Ruth Ben-Ghiat: Musk is not a conservative. He is a far-right extremist shaped by apartheid, infantile and fascistic

[highplainsdem]

fantasies of dominating the universe and an authoritarian family culture & personality.

It's clear enough to me. Musk is not a conservative. He is a far-right extremist shaped by apartheid, infantile and fascistic fantasies of dominating the universe and an authoritarian family culture & personality.

— Ruth Ben-Ghiat (@ruthbenghiat.bsky.social) 2024-12-06T12:34:28.326Z

[Timeflyer]

1. Ruth Ben-Ghiat is right, but she suffers from the Cassandra Curse--she speaks the truth, but

nobody (well, MAGAts and Orange Shitstain cult members) believes her warnings.

[Shipwack]

10. Oh, they believe her... They just see it as a plus. nt

[Timeflyer]

18. Actually, you are right. They want authoritarianism.

[OhioBack2Blue]

29. They need their daddy...

to tell them what to do. Rugged individualists my ass!

LOL!

Bunch of big cosplaying wussies.

[sop]

2. Elon Musk, the world's richest eugenicist, has taken over Rupert Murdoch's top spot on the list of the most

despicable foreign billionaires in America.

[Javaman]

3. I don't call him the apartheid kid for nothing nt

[madinmaryland]

5. Apartheid Clyde.

[hvn_nbr_2]

14. I call him and Thiel "the apartheid bros" nt

[lonely bird]

4. True...

That being said, virtually none of the Republican Party is conservative.

They are quasi-fascist, neo-fascist, Christofascist, anti-American reactionaries, period.

And like everyone they stand on the shoulders of those who went before them like Leo Strauss, Russell Kirk, William F. Buckley, Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan.

[Buns_of_Fire]

24. "They are quasi-fascist, neo-fascist, Christofascist..."

This is the point where Gene Wilder* might pause and add "you know... Nazis".

( * Blazing Saddles reference, )

[Cyrano]

41. Yep. Here's the clip

[4catsmom]

6. South African trash

why do we take these deplorables from SH countries????

[rubbersole]

37. And don't forget genius anchor babies from Slovenia.

[2naSalit]

40. The only...

One of that brood that isn't an anchor baby is Tiffany.

[Blue_Tires]

7. Well, obviously...

[Magoo48]

8. Yup

[Mike 03]

9. So much respect...

One of my fears was that people like Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Timothy Snyder, Anne Applebaum, Jason Stanley, a few others who saw this coming from a mile a way and tried to tell everyone would go silent once this worst-case scenario happened. Some of them have dual citizenship in other countries. I worried they would flee.

They are staying and speaking out, and for that I am utterly grateful.

[yellow dahlia]

35. Agreed

[Farmer-Rick]

11. I don't know what it is about Musk's voice but

I can't understand half of what that filthy-rich idiot says. Every time Musk speaks, I have to reconstruct his words in my head to understand what he's saying.

He mumbles and pushes the words around in his weird large mouth so that by the time they come out, I can't understand what he's saying.

No it's not his accent. I understand people with accents just fine. At first he just sounds like a fool who can't find the words but when the words finally come out they are unintelligible to me.

He puts accents on the wrong syllables. His enunciation
is garbled. He drops and lowers his voice inflection in the wrong places. Just when you think he's
finished a sentence you realize he's in the middle of it.

So, I have to repeat the words in my head again to make out his weird communication style.

[BonnieJW]

12. He has a lazy mouth.

It's like he's speaking around marbles.

[Farmer-Rick]

13. Yeah, exactly

But then on top of it he pauses in the middle of constructing a sentence. Then you have to go back and recall what he has just said to get a full thought out the mumbling. It's exhausting.

[Irish_Dem]

27. He's an AI bot and they have don't have the settings right yet.

[PortTack]

15. I've said this before, and I'll say it again. He wants to and thinks he can be the 1st American dictator.

[Irish_Dem]

28. Looks like his wish has come true.

He looks like the one running the show.

[surfered]

16. Oh, a Bond Villain. Great!

[dchill]

17. There is a permanent electrical storm in Leon's brain.

First, it burned out his moral compass.

[Martin68]

19. True.

[AntiFascist]

20. Musk says estranged child's gender-affirming care sparked fight against 'woke mind virus'...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2024/07/22/elon-musk-jordan-peterson-interview/74506785007/

This was likely one event that triggered his final descent into the black hole of the Far Right.

[malaise]

21. THIS

Rec

[UTUSN]

22. K&R ad infinitum

[paulkienitz]

23. He seems to have a feudalistic sense of being entitled to mass labor.

[Tweedy]

25. Fellow is having a midlife crisis

and making all of us his audience.

[Cha]

26. Great... & he Owns TSF.

he will be gone someday.

[OverBurn]

30. Eloon is a straight up nazi.

[GoYouPackersGo]

31. Of course he is.

So, perfect as a member of Trump's administration, especially for a made up position.

[usonian]

33. The shadow of apartheid South Africa in America.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219696928

[yellow dahlia]

34. I saw him parading around the Capitol with his tiny child on his shoulders.

So inappropriate. And absolutely infantile.

Ruth Ben Ghiat always offers great analysis.

[highplainsdem]

42. Some video clips I've seen of his interactions with that child are very worrisome.

And I hope the boy will grow up psychologically healthy despite his father. But what I've read about Musk's relationships with the mothers of his children hasn't been reassuring.

Musk seems to view the boy as a combination Mini Me princeling, pet and trophy (fathering children is an obsession with him). Just the bizarre name chosen for this boy comes across as a selfish publicity stunt, rather than giving a child a name that will help him.

I hope to God that boy and his young siblings all get some normal loving care, from both women and men, away from Musk. Healthy, normal role models.

IMO Musk parading around the Capitol with the boy wasn't so much "take your child to work" as "even my 4-year-old child is much more important than you lawmakers."

I think Musk probably believes he's being a great father. But he's so messed up himself.

USA Today article on what narcissists can do to their children:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2023/08/15/narcissism-and-parenting-narcissistic-parents-cast-kids-into-roles/70591780007/

Two of the most common roles narcissists force their kids into are the golden child and the scapegoat.

Little X is the golden child.

Musk's trans daughter Vivian is the scapegoat.

[highplainsdem]

43. A meme he tweeted yesterday was a perfect example of what I said above, in reply 42:

Link to tweet

And his tweet directly below that said

Doge & Minidoge

[Skittles]

36. it's hard to tell who is the more sick piece of shit

Trump or Musk

[DallasNE]

38. Musk's Efficiency Team Is A Joke

He thinks countinks counting key strokes is the answer. That gives equal power to every keystroke. That’s not how it works. And that’s not all the vast majority of what government workers do. What an idiot.

[Karasu]

39. Aside from the "shaped by apartheid" bit, that makes him no different from anyone else in this administration.