this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2025
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politics

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Summary

Republicans’ efforts to portray Elon Musk as a MAGA martyr are failing, as his victim narrative struggles to resonate with conservative audiences.

Musk’s controversial statements and perceived elitism, including his complaints of being targeted by Democrats, have alienated even right-wing supporters.

Protests and vandalism against Tesla have damaged the brand, and Musk’s ties to Trump have hurt the Trump’s approval ratings, especially on economic issues.

Attempts to rally sympathy for Musk, including his emotional Fox News appearance, have largely backfired.

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[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 198 points 23 hours ago (3 children)

Protests and vandalism against Tesla have damaged the brand

This is the narrative Musk and Republicans want.

The protests and vandalism aren't hurting his brand.

They're another consequence of him openly being a fucking Nazi, which is what's hurting his brand.

It's not that complicated, but a shit ton of people keep missing the point

[–] DaveyRocket@lemmy.world 82 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

“I can excuse some nazism, but vandalism is where I draw the line!”

…you can excuse nazism?

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 44 points 23 hours ago

Won't someone think of the stock market?!

-Neoliberals

[–] akilou@sh.itjust.works 26 points 23 hours ago

Protests and vandalism are the effects of a shitty brand, not the cause. Musk himself is the cause.

[–] Zoomboingding@lemmy.world 14 points 21 hours ago

Also "controversial statements and perceived elitism" is doing some heavy lifting...

[–] KALDON@lemm.ee 119 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Hope he never has another moment of peace.

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[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 101 points 21 hours ago (10 children)

I don't want you dead, Elon. I want you to be penniless and without anyone willing to loan you money anymore.

[–] Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world 78 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

I don't want you dead, Elon.

Let's not be hasty, now.

[–] PoastRotato@lemmy.world 46 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Nah, they're right. Dead people can't suffer.

[–] Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world 37 points 20 hours ago (3 children)

While he certainly deserves to suffer proportional to the suffering he's causing, top priority is stop him from causing more - if that means he ends up taking a bullet in a manner that renders him incapable of processing what's happening, I'll still count that as a good start.

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[–] Stepskippin@lemmy.world 80 points 13 hours ago (8 children)

I don't want him dead. I want him poor enough to need a gofundme when his drug abuse takes its toll.

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[–] Asafum@feddit.nl 70 points 23 hours ago

"Wahhhh! People I've demonized and repeatedly talk down to don't like me! Just because I'm destroying any positive programs the government has and taking your future safety nets away doesn't mean we can't still be friends!"

[–] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 67 points 10 hours ago (5 children)

DOGE wants to kill me, by taking away my insulin. I have good reason to want Musk and Trump to be trapped in a burning cyber truck.

[–] Litebit@lemmy.world 17 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

That sounds like self-defense to preserve your life.

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[–] CileTheSane@lemmy.ca 57 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

The people Musk told that empathy was bad don't have any empathy for Musk?

[–] melpomenesclevage@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 13 hours ago

no but see it's only bad when it's not for me. obviously. when it's for me it's good.

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[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 55 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

All Americans worthy of the name want to kill Nazis.

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[–] foggy@lemmy.world 54 points 23 hours ago

Basically?

No, motherfucker. Literally.

And every article I see posted about Elons lame sorry ass further secures the aggressive positions I have taken against TSLA in the stock market.

Suffer, you petulant wealth goblin.

[–] NABDad@lemmy.world 53 points 19 hours ago (7 children)

I don't want to kill Musk, but I'm not going to shed any tears about anything bad that happens to him or any other racist, fascist piece of shit.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 13 points 14 hours ago (5 children)

Don't kill him. Just tax him like they would with a normal working person. That would throw him into a world of sufferung.

[–] Retropunk64@lemmy.world 19 points 14 hours ago (10 children)

No, he's a traitor and definitely needs to be executed. The last time their was an attempted coup in the US by wealthy businessmen the traitors all went free. That bullshit needs to stop.

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[–] sfbing@lemmy.world 13 points 15 hours ago

Clarence Darrow wrote: "All men have an emotion to kill; when they strongly dislike some one they involuntarily wish he was dead. I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction."

[–] notsoshaihulud@lemmy.world 12 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (3 children)

If empathy’s a weakness then Karma is a bitch

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[–] Zink@programming.dev 47 points 17 hours ago (3 children)

He is such a ridiculous asswipe that it seems like he’s doing it on purpose to help distract from other billionaires falling in line or random horrible shit the administration is doing.

I doubt it’s an act, and I suspect he’s really just that much of an asswipe, but damn.

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[–] IHeartBadCode@fedia.io 45 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

A core principal of a martyr is being widely liked. No one gives a shit about this dude. Even the people who he surrounds himself with don't give a flying fuck about the dude. Musk himself makes every interaction with him transactional. Add in his default behavior of being an 11 year old edgelord wrapped in a 50 something whale body with hair plugs that's awkward as fuck to be around, and yeah it's not hard to see why nobody likes this fucking billionaire with attachment issues.

Dude needs to ditch the ketamine and perhaps get actual therapy. And actually having a better diet and exercise regimen wouldn't hurt either.

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[–] TheDeadlySquid@lemm.ee 44 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

She’d a tear for the billionaire as he dismantles our social safety net to give his cronies a tax break.

[–] 60d@lemmy.ca 14 points 12 hours ago

There isn't much of a safety net to dismantle, but he'll find a way.

[–] peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 44 points 19 hours ago

Musk: Acts like a Nazi

Society: "A good Nazi is a dead Nazi."

Musk: "Y U DO THIS"

[–] webadict@lemmy.world 36 points 17 hours ago

Imagine saying "They basically want me dead." and then wearing your child as a human shield. Father of the year.

[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 34 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

i mean, what did he expect if he threatens to slash social security? any attempt to slash social security is a declaration of war to the civil class; and if you're declaring war, you better be ready to die.

how can we respect their lifes if they don't respect our lifes?

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[–] BlackSheep@lemmy.ca 32 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

“They basically want to kill me”. Quote from people discussing their american health plans?

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[–] Nunar@lemmy.world 32 points 6 hours ago (4 children)

People cheer at the news that Tesla dealerships are burning. That isn't because they hate Tesla, it's because Musk is an insufferable piece of shit. He solidified his legacy of trash when he went alt-right. He's now the villain and always will be

[–] Prior_Industry@lemmy.world 14 points 5 hours ago (3 children)

And the fucker revels being a villain. CPAC appearance on stage with a chainsaw, telling Bob Iger to go fuck himself, Nazi salutes, the list goes on... His brain is obviously mush, but I kinda wonder how he thought this was going to play out for his companies any other way than it has.

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[–] Norgoroth@lemmy.world 29 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

"GO FUCK YOURSELF." - Elon Musk

[–] foggy@lemmy.world 30 points 22 hours ago

"why no one like me 😢"

-Elon Musk, 1 year later

[–] CosmicJoker@lemm.ee 28 points 7 hours ago

Elon Musk and Trump are both traitors to Americs and deserve the maximum sentence for treason.

[–] venotic@kbin.melroy.org 28 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

Musk, if you cared about your fragile reputation, you should never have entered politics in the first place. We would've just been back to hating you because you're the richest and the symbol of capitalism.

But we hate you because not only are you that, but you happily stomp over things you don't care to understand why it is important to have them in the first place that so many Americans rely on. You are Trump's bitch, you got here because he rewarded you for supporting him, like he has with all of his corrupt buddies.

Get the fuck out of politics, dissolve your stupid tongue-in-cheek government branch and fuck off.

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[–] samus12345@lemm.ee 25 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

Musk’s ties to Trump have hurt the Trump’s approval ratings

Wow, you have to be a special kind of shitty to actually hurt Trump's image, rather than the other way around.

[–] pachrist@lemmy.world 23 points 16 hours ago

They say things like this because their base wants to kill people they dislike. Most people don't want to kill people they dislike, they want them to win three Guinness World Records for longest lasting, least operable, and largest hemorrhoids.

[–] Elkot@lemmy.world 23 points 5 hours ago

In Scotland we have a word for people like Elon, cunt

[–] BigMacHole@lemm.ee 22 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Why can't people just BE NICE to the Billionaire Illegal Immigrant Taking ALL our Jobs?

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[–] MCasq_qsaCJ_234@lemmy.zip 21 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

And what will the Republicans do if it is discovered that Tesla was manipulating and committing fraud in its accounts?

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[–] GreyAlien@lemm.ee 18 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

What a misguided thinking, way to shoot on their own feet. By now, it should be clear that anything republicans perceive as weak, fragile, or reflective of their own insecurities triggers aversion.

trump managed to survive such perceptions because his mugshot projected a "cool" toughness or because narratives like "chosen by God" framed threats to his life as some divine bs. Musk on the other hand… getting his feelings hurts and being bullied by democrats does not create strong optics for republicans to rally behind, especially given their frequent ougabouga war cry of "dems/woke tears" or "go woke go broke".

Keen to see where this leads as musk is clearly expending significant influence at a rapid pace.

[–] SinningStromgald@lemmy.world 15 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

The only people who "care" about Musky are the ones who dumped their life savings into Tesla stock.

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[–] CalipherJones@lemmy.world 15 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I'll celebrate with a drink if somebody does.

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[–] dwemthy@lemmy.world 14 points 17 hours ago (7 children)

I realized this morning that for how much Luigi is praised there haven't been attempts to follow his example.
I don't know why that felt relevant on this post and I'm definitely not advocating anything, just an observation

[–] bus_factor@lemmy.world 15 points 16 hours ago

Just because you didn't hear about something doesn't mean it's not happening.

The home of State Accident Insurance Fund Corporation (SAIF) CEO Chip Terhune in Lake Oswego, near Portland, was shot up in the early hours of Feb. 21, the Lake Oswego Police Department said Wednesday.

https://www.fox9.com/news/saif-chip-terhune-insurance-ceo-bullets-oregon

I wouldn't be surprised if there's been other incidents which were kept away from the news.

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[–] Xtallll@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 8 hours ago

Elon Musk is a real victim, inside of having "more money than anyone should ever be able to amass or dream of spending in one lifetime", now he only has "more money than anyone should ever be able to amass or dream of spending in one lifetime".

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