Top
Best
New

Posted by Alien1Being 1 day ago

Elon Musk's nearly half a billion dollars in midterms spending was a flop(www.theguardian.com)
18 points | 35 comments
austin-cheney 1 day ago|
That spending may not have resulted in the intended outcome, but its influence was very real. As a person living in Texas getting not quite a dozen texts and postal mailers every single day I absolutely felt the influence. If it wasn't for this constant reminder continually reinforcing the failures and non-issues from a single party I don't think I would have felt as strongly about voting as I did.

You have to understand Texas received almost as political spending as the rest of the country combined. The result is that Texas flipped in a historically significant manner. Every single state-wide race was won by the Democrats and the Democrats did not win in every county, but they did have positive influence in every single one of the state's 254 counties. None of the polls predicted anything close to this.

Tarrant county was the largest Republican county in the country, and that is gone. Democrats won every campaign in the county except for one US congressional seat.

It is also important to note that Texas Republicans received the same number of votes as they did in 2024, but the total vote was something like 1.5-2 million votes higher than 2024 with all that increase going to the Democrats. Yes, Texas is growing its population super fast, but that vote increase is more than the population increase.

blisterpeanuts 1 day ago||
I find this quite interesting, particularly the disparity in voter enthusiasm.

I wonder if this experience (and massive expenditure) has taught Elon to maybe back out of politics for a while and focus on his many businesses.

Among other things, he needs to face up to the fact that his politics have turned off some percentage of potential customers. A voice of reason might say, it's time to quiet down a little, spend less time on X, and get Starship working.

I would also advise him to come out with an economy car to address the upcoming Chinese car invasion, but that's a topic for another time....

murtazayusuf 1 day ago||
Elon moved to Texas just to die it blue, the final boss of titration, haha
duxup 1 day ago||
The depth of the sweep reaching well past national offices and even state leadership offices and local legislators is pretty amazing.
Alien1Being 1 day ago||
"Of the 43 candidates for the House of Representatives supported by the businessman, only three won, while 33 lost their races. "
jfengel 1 day ago|
That leaves 7 unaccounted for.
gnabgib 1 day ago||
Discussions yesterday:

BBC Elon Musk's millions fail to deliver Texas for the Republicans in fierce midterm (52 points, 18 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50369201

Wired Voters Set $400M of Elon Musk's Money on Fire (18 points, 13 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50368522

rsynnott 1 day ago||
Couldn’t happen to a more deserving person.
nicce 1 day ago||
Nobody knows how much they would have lose even more without that half billion.
JumpCrisscross 1 day ago||
At least in Texas, there is a good chance Musk's backing increased Democrats' margins.
1659447091 1 day ago||
> good chance Musk's backing increased Democrats' margins

I don't think Musk was even relevant in that it being Musk specifically.

In the post election analyses only a few stories are looking at how it was done. People didnt simply go to the polls and blindly vote Democrat. Look at the candidates and the platform they ran on, they all sidestepped culture war distractions, they didnt lean into divisiveness or the childish name calling -- no one wants to listen to that shit anymore. Even the victory speeches in Texas were about Texas and working for Texans. Same for the guy in Kansa and the ones in Iowa. They got back to real interaction with real people in the real world.

Oh and ICE killing a US citizen in south texas and covering it up for a year, then killing a Mexican citizen (who was in the process of immigrating) and then wildly lying about it -- among other things like raiding US citizen small businesses because the owners look Mexican -- doesn't win a lot of votes for the party doing it. They woke up the non-voting US citizen latino/hispanic population in Texas and other places.

JumpCrisscross 21 hours ago||
> don't think Musk was even relevant

He wasn't. But to the extent he had an effect, I think it was–net–to turn out Democrats and left-leaning independents.

A pro-Putin, pro-Trump racist, anti-Semitic billionaire building unpermited data centers and who killed children through DOGE and is constitutionally incapable of flying under the radar when he needs to is almost out of a political textbook for who you want in your opposition's camp.

rsynnott 1 day ago||
It’s complicated, because corruption became a big issue in the election. The spectacle of that wannabe-oligarch spending half a billion may have encouraged some to vote, and/or turned off traditional/non-Trumpy republicans.
murtazayusuf 1 day ago||
also deleting half a billion of his tweets too
jqpabc123 1 day ago||
Musk's support unintentionally served a good purpose --- it was a near perfect indicator of who sensible little people should vote against.

Do you think moneyed interests need more tax breaks and control over government? Do you think giving them more influence and control will make life better for you? Is higher prices, fewer jobs and more air, water and noise pollution working for you now?

If so, then Musk has picked the *right* candidates for you.

DivingForGold 1 day ago|
4th gen Texan. My grandfather rolls in his grave. Louisiana and Florida still red, may just sell out and go to greener pastures..
Alien1Being 1 day ago||
Don't pollute the other states. Putin's Russia might welcome you.
clipsy 1 day ago|||
One less Republican voting in Texas next election, the Democratic party thanks you for your contribution!
Danox 1 day ago|||
The Cubans are keeping it red. But I think that’s gonna change. I don’t like his politics but Ricky Rubio should have stayed far away from Trump.
SilentM68 1 day ago||
Yup, Cubans are keeping it Red, and will always fight to keep it Red. Trump should actually pay more attention to Rubio and the Red Florida Cubans because 2028 is the year in which the direction the world will take will be decided.

I foresee Communism spreading throughout the US and the rest of the world, if there is another Blue Wave.

Thanks to this last blue wave, that scenario may have started: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/migrant-caravan-bets-on...

SilentM68 1 day ago|||
Democrats may have gained seats but they don't have a majority to block a veto by the Executive branch, unless RHINOs help. On the other hand the Executive branch will not be able to pass any measures they want without the cooperation of both houses, unless DINOs help. This is basically a stalemate which means that everybody needs to work together to get stuff done or get nothing done. Classic check & balances, I suppose.
austin-cheney 1 day ago|||
Kind of.

Several of the new Democrat senators that flipped a seat are moderates who ran on a campaign to represent their state over their party. So, expect at least of couple of the incoming senators to not vote with their party on controversial issues.

On the contrary, though, there are still some moderate Republicans in the senate who are now freed from the insanity of the current executive that may side with the Democrats on major Democrat sponsored issues that benefit their respective states.

jfengel 1 day ago||
there are still some moderate Republicans in the senate

Who?

toomuchtodo 1 day ago||||
They have enough to eliminate the Electoral College and to pack the Supreme Court. Current president is out of office in two years no matter what, and is already beyond male life expectancy.
jfengel 1 day ago|||
They cannot pack the Supreme Court. That requires the President. They can increase the limit but they can't force the President to nominate anybody (and certainly not to nominate somebody they'd want to balance the court out).
SilentM68 1 day ago||||
>> They have enough to eliminate the Electoral College and to pack the Supreme Court.

Naa, will never happen. I've seen this cycle occur over the years, e.g. the left trying to remove Electoral College, etc. It never goes the way they want. There are safeguards in place to prevent this, there always have been. Remember that civil wars have been fought for similar reasons.

>> Current president is out of office in two years no matter what, and is already beyond male life expectancy.

Again, this occurs every single election cycle. A lot can occur in two years e.g., enough time for the far left to get drunk with power, create frustration, anxiety, and cause defections in their base and RINO voters.

There is always somebody else ready to step in. As I noted before, there are safeguards in place to prevent a degradation of the check and balances, no matter how much the far left wants to destroy The Republic. The younger minds, of course won't realize this until much later in life.

Since I suck at using fancy words, "I asked Mr. Bot" to help me with the below final thoughts.

```bash The appearance of contest between opposing doctrines may obscure a stable arrangement in which neither is permitted to alter the underlying distribution of power or resources.

TL;DR: The pendulum swings, but the room never changes. ```

toomuchtodo 20 hours ago||
Good explainer video below. TLDR is the old white men who keep voting conservative continue to die out beyond a light cone of electoral success, if you will.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DfaJuBfOcEw/

It’s backed by Pew Research data about who votes conservative (old, uneducated white men primarily). 2M+ voters 55+ die every year, 5k/day. “Progress occurs one funeral at a time.”

https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/04/09/age-generati... (first graphic most relevant, but the whole piece is quality context)

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/ap-voter-poll-how-key-...

SilentM68 33 minutes ago||
Hello,

Some of the comments below are AI-enhanced for better comprehension & reading ;)

Do not take the following as a personal attack against anyone. It's just my observations, based on my experiences in another plane of existence ;)

The guy on the video is very young, so young in fact that he does not appear to have sufficient life experience, beyond what is commonly being taught in the classroom, to form an intelligent opinion, in my view. This is evident by how he parrots certain phrases at the end of the video which clearly are typical mantras of the left. The person clearly is not old enough to have actually experienced the true right or wrongs of the world, and probably basing decisions on things he's seen on mainstream media or experienced in the past 5 or 10 years of his life since he became an adult.

Given that, I prefer to wait for him to age another 45 years and gain more wisdom, real-world experience, a few more war scars, if you will. If he chooses to post another video after that, I may consider taking his opinion a bit more serious, if am still alive by then :) At this time; however, he appears to be suffering from a deep rooted case of "Trauma Bonding." This is a typical instrument used by people in power, typically by the communist & authoritarian left. It appears to have afflicted his mind by impairing his ability to think clearly.

I ask the following because I don't know what you know, so please excuse the question and my AI-enhanced answer.

What is "Trauma Bonding?"

A trauma bond develops when an abuser inflicts intense fear, pain, or deprivation, but intermittently offers safety, validation, or resources (like the breadcrumbs leftist political parties tend to leave). The victim becomes psychologically and physiologically dependent on the abuser because the abuser is simultaneously the source of the terror and the only source of relief. Essentially, "Trauma Bonding" also known as "Learned Helplessness," is a technique used by totalitarian regimes in which artificial scarcity and terror is artificially induced to force dependency and control their populations. In my view this is the "status quo" of the current Democratic party, filled with very hard-line leftists. Of course this technique is not used by governments. It's also used in real-world scenarios like workplace dynamics, interpersonal relations and of course political environments.

I don't expect you or anyone else to believe this as most voters that vote for the left or Democrats have been indoctrinated for years. It's like an addiction to poverty and the belief of salvation which never comes. If you really want to learn how this works, how it is in a leftist country, I'd suggest you borrow the person's hoodie in the video, go to a leftist country, like say Cuba or North Korea, don't announce yourself as being a tourist, go anonymously, walk around and ask the people how life is and who's really responsible but don't draw attention or they'll take your camera away :)

As far as left vs right issues, politicians, ideologies are concerned:

What would happen if all the issues afflicting the rich, the poor (e.g. health, money, food, clothing, housing) in the world were to disappear? If they were to disappear, there would be no issues for a politician to run on. Also if you look at the politicians in any country, you'll find that they are mostly at or beyond their mid 40s and 50s. It's not just limited to "white conservative men over 50." As far as I know, some top Democrats in the US Congress are close to 80 and above, but you should already know that, yes/no?

The point is that this is human nature and it will not be solved by humans. The way things are progressing now, it probably will be solved by using Artificial Intelligence, with the coming of the "Age of Great Abundance," and such. Of course that means, we'll lose our jobs, but that's progress. Hopefully, I will be dead by then :)

But, “My tongue runs too freely and knows not when to hold its peace.”

Later, Sol Roth :)

defrost 1 day ago|||
... already beyond _USofA_ male life expectancy.

He's still shy of, say, Australian male life expectancy.

toomuchtodo 1 day ago||
Ship him to Australia, I suppose? I don’t think they’ll have him, if I’m being frank.
defrost 1 day ago||
I don't think a day on Bondi in budgie smugglers is going to roll back decades of Trumpian fast food indulgence, but by all means send him over - I doubt he'll last too long and exit in a hurry, Australians aren't backwards in coming forward about shortcomings of glorious leader types.
fuzzfactor 1 day ago|||
Musk has got to be misguided about this.

After all he has proven to be a complete failure at getting his own promised political party off the ground.

Complete failure and Musk, undeniably in the same sentence whether it's actually always been true or not.

Well he should have known better with his unmatched inside experience.

Anyway, regardless of how long he's been visiting Texas, it shouldn't take 4 generations to know what it was like if Sam Houston was still running the place, the Texas Rangers would have been putting the handcuffs on Paxton and Abbott a long time ago.

Danox 1 day ago||
I donated $50 every month for the last six months to Talarico and Ossoff, one of them Ossoff has a real good chance of being the next president. The Democrats seem to have elected several people that just might have a chance of going further than just being a senator or a governor.
jqpabc123 1 day ago|||
My grandfather rolls in his grave.

I suspect he may be rolling over from your comment.

You were promised more high paying jobs.

What you got instead was higher prices and more air, water and noise pollution from data centers intent on eliminating high paying jobs.

Did your grandfather like being conned?

krapp 1 day ago||
Cool. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.