So ya, we’re all feeling for Zelensky in the next few years.
Impeaching him might be on the docket, if the Republicans really want Vance in the puppet seat. I think they’d rather manipulate him than whatever fucking impending shit-splosion Trump will become about 3 minutes in.
I think Vance might at least be convinced to do logical things. We know that isn’t happening with Donny.
There may exist a scenario where north korea is trying to build something that looks suspiciously like an Ohio class submarine and he has a strange golf bar appear on his desk.
I’m sure his conclusion at the end was “We need to build nukes immediately”.
I’m sure they will help, “Just give Russia what they want, war over, problem solved”
My guess is Trump essentially extorted him in the namel of “making a deal” in exchange for American aid.
Remember when they used to try to keep corruption somewhat hidden and deniable? Now the richest man in the world is just going to be walking around the White House, tugging the government’s leash on full display.
Since when do we allow regular civilians to participate in diplomatic calls?
Since the US bacame an oligarchy.
It’s almost like a member of Trump’s cabinet was sentenced to prison for doing that exact thing between Trump’s 2016 election and taking office.
Yeah but for people to know that would require actually understanding the impeachment proceeding and prior/subsequent investigations.
I think we all know how that went.
When you have a president that dgaf about anything saying otherwise.
It’s beyond naive to call Elon a regular civilian
My point was to point out he’s not part of the government
Yeah, he’s an illegal immigrant, get it right.
Fucker will disable Starlink in Ukraine and allow it in Russia
Didn’t he do that already?
It wasn’t enabled in Crimea in the first place. The author misspoke/lied about in the book and has later admitted it.
U.S. sanctions to Russia forbid the use of Starlink. This includes crimea and the occupied territories. That’s why it wasn’t enabled.
To clarify on the Starlink issue: the Ukrainians THOUGHT coverage was enabled all the way to Crimea, but it was not. They asked Musk to enable it for their drone sub attack on the Russian fleet. Musk did not enable it, because he thought, probably correctly, that would cause a major war.
And before someone points out the ‘cause major war’ things, those are Walters words, not Elon’s. Musk said “It would make SpaceX explicitly complicit in a marjor act of war and conflict escalation” He later also added that had he been contacted by the US officials and asked to enable it he would, but they didn’t.
US sanctions may try to stop Russia from using statlink, but they’re using it anyway.
Plus the fact that Musk regularly talks with Putin really makes this whole thing quack and waddle.
The front lines are not static so you can only imagine the difficulty SpaceX has trying to determine which terminal is in Ukranian use and which ones are Russian. For all we know, they may have disabled hundreds if not thousands of terminals they’ve found out to be used by the Russians and are getting no credit for it. I don’t buy into this narrative that Elon is personally invested into Russia winning. I’ve seen no evidence for it but plenty against it which everyone just seems to conveniently ignore because Musk bad.
He’s already done so, actually. Under the guise of “blackouts”.
Nah, he’ll use the location services from the dish to pinpoint the Ukrainian troop locations. If they’re smart they’ll start smashing them immediately.
Musk’s whole “slash government spending” schtick is such a farce. Tesla wouldn’t have domestic manufacturing facilities without a DOE loan. SpaceX survives off of government contracts.
Slash government funding for everything except the socialism for the rich.
The NPR article goes into this. Elon likely will award himself money without oversight while cutting programs like NPR and the SEC and other regulatory bodies etc.
Oh that never includes the donor class.
Hilarious that his administration is already leaking worse than a Russian submarine.
Ukraine is f*cked now and soon Europe too.
Technically, a lot of NATO countries still have nukes. So they might be half as fucked.
This is bad
What a dilema for Ukraine! I feel their abandonment will be a microcosm for our leaving to the wolves.
I think a lot of Americans don’t understand that the USA hedgemony isn’t a divine right, it was a deliberate construction with tacit agreement of convenience from the western world.
Much like an economy, belief makes it so.
Much like the UK’s arrogance has driven them into geopolitical obscurity, so will the USA’s.
In 15 years, Americans are going to wake up and realize that their voices are irrelevant in the world. I don’t know how y’all are going to handle it.
The USA became dominant by letting the world fight itself to ruins, then entering into the war late and declaring victory. TWICE.
Being the only mostly undestroyed nation after a world war is immensely profitable.
I deeply, desperately hope you’re right. In the best case, the military (including the nuclear arsenal) gets as hollowed out as russias before that realization comes.
When you’re a star they let you do it.
Doesn’t he have like ten companies to run… into the ground?
“Look honey, the clown show already started.”
Do y’all think Elon’s looking to run for office one day? Or does he just find it exciting to be included?
Musk doesn’t need to run for office. He’s the richest man in the world. With Trump as president, Musk can just call him, offer a few million and get whatever he wants.
Musk has enough money to change whatever rules he wants and tie up all the government lawyers for years fighting over all the rules he might want to break.
Billionaires shouldn’t exist.
He’s not eligible, born in south africa
lol, doesn’t matter.
Funny how this reflects exactly my train of thought.
Oh god, what if that asshat runs for president next?
Oh, wait, isn’t he from Africa or something?
pew
Wait, doesn’t his buddy run the country, his party and the supreme court?
*panic intensifies*
Musk bought Trump and Trump won, musk already has the office.
He’s from South Africa. He can’t run for president.
I wonder if this will make it into the Senate Confirmation Hearings when Trump makes him Secretary of Making Things Worse Before They Get Better. (Or maybe they are smart enough to not give him a job that requires Congressional approval…)
He paid for Ukraine’s StarLink connections that he shuts off when Musk feels like it, and the incoming president who will shut off aid when Musk feels like it.
