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The Dangers of Elon Musk and Donald Trump's Growing Alliance | Pivot

September 06, 2024 / 08:08

This episode discusses Brazil's Supreme Court decision to uphold a ban on Elon Musk's social platform X, previously known as Twitter, due to disinformation concerns. The conversation touches on the implications for Musk's other companies, including SpaceX and Starlink, and the potential precedent this sets for other countries.

The hosts critique Musk's inconsistent approach to free speech, highlighting his cooperation with autocratic governments while resisting regulations in Brazil. They reference a statement from Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, emphasizing the need for accountability from wealthy individuals.

Concerns are raised about the risks associated with Musk's control over Starlink, particularly regarding its use in critical infrastructure like hospitals. The discussion highlights the dangers of one person wielding too much power and influence over essential services.

The episode also touches on Musk's potential involvement in a future Trump administration and his recent comments about government efficiency. The hosts express skepticism about Musk's motivations and the implications of his political aspirations.

Finally, the episode mentions Musk's controversial retweet of a Tucker Carlson interview with a historian, which raises concerns about his actions leading to potential bans in Europe.

TL;DR

Brazil's Supreme Court upholds a ban on Elon Musk's X, raising concerns about disinformation and Musk's influence over critical infrastructure.

Video

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Brazil's Supreme Court has unanimously
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uh voted to uphold a nationwide ban on
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Elon musk's act the social platform was
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suspended in Brazil late last week over
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concerns about disinformation and X's
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refusal to appoint a local legal
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representative elan's other companies
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are also impacted SpaceX has moved to
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evacuate workers from Brazil it's quite
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dramatic of them um and warned employees
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against traveling to the country
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starlink initially said they would defy
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the ban but later backtracked and is now
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complying starlink is is a division of
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SpaceX by the way um talk a little bit
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about this uh do you think the ban is
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Justified it will set a precedent for
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other uh countries deal with Elon now
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I'm going to tell say two things before
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we go because the Washington Post had
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the single stupidest editorial that I've
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seen of this you might agree with Elon
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on this one but he goes around the world
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and does censors when certain countries
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ask him to and doesn't when others do so
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his whole Free Speech Warrior thing is a
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Canard and and I I will not accept
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anyone saying uh that he's he could a
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broken clock could be right twice twice
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a day but in this case when he's in
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India or turkey he completely cooperates
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and and actually X is one of the bigger
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Cooperators with autocratic uh
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governments in in censoring so his
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excuse here is because he doesn't like
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the government uh but go ahead you just
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stole all my thunder I think you're
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exactly right your point is he's
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incredibly cynical because when erdoan
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or Modi or any other autocrat says I'd
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rather you just not do this he's like no
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problem no problem so this he's totally
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inconsistent here and to be clear what
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they asked him to do was they asked him
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um to appoint a legal representative to
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deal with request to deal with requests
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to take down accounts allegedly involved
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in spreading political misinformation
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they didn't they didn't mandate they
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take it down they're like we just want
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somebody to deal with and here's the
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thing well it's because they're scared
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about them being arrested because you
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know they're arrested in other parts of
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the world um this is China though come
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on Brazil is not going to arrest the
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representative from from X they're just
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not going to do it and that's that's the
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reason that's his excuse just so you're
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aware I'm just but I was down there I
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think he'd have a solid case in court
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but to your point it's just totally
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inconsistent and I don't know how he
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behaves in other countries is relevant
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in a Brazilian court but here's the
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thing I was in Brazil when this happened
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and this is pulse marketing I talked to
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quite a few people at this conference I
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went to the XP conference that that's
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50,000 people there and no one we're
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talking more about it than they are you
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know what they don't care they use
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WhatsApp they use Instagram they move to
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they move to um Blue Sky a lot of the
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blue sky and thread saw big especially
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blue sky but it's just not it's just not
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a relevant it's a platform that is
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either not used or is easily
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substitutable so it wasn't like people
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are running around angry at the
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government that they don't have their
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Twitter I think this is this is part of
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a more meta Trend and it's the following
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whether it's
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the CE of telegram being arrested
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whether it's Google being found guilty
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of Monopoly
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maintenance uh whether it's a a doj
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reaching out to Nvidia people have just
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decided they're fed up with a distinct
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set of rules and behavior for someone
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who is in technology versus the rest of
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us or technology firms and I think this
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is just a continuation of that strategy
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and his his lack of concern around I
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don't know if he's trying to be
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brilliant here and get a lot of press
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and say I'm a free speech Warrior I'm
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not afraid to take on Brazil but he's
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gotten into if you were a board you'd be
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say why are you get personalizing this
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and getting into a pissing match with a
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judge in Brazil how does that serve
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shareholder value he also acts like he
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also treated as if he was going to
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invade Brazil but uh this is I thought
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was the best quote it was Brazilian
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president let me pronounce this
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correctly Louise ignasio Lula D Silva
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Lulu um he said the Brazilian just Lulu
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uh Lula Lula the Brazilian justice
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system may have uh given an important
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signal that the world is not obliged to
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put up with musk's extreme rightwing
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anything anything sorry anything goes
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just because he is Rich I thought he
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that was a perfect sentence as far as I
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thought but the fear here or the bigger
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concern in my view is what happens when
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starlink which is a superior product is
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uh contracted engaged and used to
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download important
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data uh and basically operate or be the
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backbone of say Hospital Systems in RI
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and something like this happens and I
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wouldn't put put it B must to say you
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know what I'm going to turn off starlink
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and oh if that means a bunch of Hospital
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systems and your aircraft can't land so
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be it yeah and this is this is the
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danger when one person Aggregates too
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much wealth or power I think the I think
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the leverage he's going to have quite
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frankly around starlink is much more
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frightening and the fact that he well
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they though the country threatened to
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take over the land well the cash right a
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bunch of uh no no not just the cash but
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there's installations in Brazil that
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allow it to work better and they were
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just going to take over they have
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leverage over him right now because of n
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starlink assets at some point I think
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he's going to have leverage over Nations
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because of starlink oh you know they
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have to have installations on the ground
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they can always take those over you know
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I I think it's it's it's stupid that
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he's fighting it's he should sell his
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product and stop politicizing everything
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that's my feeling is he's got a great
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product stop involving himself in every
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he's fighting with Venezuela he's
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fighting with Brazil he's sucking up to
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India and turkey like he's fighting he
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fought with Ukraine but then didn't
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fight Ukraine he should get the out
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of foreign policy and just sell his
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stuff that's my feeling um but he's not
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going to do that because his role in the
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potential Donald Trump Administration is
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becoming more clear Trump is set to
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share plans for government efficiency
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commission that Elon recommended in a
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speech at the economic Club of New York
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this week according to the Wall Street
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Journal Elon wayen on X saying I look
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forward to to serving America if the
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opportunity arises no pay no title No
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recognition is needed what a Croc of
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all he wants is recognition if he
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had been hugged more as a child we'd all
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be in a better position with this guy um
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you know he's he's going to he's going
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to fix our government which is is so
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full of conflicts of interest I don't
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even want to say he's got defense
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contracts he's got space contracts he's
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got uh car you know he should not be he
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could be on a commission but to have any
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real power would be Terri so what I
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don't get is he claims that he wants to
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do away with all subsidies does that
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mean he's going to give a half a billion
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dollars back to the government for the
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subsidies he's received I don't this is
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also cynical and what what is the
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strategy here he's going to lay off 80%
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of government employees and not pay them
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Severance the legally obligated
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Severance is he going to accuse
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employees working in our civil service
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and our defense department uh
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incorrectly of being sex criminals like
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what is it mean when you're going to ask
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him to help with efficiency I just I
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this is
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it's sort of typical of both of them I
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think it's just a gigantic press release
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um I I mean it we it's like it's like
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shocking but not surprising this
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it's like nothing surprises me anymore
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regardless of how ridiculous it is these
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two are linked together in a way that is
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really not going to be good for either
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of them I think personally I think it'll
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it'll end in Disaster by the way one
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more thing before I forget um he Elon
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did Tucker Carlson did a heinous
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interview with a uh with a historian who
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not Hitler yeah Hitler apologist and
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Elon retweeted it and then promptly took
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it down um pretty quickly and let me
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tell you why this is the kind of
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that gets you banned in Europe because
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Germany everywhere else I I know there
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was a big group of people from the right
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that won in Germany but this stuff is no
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no kidden in Europe on this stuff and so
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if he wants to get in a fight now he
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wants to get in a land war with Europe
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now that's where it's headed so you know
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this this guy is going to suck all the
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the away from Trump which I think is
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where they're going to fight

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Episode Highlights

  • Brazil's Supreme Court Upholds Ban on X
    Brazil's Supreme Court unanimously voted to uphold a nationwide ban on Elon Musk's X, citing disinformation concerns.
    @ 00m 02s
    September 06, 2024
  • Musk's Inconsistent Free Speech Stance
    Critics argue Musk's free speech claims are inconsistent as he complies with autocratic governments.
    @ 00m 54s
    September 06, 2024
  • Lula's Warning to Musk
    Brazilian President Lula warns that the world won't tolerate Musk's extreme behavior just because he's wealthy.
    “The world is not obliged to put up with Musk's extreme rightwing anything.”
    @ 04m 03s
    September 06, 2024

Episode Quotes

Key Moments

  • X Ban00:02
  • Musk's Compliance00:54
  • Lula's Statement04:03
  • Cynicism in Politics06:09

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