Elon only wants one thing for Christmas.

[hay rick]

One of the drivers of Trump's felonious bookkeeping practices was his unbridled desire to be included on the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans. As demonstrated by his appointments, Trump is enamored of real billionaires. Friendship and partnership with the world's richest man is as irresistible to Donald Trump as the flame to the moth. Knowing this, the bro genius has attached himself to the stable genius.

What's in it for Elon Musk? There has been a lot of media discussion of Trump policies that will uniformly benefit the ultra-wealthy including more tax cuts and reduced business regulation. There's also widespread speculation about direct benefits for Musk's existing businesses- Tesla gaining continued or augmented tariffs on Chinese EVs and SpaceX maintaining and expanding government contracts that already exceed $10 billion. For someone of Musk's wealth and ambition, however, those are just appetizers.

Trump's singular asset is his ability to legalize or immunize reprehensible behavior and avoid accountability. His obvious corruption has been largely lost in the clutter of an endless stream of other inappropriate and outrageous behaviors. Trump's first term was marked by undisguised self-dealing, emoluments, and nepotism. In his recent campaign, Trump openly solicited bribes from oil company executives.

Under Trump, America's new economic model will be crony capitalism. The promise and seeming inevitability of the coming tsunami of corruption creates an opportunity for looting on an unprecedented scale, dwarfing the plutocratic plundering of Russia's economy during the fracturing of the USSR in the 1990's.

Early in his career, Trump's string of bankruptcies confirmed his inability to manage a business enterprise. His public appearances in recent years demonstrate a declining ability to focus on tasks or speak coherently on any subject. Clearly, he prefers playing golf to the duties of his office. Seeing Trump's need for a highly engaged executive, Elon Musk has offered his services.

At Musk's suggestion, Trump is creating DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency) and putting Elon in charge. Vivek Ramaswamy is nominally a co-chair and Marjorie Taylor Greene was added to the team as a barking dog. DOGE will seek the elimination of some governmental agencies. Agencies that cannot be eliminated without the consent of Congress can still be hollowed out by reducing staff. Crucial functions can be handed off to contractors. Contracts with private businesses already account for a large share of government spending. If Trump (and Musk, presumably) get their way, the professional experts overseeing and awarding those contracts will be replaced by loyal "Schedule F" Trump appointees.

On the subject of Trump's proposed tariffs, Paul Krugman recently wrote: "U.S. trade law gives the executive branch broad discretion in tariff-setting, including the ability to grant exemptions in special cases. So you apply for one of those exemptions. Will your request be granted?...Trump imposed significant tariffs during his first term, and many businesses applied for exemptions. Who got them? A recently published statistical analysis found that companies with Republican ties, as measured by their 2016 campaign contributions, were significantly more likely (and those with Democratic ties less likely) to have their applications approved."

Elon has positioned himself to be Trump's gatekeeper for restructuring government and the economy. He will also be the first oligarch in line as new opportunities for plunder emerge. The possibilities are endless. Meanwhile, Trump looks forward to being the one person who must nod his head affirmatively to approve the plans of his visionary space age buddy. He keeps Elon's picture on a shelf next to that of his long-deceased uncle, MIT professor John Trump.

[DFW]

1. Either that, or......

A phony US birth certificate that their bought judges will declare as legitimate.

Then he can ditch Vance, make himself VP, and feed Trump the poison of his choice.

Think that's going too far? Remember who it is we're talking about.

[Takket]

3. "feed Trump the poison of his choice"

that would be one way Elon could get back in my good graces lol

[hay rick]

4. I used to think that was going too far.

Then I saw the Trump-appointed justices. Now I hear elected officials openly discussing disregarding long-established law and constitutional provisions. Article II provisions for qualifications for the presidency can be just another thing to add to their list.

[JHB]

2. Does it make me a "Marxist" to quote a Marxist scholar?

"The rich only want one thing... and that's everything." -- Michael Parenti