this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2024
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Elon Musk, the world’s richest man who is now central to Donald Trump’s election campaign, has been in regular contact with Vladimir Putin for the past two years, according to a report in the US.

The Wall Street Journal, citing several in-post and former US, European and Russian officials, reported that the conversations between the two men ranged from the personal to the geopolitical and included a request from the Russian leader not to activate his Starlink ​​satellite internet service over Taiwan as a favour to the Chinese leader and Putin ally, Xi Jinping.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Wouldn't surprise me if Putin is deploying underage honey-trapping on these guys like Trump/Elon/Tucker/etc., covertly filming it, and then blackmail owning them thereafter.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 hours ago

He doesn't have to. They all envy his position of power ( dictatorship).

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 hours ago

Is t there a law that says private citizens shouldn’t be representing the US with foreign leaders?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

I wonder if musk envy’s Putin or the other way around, maybe it’s both?

[–] [email protected] 72 points 9 hours ago

Now there’s an immigrant destroying the country

[–] [email protected] 172 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (5 children)

Isn't this espionage/treason? He has security clearance, he should not have contact with foreign government officials or sabotage our allies.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 hours ago

Or at the least, a violation of the Logan Act.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 hours ago

Also a potential breach of ITAR.

[–] [email protected] 92 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Absolutely, but he’s rich so it’s okay.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 9 hours ago

Rich and a Republican

[–] [email protected] 49 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Death penalty for treason would be a fitting end to Musk's story, I think. It doesn't look like anyone has gotten a death sentence under federal treason laws since the Civil War, though.

The terms used in the definition derive from English legal tradition, specifically the Treason Act 1351. Levying war means the assembly of armed people to overthrow the government or to resist its laws. Enemies are subjects of a foreign government that is in open hostility with the United States.[6] Treason does not distinguish between participants and accessories; all persons who rebel or intentionally give aid to hostilities are subject to the same charge. source

Russia might not meet the bar for "open hostility", I'm not sure how that is defined. This layman sure as hell thinks Trump and the January 6 mob fall into the definition of 'levying war' though. And interestingly a conviction of treason also forfeits your right to hold public office, even if your punishment is prison instead of death

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

I'd do it for free right now if I were able to be in a room with him while I was holding a gun.

Honestly I wouldn't need to be armed. I definitely want him gone more than he wants to have more money.

So, like, a lot.

The murder trial would be amazing. I'd be famous forever.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 65 points 11 hours ago (3 children)

A billionaire might have done something illegal and possibly treasonous?

I wonder if anyone will follow through on this.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago

Never fucking happen

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 hours ago

I'm sure Trump will follow through with a pardon as he hands the US to Russia

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

I would understand it if Musk was in anyway threatening. But he's obviously a child trying to sit at the adult table. All anyone has to do is insult him at grade school level and he flinches.

Him and most of the other wackos right now are like Bond villain D tier henchmen. How is no one taking these morons down? Is this really how the people in power cave, by letting these fools run free?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 hours ago

He has money.

People want money.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 10 hours ago (4 children)

As silly as it sounds .... there was a similar argument for the National Socialist Party in Germany in the 1930s. Many people thought they were a joke and weren't taken seriously at first.

Put enough money, finances and marketing behind a movement no matter how insane it is and it can quickly go out of control.

What people don't realize is that it is money and finance that make these movements possible. They don't just appear out of thin air through the force of one personality or the cult following of one person. It takes money to sell an idea and the more money you spend on it, the bigger the idea will become. These nut jobs are being funnelled millions of dollars either directly or indirectly to spread their garbage. Part of the problem is the insane personality that everyone glorifies ... the greatest problem are the millionaires and billionaires and corporations that fund these idiots to push their own agenda from the background.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 hours ago

These nut jobs are being funnelled millions of dollars either directly or indirectly to spread their garbage.

In related news:

"Last week, the Justice Department alleged that Russian state media producers funneled nearly $10 million to an unnamed Tennessee-based company, later determined by CNN to be Tenet Media, to create and amplify content that often featured narratives and themes supported by the Kremlin. Tenet Media boasts a slate of high-profile right-wing, pro-Trump commentators including Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, Benny Johnson and several others."

They claim to have been duped yet they're still keeping the money and still pushing the propaganda. Seems legit.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 hours ago

When nobody stops the clown coup they eventually find their way into running the damn circus. Silliness is no excuse for evil, nor is general incompetence. There’s a reason that attempted murder is a crime.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 71 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

So combined with his interjection into politics, wouldn’t this be two serious crimes he's committed?

[–] [email protected] 46 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

Yeah, but he has a lot of money so it is fine.

Everything is fine.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

what does the word crime even mean anymore

[–] [email protected] 51 points 11 hours ago

It's when poor people do something the wealthy don't like.

[–] [email protected] 79 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Someone remind me what happened involving Musk almost exactly two years ago... I'm pretty sure something relevant happened on October 28, 2022... I remember a little bird chirping in my ear...

[–] [email protected] 31 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

And, I even wonder if anyone would be surprised by this news.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Wouldn't this be a violation of the Logan Act?

[–] [email protected] 23 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Apparently, in the 21st century, you can violate the Logan Act as much as you like.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 hours ago

When you run starlink they let you do it. You can do anything.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

His businesses should be barred from getting any kind of government contracts. ISS would be hard, but definitely no army contracts, etc.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

Nah, just force him to sell spaceX.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 hours ago

Implications for the ongoing election as well as the war in Ukraine. Starlink comms likely provide important intelligence that Putin could use.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 hours ago

Republicans get a boner.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 hours ago

lol sure okay next you be telling me water usually seeks it lowest point and makes most things it touches wet 🤡

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 hours ago

I thought the world's richest man was Bernard Arnault now?

[–] [email protected] -3 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

He is a national security threat. We need to burn this sham of a system down. Kinda see where the GOP is coming from now...i mean fuck fascism but also...WTF

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 hours ago

He IS one with the GOP.