volkris @volkris@qoto.org

@moira

It's like, you know who this is not going to fuck? Elon Musk. He'll be fine.

You know who this is going to fuck? A whole lot of workers who need the job, everyday customers, the environment that needs electric vehicles, and on and on.

Anyone engaging in this stuff is just plain stupid.

@maccruiskeen Well think of it this way: have you ever had a family member, maybe an older one, who thinks they know what's good for you better than you do? Who has inappropriately tried insert themselves into your business with the best of intention even if they're, well, full of it, and it's not appreciated?

Yes, a couple of these people are sociopathic fucks. I actually agree with that.

But I think a lot of them are just well-meaning but really really stupid, and really really out of touch, and really disconnected from reality.

I think it's a really common experience when somebody with best of intentions tries to tell you what to do with your own life because they think they know better, even though they're completely off base. I think that explains a whole lot of what we're seeing out of the folks in charge right now.

@fj

@walterolson.bsky.social frankly, if you didn't imagine he would try, you haven't been paying attention 🙂

He has a long history of just throwing things at the wall to see what would stick.

No, he doesn't have the authority to do it. No, that won't stop him from trying. And I honestly don't think he even knows that he doesn't have the authority. Or cares.

@apas_csc I don't know if you spend a lot of time around folks who buy into the philosophy of hate the sin but love the sinner, but that's a very common way of talking.

This administration seems to come from a culture that leans into that sort of rhetoric.

I emphasize the thing I emphasize a lot: Trump is an absolutely dreadful communicator, and even his supporters occasionally accidentally admit that. This whole administration is shaped by talking in ways that are are ineffectual both in terms of communication and policy making. It's one of the most regressive parts of having this guy in office.

But, It's one of those know thy enemies things where you have to understand what they're saying if you want to counter them and defang the offensive things they do on substance.

Otherwise, you end up attacking the red towel instead of the Matador, and it just plays into their game.

I'm not even sure this leak was an accident because so far what I see is a lot of people reacting to it in ways that benefit them.

@fj

@maccruiskeen to be clear, I'm not saying I agree with it.

Keep in mind that the culture these guys are coming from is shallow and thinks it knows better what everybody should be doing, and when it can it sees a moral Duty to impose that better option on others.

So it's not a weird idea of support. It's actually a very common idea, too common in my opinion, thinking they can help people by telling them what they should be doing.

This is just one example of it. There are so many, but maybe it's something to keep in mind when trying to understand what this administration is doing.

@fj

@irelephant

Yeah, and that's not hatred. In context of support provided by US policy over the course of administrations that even has more to say about the US than about Europe.

This administration has been describing previous US policy as giving too much, so this is a continuation of complaining about the direction of US policy over administrations, and a pivot based on themes of the campaign that got them elected.

Not about Europe, about the US.

@fj

@maccruiskeen ha, I'm not sure you can see where he stands in regard to Europe 🙂

Because I read that exchange in the complete opposite way, talking about the outlines of strategic partnership and how the different groups interact, which has absolutely absolutely nothing to do with hating or not hating Europe.

At worst it's neutrality when setting the terms for partnership. But I think it's more about supporting Europe to follow a path that he thinks would be better for everybody, Europe included, promoting European success as he sees it.

So no, not hatred at all. Support if anything.

Maybe it takes more understanding of the context in which these statements are made, though. It's just like how many misinterpreted Trump's stance on NATO during his first term.

@fj

@fj sharing your hate?

Did you read the release? There wasn't hate of Europeans. There was only discussion of the terms of partnership and normal concerns of political framing.

@realcaseyrollins email is fundamentally not built to be secure, so no, even if there was patched on encryption it would have been at best an order of magnitude less secure.

@walterolson.bsky.social right, this is just another example of Trump being personally disconnected from the rest of his branch, as he's more interested in listening to and repeating the ramblings of conservative talk show hosts than listening to his officials.

It's a constant feature of this administration.

Trump constantly repeats the likes of Sean Hannity even while his branch acts somewhat independently from him.

@Nonilex these presidential powers aren't novel to people who have been paying attention to the US system for decades.

There's really nothing new here. Just reporters finally reporting stuff that has been happening the whole time... and unfortunately getting things wrong occasionally as they're not themselves familiar with the topic.

@josh it's almost as if the stories about Roberts being totally in Trump's camp weren't true in the first place.

Seriously, that story has always been nonsense, as Roberts has decided against Trump plenty of the years. But that didn't support the conspiracy theories, so never mind it.

@drrimmer not so much a landmark case when it just confirmed the obvious, that these kids had no standing or solid complaint to bring to the courts.

The Supreme Court declined to hear the petition, illustrating that the case was too silly to even consider.

@JoeChip I think it's more of a live by the sword die by the sword sort of situation.

Weiss built their business around engagement with the federal government, so they have to pivot when the federal government changes to remain engaged with it.

There could be a lesson there for the institutional Democratic Party and their values. It's not so much humiliation as it is successfully continuing to have the cart hitched to the horse, although they might want to reconsider the horse they want to hitch to.

@dave there's so much misleading or flat out wrong with this piece. It has a lot of misstatement of history and the role that universities and other academic institutions have played in human history.

Just to touch on one thing, universities generally don't deliver final, marketable products. That's not their role to play, neither historically nor practically. They are good at fundamental research, but not at the consumer facing execution side.

The problem is, holding them up as these great consumerist providers can play precisely against the goal of promoting their government support. It's better just to be honest about what they do and do not provide.

@samlitzinger I think a lot of people mistake Trump's comments like these as him being mad or angry when often enough he's enjoying the attention while basically playing a game with his supporters.

This may be one of those cases where he wasn't mad, but he's delighted that you're giving him this attention.

@carolpeters It's really not, not in any substantial way. There's a whole lot of good content and even anti-nazi content on the platform, so if anything I'd say it's anti-nazi.

@drrjv

@BrianJopek I mean, a lot of people like to listen to him, so that rule would be kind of productive.

I don't care for the guy myself, but let the people get what they want.

@GW@newsie.social there's just no substitute for doing the hard work to engage with other voters where they are to promote better policies so they elect better people.

The problem is, more disruptive forms of pressure can actually play into their hands. We see that all the time.