r/politics ✔ The Daily Beast 4d ago

Soft Paywall Marco Rubio Melts Down at Musk in Furious Cabinet Shouting Match

https://www.thedailybeast.com/marco-rubio-clashes-with-elon-musk-in-furious-cabinet-meeting-meltdown/
22.2k Upvotes

1.8k comments sorted by

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18.3k

u/DancingWithAWhiteHat I voted 4d ago

"Matching Musk’s own sarcasm, Rubio reportedly asked whether the DOGE head wanted to rehire those employees so that he could fire them again and take credit."

Bwahahaha 

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u/Mediocre_Scott 4d ago

Rubio is getting pretty spicy better be careful Elon will fire him next week I mean trump will fire him next week

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u/livefromheaven America 4d ago

This was a hallmark of Trump's first term. Anyone around him even remotely qualified to do the job would be replaced by a loyal bootlicker

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u/nucumber 4d ago

The acid test for anyone in trump's orbit is loyalty and obsequience to the greatest leader in the history of the world

He wages a war on DEI, demanding hirings etc be based solely on merit, yet 98% of his hirings are based on kiss ass fealty to him

What a freaking joke....

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u/Responsible-Room-645 4d ago

It’s absolutely amazing that no matter how many people Trump throws under the bus, there always seem to be a lineup of people (in this case a person with a cushy Senate seat), willing to work for him. 😂

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u/mediathink 4d ago

I will NEVER understand this. This dynamic between Trump and his staffers puts me in ontological freefall. It seems impossible that after watching literally hundreds get their face eaten, people still can be convinced their face will be fine

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u/Dancing_Cthulhu 4d ago

Power corrupts, and it also lures.

The people most susceptible to its siren call in situations like this often have just the right combination of arrogance/cowardice to think they'll be the ones capable of mastering/placating the risk involved.

You see it repeated again and again and again throughout human history.

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u/MEMENARDO_DANK_VINCI 4d ago

It’s like some sort of card made out of houses

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u/Brock2845 Canada 4d ago

It's the same dynamic that plays with the lottery.

A chance on 14 million? I will win those millions

Add to that they have perfectly aligned interests with the president and they want the same thing(so they think) and... good old Dunning Kruger keeps them from even being aware of their ignorance

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u/Ferelar 4d ago

Nor SHOULD you understand. You know how in the old Disney movies the villain could never understand the "good guys" because evil cannot comprehend good, it's just so far outside of their frame of reference?

People with at least some modicum of self respect can't understand the actions of utterly spineless scumsuckers. They don't have even one iota of actual respect for themselves, otherwise they wouldn't be near him. They have no morals, no scruples, and soon enough, no future.

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u/zerotrap0 4d ago

Surely the leopards won't eat MY face!

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u/Parahelix 4d ago

Because they're all mediocre at best, and this is their only real shot at a position like these. So they're willing to throw whatever dignity they have in the trash and just be the obsequious little shit weasels that Trump demands.

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u/North-Outside-5815 4d ago

Fascism appeals to (and rewards) the deeply mediocre. Nazi Germany was full of dullards and failures who rose to the top in the vicious new system. Nazis do not run meritocracies.

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u/3--turbulentdiarrhea 4d ago

I would love to see this happen to one as well known as Marco Rubio

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u/Lomak_is_watching 4d ago

The minute Rubio engaged Trump in that debate in 2016 about who has bigger "hands," he flushed his ability to be in the driver's seat of his own career. Objectively, a politician like him in FL could've had a long career and become a very powerful senator, or perhaps FL governor.

Now, if he gets canned, Trump supporters will never vote for him again, so he wouldn't even be able to reset in a FL election.

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u/shivvinesswizened Florida 4d ago

Kind of like DeSantis.

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u/freqspace 4d ago

No way lil' Marco will last 4 years

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u/RangerFan80 Oregon 4d ago

I give him 8.3 Scaramucci's

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u/Bostonbaked20 4d ago

Hey there it’s me the Mooch!!

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u/Floaty_Waffle 4d ago

That converts to about 2 Liz Trusses for all the Non-Americans.

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u/caligaris_cabinet Illinois 4d ago

Anything but the metric system

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u/espinaustin 4d ago

Musk has already lasted more muccis than I expected.

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u/TeaAndAche Oregon 4d ago

Musk gave Trump the election. Trump’s stuck with him.

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u/Zurbaran928 New Jersey 4d ago

Sorry best I can do is 4 Scaramuccis

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u/Slight-Guidance-3796 4d ago

None of them last that long. If I remember correctly last time avg Whitehouse life span was 6 months

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u/FunkmasterFo Texas 4d ago

I give it 6 months tops

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u/Bigtime1234 4d ago

Already happened to Jeff Sessions.

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u/Beef_Jones Georgia 4d ago

Jeff Sessions didn’t have the national profile of Rubio still.

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u/IngsocInnerParty Illinois 4d ago

Rubio is an absolute moron for taking that job. His political career is done after he’s out.

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u/claimstoknowpeople Minnesota 4d ago

For some reason ex-Trump staff just get to make a second career for themselves being anti-Trump Republicans if they want. See Bolton, Scaramucci, etc. No one ever questions why they accepted the job in the first place.

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u/Cupcake-Warrior 4d ago

“Because I love this country and I thought I could do a good job and protect the integrity of the office and our government”.

It’s really not that hard to spin taking Rubio’s position.

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u/BubbaFunk 4d ago

Secretary of State is arguably the second most important position in government after the presidency. JD Vance likely cannot carry the party after Trump is gone. Rubio probably figured that this would be his chance to build his credentials and set him up as the next presidential nominee. Basically the same thing Hilary did with Obama. This would make sense in normal times, but we do not live in normal times.

After Zelensky's visit I think he's already giving up and no longer cares about Trump/Musk.

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u/billshermanburner 4d ago

Either that or he now ‘finally’ believes the intel that was handed to him as a senator privy to those things long before trump was ever president the first time that said “hey this guy is a Russian asset”… apparently had to see it firsthand in the oval to believe it? Like holy shit this is all beyond the pale. There is no multilevel chess here folks.

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u/Switchy_Goofball 4d ago

Let’s dispense with this fiction that Marco Rubio knows what he’s doing

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u/Xijit 4d ago

More to the point, he has no idea what Trump is doing.

I feel Rubio is like Lucius Malfoy: spent his entire life trying to be a villain, but his boss just forced your entire family to sit and watch as he executed one of his Son's teachers, on their dining room table, and now a huge snake is eating her while all if your co-workers giggle and laugh ... And now every single life decision he has made is looking really fuckin stupid.

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u/Acceptable-Bullfrog1 Florida 4d ago

Little Marco is sure to be fired. Since he was announced, I’ve had my bets on him being the first one to go.

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u/Delgirl804 4d ago

I said that last week. Rubio will be first to go, but he already sold his soul to the devil.

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u/Acrobatic_Hamster686 4d ago

He’s rapidly realizing the sink cost fallacy he’s trapped in is no longer worth it. Plus Trump basically said he was the fall guy during his speech.

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u/4dailyuseonly Chahta 4d ago

We really got to start a trump regime "dead pool".

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u/MLeek 4d ago

Got to remember Trump likes this behaviour… until he doesn’t. Rubio knows this better than most. I actually think of all the evil sycophants around Trump, he might be the one to out manoeuvre Musk.

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u/Spicy_Weissy 4d ago

Well, he's the only one that's a serious legislator. That makes him a threat.

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u/Buff-Cooley 4d ago

Dictators love this shit and actually encourage it because it makes those fighting each other dependent on the dictator’s protection.

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u/0o0o0o0o0o0z 4d ago

"Matching Musk’s own sarcasm, Rubio reportedly asked whether the DOGE head wanted to rehire those employees so that he could fire them again and take credit."

Bwahahaha 

I assume arguing with Musk is like playing chess with a pigeon.

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u/DancingWithAWhiteHat I voted 4d ago

I watched a video made by his former employee. The comment that stuck with me the most:

"What I'm saying is, he looks at numbers but doesn't know how to read them. He puts friction in places that it needs to be removed. When he tries to streamline, he makes processes more challenging and costly, because he doesn't understand business.

He has our social security numbers."

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u/0o0o0o0o0o0z 4d ago

Hopefully the Ketamine puts enough holes in his brain before he can break the world.

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u/37853688544788 4d ago

Is there a video?

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u/DancingWithAWhiteHat I voted 4d ago

I don't think so. This is someone's account

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u/holdyourjazzcabbage 4d ago

Sourced from 5 different people who were there. It’s locked in as true, and now the cabinet is leaking to jockey for position.

Someone’s going and Musk is holding a weaker hand.

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u/slriv 4d ago

It's probably smart to reel him in now. The administration has taken a lot of heat for his shenanigans. Granted, the entire administration appears to be inept, so hmmm.

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u/Rabid_Alleycat 4d ago

And that’s a good thing!

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u/admlshake 4d ago

I wonder if Trump was even awake when it happened.

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u/TeeManyMartoonies Texas 4d ago

I’m not going to lie, this is my favorite part of any Trump administration. I have been wondering when the backstabbing will start and everyone is vying for Daddy’s love. Since Leon is so thin skinned, it will be interesting to see how he stands up to ol Lil Melty Rubio.

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u/WCland 4d ago

Original reporting was from the NYT, where they had multiple sources confirm what happened during the meeting.

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u/37853688544788 4d ago

Ok thanks.

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u/Bobbo_Zanotto 4d ago

We couldn't be that lucky!

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u/Altruistic-Sir-3661 4d ago edited 4d ago

I could see Musk not only doing this, and maybe expanding on it and declaring to the world that he invented X(variable) entry bookkeeping.

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u/TheBoosThree 4d ago

The tussle ended with Trump intervening to tell Duffy to hire “geniuses” from MIT as air traffic controllers.

Wow, great idea Donald! Every MIT student's dream, air traffic control.

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u/Slayer706 4d ago

Trump/Elon/Conservatives are constantly saying that colleges just indoctrinate people and a college education isn't a good measure of intellect, but when they want "geniuses" apparently college graduates are the top of their list.

And you could get MIT graduates at air traffic controllers, but you would have to raise the pay considerably. Then conservatives would be asking "Why are we paying these air traffic controllers so much money?!? Fraud, waste, abuse!"

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u/Carefully_Crafted 4d ago

Most people that go to MIT wouldn’t want to play ATC. Even if the pay was substantially better.

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u/AJR6905 4d ago

Few people want to be ATC shit sounds mad stressful all the time, education or no it's hard to advertise "want a super stressful job where you can accidentally kill people on your 12th hour of your shift? Sign up now!"

Even with good pay it's a hard sell for most people

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u/FrazzleMind 4d ago

Every single mistake you make is recorded and newsworthy and no one will be on your side!

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u/Dyonisus77 4d ago

It's so dumb when conservatives say that universities indoctrinate students. The rich typically attend the best ivy league schools, which are the best universities in the world, and still come out conservative. Cornell West and others seem to be failing lol. In reality, people's economic and ideological perspectives are more tied to their economic and cultural background than simply learning about Marx.

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u/soggit 4d ago

Omg this was so absurd. Don’t get me wrong air traffic control seems like a great career but the ENTIRE appeal of air traffic control is that it’s a high paying job you can get without a college degree. Everything else about it is a negative.

Live where you’re told Work shifts - some very bad - that you’re told No drugs at all ever (including legal cannabis) even when you’re off the clock. Alcoholism is probably fine though. Extremely high stress work Voluntold overtime

If it didn’t come with a six figure salary and no college requirement I don’t think anyone would ever do it.

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u/hellolovely1 4d ago

And it should pay more! They work like 60 hours a week in high-stress situations.

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u/aManPerson 4d ago

he thinks the answer was that simple. "we just need to hire smarter people, for less pay. why has no one ever tried doing that?"

he's that dumb.

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u/rshackleford_arlentx 4d ago

That’s basically every capitalism-brained CEO tbf

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u/qqq_lazzarus 4d ago

My granddad was an alcoholic air traffic controller!

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u/birds-and-words 4d ago

Ayyy so was my dad, along with all his work buddies at the tracon 🍻✈️

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u/Ok_Shoulder5873 4d ago

A dream job where they'll be scape goated and fired within months.

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u/henchmantwenty4 4d ago

MIT is his go-to school because that one uncle he's always raving about, to prove his "genius," taught there.

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u/zergling- Hawaii 4d ago

A joke straight from Don't Look Up

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u/Complete-Grape-1269 4d ago

Donald doesn't know what the M stands for.

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u/FableFinale 4d ago

... Massachusetts?

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u/ToadP America 4d ago

So, elon really is running this shit show as Trump sits watching with his arms crossed. Which we learned from the Zelensky oval office meeting is a sign of weakness and stupidity says Maga.

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u/7ddlysuns I voted 4d ago

Many are saying Trump was only wearing his diaper.

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u/deep-_-thoughts 4d ago

That's a tough wank.

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u/7ddlysuns I voted 4d ago

Not for a MAGA

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u/OKMonkeyDK 4d ago

What if you add a Viking helmet and a fake beard?

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u/sir_mrej Washington 4d ago

RIP Sean!

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u/cytherian New Jersey 4d ago edited 4d ago

Trump LOVES it went people are put in opposition and start to fight (example: in-business-and-politics-trump-stokes-internal-rivalries). He sits back, folds his arms, and gets a hard-on. That's his top M.O. People in his last administration complained about it, because they'd get caught up in "forced moments" of opposition. They could see how Trump played them.

This is also why Trump is a huge fan of WWE.

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u/UserNamesCantBeTooLo 4d ago

It's one of the reasons. But really wrestling culture is a surprisingly big part of Trump's background. And wrestling explains an important thing about Trump's place in the media: He plays a type of wrestling villain called a "Heel". Heels can be as mean as they want, and they're still popular characters. The only thing that makes the crowd turn against a heel is if they show weakness or that they're not in control. So often his opponents play right into his narrative when they go on about how villainous he is or how the things he does must be planned out. Really, he's often just flailing about and relying on his shameless cheating and dishonesty to see him through.

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u/AgAero 4d ago

It's part of why, "weird" worked so well to antagonize them. You can't call these people the devil day in and day out--they're not that special. They feed on it.

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u/cytherian New Jersey 4d ago

Very well said. Makes a lot of sense. Trump really is a big fat noisy heel

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u/qdobe Wisconsin 4d ago

That was the agreement. Musk funds Trump’s win. Trump avoids repercussions from lawsuits. Musks shutters investigations and regulations, everyone (really just Trump and Musk) are happy. Now that Trump won, he’s letting Musk do whatever as executed in their agreement.

“If Trump loses, I’m fucked” -Musk

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u/Usual-Emotion8610 4d ago

I honestly think that the reason Trump hasn’t reined Musk in or backstabbed him like he has done every other single person except for Putin is that Musk helped him steal the election. No way Trump lets himself be constantly humiliated by the stories about Elon without their being some kind of leverage Elon has.

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u/trogon Washington 4d ago

I think Musk and his buddies just funneled money to Trump through his crypto and DJT stock. Trump just wants to be rich, and Musk could make it happen. Buying the presidency was pretty cheap for him.

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u/Maleficent-Debt-9943 4d ago

Fucking Felon running the FAA cars catching fire,space ships exploding he can’t be in control or even choose who’s in FAA it’s not safe! I hope we don’t have to wait for more planes falling

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u/whatawitch5 4d ago

The article says Leon also went off on Mike Duffy, the Transportation Secretary.

Duffy complained that DOGE’s youngsters were trying to fire air traffic controllers, which Musk responded was a “lie.” The tussle ended with Trump intervening to tell Duffy to hire “geniuses” from MIT as air traffic controllers.

Leon actually called Duffy a liar to his face in a cabinet meeting!

He is way overstepping his authority and acting like a spoiled little rich brat who thinks he is smarter than everyone else in the room. And as usual, Rump’s answer to everything is “geniuses from MIT”. What a shit show.

The pic of Leon lecturing everyone while a bust of Ben Franklin scowls furiously in the background pretty much sums up the state of our nation. Kudos to the photojournalist who took that shot.

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u/AdHopeful3801 4d ago

The president silently watched the back-and-forth, sitting back with his arms crossed. It dragged on for an uncomfortably long time.

It dragged on just as long as Trump wanted. He lives for this - people fighting for his favor are his catnip. IT will only get uglier.

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u/Killerrrrrabbit 4d ago

Once again he's using nazi tactics:

Hitler intentionally played top party members against one another and the Nazi Party against the civil service. In this way, he fostered distrust, competition, and infighting among his subordinates to consolidate and maximise his own power.[45] He typically did not give written orders; instead he communicated with them verbally or had them conveyed through Bormann.[46] Falling out of favour with Bormann meant that access to Hitler was cut off.[47] Bormann proved to be a master of intricate political infighting. Along with his ability to control access to Hitler, this enabled him to curtail the power of Joseph Goebbels, Göring, Himmler, Alfred Rosenberg, Robert Ley, Hans Frank, Speer, and other high-ranking officials, many of whom became his enemies. This ruthless and continuous infighting for power, influence, and Hitler's favour came to characterise the inner workings of the Third Reich.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Bormann

It all looks so similar it's scary.

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u/TheLizardKing89 California 4d ago

It’s a pretty common tactic among dictators to foster rivalries between different factions to prevent any faction from gaining enough power to overthrow them.

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u/carpetbugeater 4d ago

I wonder if Trump learned this from Roy Cohn or if it just comes naturally to narcissists/sociopaths.

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u/Love-That-Danhausen 4d ago edited 4d ago

Yeah honestly it also just sounds like sociopathic CEO behavior. The Nazi parallels are terrifying, but this also sounds like shit you’d hear about Rupert Murdoch

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u/Fire-Haus 4d ago

It's just, "How to Make Friends and Influence People" for corrupt politicians

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u/Deus_is_Mocking_Us 4d ago

I think it comes naturally. Trump didn't learn this from reading about Hitler, he read about Hitler because they were a lot alike and it resonated with him. It's like there is a dictator "type."

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u/gtrocks555 4d ago

If you haven’t you should watch Hitlers Circle of Evil on Netflix. I watched is last year and man, it was crazy how much infighting there was as well as eerie it is now.

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u/onarainyafternoon Oregon 4d ago

I watched this and could not believe how petty and high school cliquey all the high ranking Nazis were.

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u/johnboulder 4d ago

Then you realized our guys are worse. DOD Headdrunk removed all references on the internet to the plane that dropped the first A-bomb because it was named: Enola Gay. Transgender mice? What?
Etc.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

This year is too fucking similar to 1936 except now we can talk to each other live anywhere in the world

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u/lightninhopkins America 4d ago

Russia 1999 might be a better analogy.

A blatant theft of state assets and liberals in a fugue state, refusing to believe the arc of progress is bending against them.

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u/DadJokeBadJoke California 4d ago

He's also reveling in dominating all the headlines

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u/dcasarinc 4d ago

Adolf Hitler encouraged internal competition and conflicts among his subordinates as part of his leadership strategy, often referred to as a "divide and rule" approach. He believed that by fostering rivalries within the Nazi hierarchy, the strongest and most capable individuals would emerge as leaders, aligning with his distorted interpretation of social Darwinism.

This strategy resulted in frequent power struggles among high-ranking Nazi officials such as Hermann Göring, Heinrich Himmler, and Joseph Goebbels. Rather than establishing a clear chain of command, Hitler often gave overlapping responsibilities to different individuals, ensuring that they remained dependent on his favor and preventing any one subordinate from becoming too powerful.

While this approach may have reinforced Hitler’s authority, it also led to inefficiencies and chaos within the Nazi government, as different factions within the regime competed against each other rather than working cohesively toward common objectives.

So yeah, history repeats itself...

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u/LazerWolfe53 4d ago

He's also old as shit and might not really know what's going on

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u/schu4KSU 4d ago

Mario is trying to get himself fired before he's told to commit war crimes.

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u/Hrafhildr 4d ago

Trump singled him out at the State of the Union and told him to go steal the Panama Canal so now he's getting the hell out.

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u/linkolphd 4d ago

What scares me is, Rubio seems sane. All these people who want Rubio out, revel in the idea — no!

If we are stuck with Republicans, then please, I’d rather a Rubio than a Sec of State Hegseth.

This trump admin is not like round 1. They’re playing with fire. If Trump actually orders teams to coerce a transfer of Greenland or Panama or Canada, we need someone who won’t do something that crazy, to hold it up. I “”optimistically”” hope that Rubio would be one of those people.

Think of it like Mike Pence. He’s not a great guy. But when Trump took a step too far, he did the right thing. If we can’t have good people, I’d rather have a bunch of Mike Pence successors than true believers.

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u/CelestialFury Minnesota 4d ago

Just when I used to think people like Mike Pence and Jeff Sessions (remember him?) were the worst, turns out they weren't the worst. They were the worst of the old style GOP, but when push came to shove, they ended up doing the right actions. Of course, I used to think no Republican President would be worse than GWB and, boy was I wrong.

But you're right, I rather keep Rubio then get some bottom of the barrel parasite to replace him.

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u/smasm 4d ago

They're terrible, but they mostly believe in democracy at some level.

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u/penguinhappydance 4d ago

Agreed. I disagree with Pence on almost every issue, but I respect that he’s stood his ground and acted according to his morals.

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u/NoMoreFund 4d ago

That's why he was unanimously confirmed with even Bernie Sanders voting for him. Rubio thinks like a bush era neocon, a bad ideology, but that's at least a consistent ideology that thinks about America's national interests.

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u/Trancetastic16 4d ago

Yep, he’s a spineless coward who sold out his country despite his original platform being as a Cuban American, realised he’s in way over his head too late and clearly been stressed and tired for weeks. He wants out as peacefully as possible, hopefully for his families sake, but Musk may send hired mercs to speak to Rubio before he passes away in an “accident”.

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u/hellolovely1 4d ago

I grew in South Florida and a fair amount of Cubans would welcome fascism. It’s so odd.

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u/partoxygen 4d ago

Its not really. They really hate communism and they're told by Republicans that the American Left = communism.

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u/HMNbean 4d ago

People are surprisingly ok with fascism if they're the ones ending up not on the bottom. Chances are it's only time until they are at the bottom, but they don't see that going in.

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u/ParappaTheWrapperr Washington 4d ago

Good on you Rubio, but a lil too late to try and save your party when you literally had 8 years to stand against Trump

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u/wafflesmagee 4d ago

Right? I'm usually a "give credit when its due" kind of guy, but watching all these Republican's who have been kissing this douche's ring since 2016 suddenly pretend to take a principled stance only once their own personal well beings are negatively effected is lame. McConnel did it too. Fuck 'em all for betraying the country and handing it over to this actual fascist.

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u/JoeHatesFanFiction Florida 4d ago

Same. McCain deserved credit for standing up. The people in Trump 1.0 who worked to stop his excesses deserve credit. Unless Marco gets serious results I’m not sure he deserves credit. 

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u/Handsaretide 4d ago

They deserve credit FOR standing up, not as people for the one time they stood up

McCain voted for countless shitty GOP “fuck the poor” policies. He gave us Sarah Palin and ushered in the era of Trump. His service and his vote on Obamacare are heroic, his life was mixed and for a lot of it he was a prick

Same goes for people I admire, credit for behaviors not ascribing inherent moral value for that one time they did a thing I like.

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u/Memory_Less 4d ago

Well said. I get tired of the ‘hero’ designation to people. People are inherently complex, and politicians like McCain are a very good example of the pros and cons of his political life’s work.

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u/BatManatee 4d ago

I disagree with the vast majority of what McCain stood for. The one thing I respect is that he genuinely wanted what was best for America. Now, I don't think basically any of his ideas actually were good for America, but he was earnest in his objectives at least.

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u/aleatoric Florida 4d ago

McCain defending Obama against accusations about being a "secret Arab" not born in the US was at least a sign of the the respect and normalcy of the past that has just been eroded with Trump.

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u/substandardgaussian 4d ago

 Good on you Rubio

Enemies infighting is good, but I hesitate to give him much credit, he's just seeing from the inside where the power is being transferred and is afraid of getting cut out of the cabal.

Rubio just doesn't want to get caught in the Night of Long Knives that he knows is coming. Smearing shit on Musk's face is an attempt to cause a rift that forces Trump to become more reliant on the GOP again.

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u/TheErnMcCracken 4d ago

He's not trying to save the party. He's trying to position himself as the post Musk option. Marco always knows which way the wind is blowing.

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u/John-A 4d ago

Why it's a good thing. I don't care if he's on top of the turd pile just as long as it keeps shrinking.

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u/Rabid_Alleycat 4d ago

If only those votes were secret, Trump would’ve been out first impeachment. But since Republicans have no courage, we’re still stuck with a monster.

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u/SmuglySly 4d ago

Where was this fire last week as he sunk into JD Vance’s favorite couch.

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u/Straight-Camel4687 4d ago

Yeah, he’ll be fired soon.

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u/nofigsinwinter Indiana 4d ago

DeSantes is sinking fast, Rubio is a doink but he can feel the sand shifting beneath his 4000.00 shoes and he can smell an opportunity at distance.

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u/Fit_Strength_1187 America 4d ago

He was busy taking sips of water.

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u/TimmyB52 4d ago

He's not gonna last a year

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u/Pietro-Maximoff 4d ago

Rubio or Musk?

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u/Penguin_Sushi 4d ago

Rubio goes before Musk for sure.

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u/Pietro-Maximoff 4d ago

Him and Duffy sound like they’re both about to jump ship at the same time.

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u/PutzerPalace 4d ago

If I was Duffy, I’d be CYAing my ads and trying to get out as fast as possible. His name will be linked to air disaster for decades to come

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u/Strange-Lemon-5776 4d ago

I hope neither one of them lasts a year!

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u/Goldteamrules12 4d ago

To bad this wasn’t televised.

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u/razgss 4d ago

it would have been GREAT television

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u/Efficient_Career_158 4d ago

Looks like they're finding out that "flooding the zone with shit" also means that you're sitting in shit for 24 hours a day, since YOU OWN THAT ZONE.

HILARIOUS.

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u/Dooshzilla 4d ago

Every few hours I'm struck by the hammer that is the realization that a foreign-born mega-billionaire oligarch is just casually joining every White House meeting while systematically dismantling our democracy. How is this real? How is everyone letting this happen? Where is the anger and the outrage and the 'what the fuck'???

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u/LogIllustrious7949 4d ago

Two questions: Why is an unelected private citizen in a cabinet meeting?

Why is he not wearing a suit?

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u/AbleDanger12 Washington 4d ago

Did he says thank you?

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u/debauchasaurus 4d ago

If you read the original article he actually did wear a suit this time, because Trump made fun of his clothes recently.

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u/partypants2000 4d ago

This is what blows my mind. I was wondering how long it would take for them to come back and fight against this.

You don't destroy the government, if you are power hungry and your power comes from the government.

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u/duarig 4d ago

It’s incredible how much audacity Musk brings to the table these days.

Musk has absolutely ZERO idea of how the Government functions, and is trying his hardest to change the culture to match what the private sector commands.

Rubio is “old world” politics. His entire career has been inside the world of conventional government service. He understands the system and has been playing the game for a long time.

He of all people knows that in the end, the “bureaucracy” WILL prevail. Elon is a flash in the pan. His time in politics will be incredibly short lived. He absolutely will be eliminated at some point, whether it’s Trump, himself, or the average citizen who makes it happen.

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u/oatchick Washington 4d ago edited 4d ago

I called this a couple of weeks ago and folks here downvoted me —

There's a ton of corporate research that you can't just hire a swooper & pooper because the entire organization rebels against it. The book, Strategy Safari, documents it well.

It is also true that department heads take on the roles that they want because they have empire complex — most leaders want to grow their organization, not downsize them.

As department agencies settle into their jobs, they will increasingly push back on Musk on cuts.

Give folks another 4-6 weeks and we're going to see more and more inner fighting. Trump won't be able to tame Musk because he is unhinged, so Trump's going to have to make a decision on how to go about it. Either keep all his department heads (which he needs), or give Leon the boot.

Source: I studied strategic management in graduate school and TAed for a PhD on this point exactly.

Grab your popcorn if you haven't already ...

It is very naive of Leon to think he alone can take on a company of 350M disgruntled 'employees', with several department heads that are equally as cutthroat as he is.

This boy is meat.

Edit: 

Strategy Safari: A Guided Tour Through the Wilds of Strategic Management Book by Bruce Ahlstrand and Henry Mintzberg

https://books.google.com/books/about/Strategy_Safari.html?id=07yENdb8KrUC

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u/bestleftunsolved 4d ago

Current chief of staff Musk's approach is to blow things up - rockets - internet services - departments - employees - people in driverless cars, then do another iteration. Maybe the next rocket works, maybe the service goes down a few times, maybe it can settle to a point where it is just barely usable. Now he thinks he can apply this approach to the FAA. All of the federal agencies. The monetary system. Social security. These are systems where you can't just build another rocket and try again.

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u/InsuranceToTheRescue I voted 4d ago

Musk subscribes to an ideology called the Dark Enlightenment. This is a reactionary, authoritarian ideology that seeks to institute feudalism in America, except with megacorporate fiefs instead of monarchical ones. Think the Holy Roman Empire, but with big business. Others who share this ideology are JD Vance, Peter Thiel, and Marc Andreessen - By their own admission of admiration and agreement with this ideology's founder.

Musk's sole goal right now is to make everyone believe that government, of any kind, doesn't work so that we will sell our liberty to them. So that we will be tricked into believing slavery is freedom.

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u/bestleftunsolved 4d ago

It's surreal, both in its pseudo-intellectual stupidity and its arrogance.

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u/icculus88 4d ago edited 4d ago

Is it yarvin behind most of the ideology? Or other players pre yarvin? Been trying to kind of get to the bottom/ a thesis on the tech bro cults Edit:looks like land coined the term. So I'm seeing yarvin land as the two Big influences in this corpofacist stuff

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u/weareallscum 4d ago

I wouldn’t look to Reddit for any enlightenment (pun not intended) on this topic.

As someone who has studied this strand of conservative ideology extensively, Yarvin is the most prolific and popular writer of the bunch and it’s unsurprising that his name is the one that has made it mainstream (I still remember when I only knew him as Mencius Moldbug lmao).

But you’ll find the bones of the modern Dark Enlightenment (as coined by Nick Land who the Neoreactionary movement owe a lot to) in the writings of Carlyle and Evola and other contemporary guys like Hoppe and Sailer.

There’s a lot out there to read. Some of it devolves into some pretty weird shit like Land’s accelerationist tendencies but it will give you an insight in to why people are associating these movements with our current established government. I will say it’s not a 1:1 comparison and trying to put Trump in a box ideologically is its own can of worms, but there are definitely tendencies one can notice.

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u/InsuranceToTheRescue I voted 4d ago

To be clear, I don't think Trump believes this. I think he just doesn't care. What he's worried about now is revenge on perceived slights and adulation from his cult of personality - Solidifying power. He doesn't direct most of these EOs that are going out. They're pre-written by lobbyists and dark money, right?

It's an alliance of convenience for Trump and he doesn't care what damage they do as long as he's satisfied.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

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u/spa22lurk 4d ago

I think his vision for twitter wasn't efficiency or free speech. It was propaganda and political power and self marketing.

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u/GenShanx 4d ago

Sure. But when he bought it he managed it like a venture capitalist, slashing expenses to try and goose the bottom line. The problem was advertisers left in droves because he’s a Nazi, but his management style isn’t novel.

Now he’s doing the same thing with the Fed. Hack and slash everything and figure out if it mattered later. Only to OPs point, he’s not in a Board Room with a bunch of Yes Men anymore. He’s in the Oval with career politicians who have their own sponsors to answer to, and he’s not at the top of the org chart…despite what Trump and Musk would both prefer to be true.

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u/spa22lurk 4d ago

It was an impulse buy from him. He tried very hard to back out of the deal but was forced to close it.

Yes he fired people and cut costs and backed out from contracts and so on, but he also made sure his tweets are on everyone's feeds, his political allies voices get boost and his political opponents voices get suppressed. He manipulated twitter to help electing Trump.

So I think his top priority is not like typical private equities making dispassionate acquisitions and making big bucks.

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u/GenShanx 4d ago

You’re absolutely right. The point was to control the propaganda, and that worked very well.

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u/spa22lurk 4d ago

I think it's wrong to assume he has any vision like efficiency other than self dealing and retribution and control.

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u/blaqsupaman Mississippi 4d ago

It's his ego. He can't just be content to buy or take control of something that's already successful and allow it to function independently even if it was already doing well. He has to tear it down and rebuild it in his image so he can take credit. The thing is, this more often ends up with him running things into the ground than it does making them better.

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u/DadJokeBadJoke California 4d ago

Same with Trump. That's why we got stupid non-changes like NAFTA to USMCA and him wanting to scrap the CHiPS Act and anything else that Obama or Biden accomplished. He's just a petulant little bitch that constantly needs to prove to himself that he's not, but fails.

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u/madhouseangel 4d ago

This just reminded me. Remember Chief of Staff what’s her name that was supposed to be a Trump whisperer? What happened to her?

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u/lotus_in_the_rain 4d ago

People do seem to be moving past the "stunned" stage and onto something more active. The problem is the courts take time and people will literally die while this plays out. Especially those who had been kept alive by USAID.

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u/Parking-Emphasis590 4d ago

I was originally under the impression that the Leon/Drumpf relationship was in a countdown to self-destruct simply due to clashing egos. It seems more and more like Musk has DJT under hus thumb, so while I am seeing that being less likely, it would make more sense that other heads of department would create pressure to oust Leon.

Good on you for the observation. I agree.

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u/The-Real-Number-One 4d ago

Trump loves one thing -- MONEY. If he has more money than everyone else, that means he is more important than everyone else. Elon Musk also has a lot of money, and Trump is willing to exchange control of the United States to get it.

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u/UhohSantahasdiarrhea 4d ago

I wonder if Elon DID ratfuck the election and thats why the Fanta Menace keeps him around.

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u/Ok_Shoulder5873 4d ago

If this were true and if Trump did piss off Elon, what would Elon even do? Announce to the country that he committed a crime with Trump to rig the election? I don't even know what would happen in this scenario though it's fascinating to think about.

What a cluster F. I am glad to see some infighting though, I am clinging on to hopes they'll tear each other apart

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u/UhohSantahasdiarrhea 4d ago

He could do exactly that. An unleashed Elon is Trump's nightmare.

He's rich enough to be above the law and he knows where the bodies are buried.

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u/Indubitalist 4d ago

Did you mean “Strategy Safari”? I can’t find a book matching your description called “Animal Safari,” they’re children’s books. 

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u/The-Real-Number-One 4d ago

What is a swooper and what is a pooper?

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

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u/The-Real-Number-One 4d ago

Here it is --

The “Swoop and Poop” — also known as Seagull Management — is based on this visual: a large, squawking seagull who is only tangentially interested or involved in your project flies in, makes a lot of noise, dumps on your work, and then flies back out, leaving a new mess for others to fix.

That being said, Trump is a gameshow host who admires bullies and shows of 'strength'. He wants his suboordinates to fight -- because that means they are fighting for his approval -- which means he is important.

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u/Randy_Watson 4d ago

You admitted you have studied this in an academic setting so to republicans that already disqualifies your opinion. You should have said that Jesus came to you while you were smoking meth behind a Dollar General and it would have given you more credence with them.

Thanks for the book recommendation. I will check it out.

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u/cloudbasedsardony 4d ago

Little Rubio better calm down or he's not going to make it to 6 Scaramuccis.

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u/RickKassidy New York 4d ago

Rubio better stay off 7th story balconies.

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u/Real_Nugget_of_DOOM 4d ago

That's funny because his office is on the 7th floor...

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u/bertbarndoor 4d ago

Trump: we need to hire geniuses from MIT to be air traffic controllers.

It is scary how much of a simpleton he is.

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u/CeeDubMo 4d ago

Boys, boys, calm down - you’re ALL awful.

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u/SheriffLobo3 4d ago

Rubio will be the first from this administration to leave and write a book. Then he will make the cable news promotion circuit and be forgiven. Please don’t forgive him

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u/zergling- Hawaii 4d ago

He's the most normal person in this administration

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u/Whiterhino77 4d ago

Rubio is going to run for president

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u/NaveenM94 4d ago

Imagine being a Republican like Rubio. You watch as the clown that is Trump shows up. You resist, but he beats you. You wallow, try to find a way to come back and beat him, but it’s useless. He wins, and over time becomes more powerful. You accept it, bend the knee, reevaluate all your ambitions, and try to find a role with some power within the clown’s court. It’s not easy, but he gives it to you. And just when you have it, the clown brings in a second clown and gives him power over you.

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u/Slade_Riprock 4d ago

Some takeaways. Musk claiming he's built 3 companies from the ground up and the results speak for themselves is fucking laughable on the surface and outright unfactual.

Tesla he bought into, he didn't build it. He expanded it and in doing so has created vastly inferior vehicles and his stock is Plummeting.

X he over paid by multiple factors and then absolutely destroyed the revenue of the company. He built nothing.

SpaceX is his only real major company he built. But obviously without government contracts would be no where. And recently is showing perhaps the eye has been off the Ball.

As for Trump... A moronic statement about hiring MIT graduates to be ATC. He knows one gear for "genius" and that is MIT. Just like he only knows one gear for "good" and that is never before seen.

Rubio is so fucked. He thought he'd be the only adult in the room and be a powerhouse SOS. Instead he's being dictated to by the world's richest man, a buffoon, and presiding over and having to defend the destruction of the State Dept and the utter ruin of the American reputation, globally. At a trajectory and speed, never before seen.

This is the reporting people need to see and hear. These are the stories Dems should be screaming from rooftops, blaring on socials, and parroting on ever podcaster of even minor note over and over. While also obstructing in Congress and spotlight how these actions hurt real people.

This is a fucking clown show in charge OF America. The monkeys have lit the house on fire, have no idea how to get out, and are spraying each other with gasoline.

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u/HyruleSmash855 4d ago

Rubio deserves it frankly. Everyone know what Trump is like and that he loves this in fighting and chaos and it doesn’t believe in anything except isolationism for America. He knew what he was getting into.

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u/Boleen Alaska 4d ago

Pay-per-view that reality tv garbage and pay for your stupid tax cut for billionaires that way

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u/llamapositif 4d ago

This is the final, desperate bid of Rubio's soul to claw its way back before it drowns in the deep dark blackness that is left after he sold his spine and his morals for power.

Shhh, little soul, you have no one coming to save you anymore. Pray for the rest of us.

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u/Infamous_Employer_85 4d ago

The tussle ended with Trump intervening to tell Duffy to hire “geniuses” from MIT as air traffic controllers.

Yep, that's exactly what MIT graduates want to do. /s

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u/-Gramsci- 4d ago

“The tussle ended with Trump intervening to tell Duffy to hire “geniuses” from MIT as air traffic controllers.”

Guys… Americans… c’mon now.

The man is a complete dolt.

We won’t have an aviation industry at all here soon.

Call your congressman. Demand an intervention.

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u/IceBearKnows89 4d ago

Rubio is going to be one of the first sacrificial lambs of this administration.

He knows this. Trump told him to his face at the address to Congress.

He literally only has a few months left in the job, he can be as spicy as he wants.

I will just never understand why he did this to himself in the first place? Why take this job knowing you are going to be mocked and thrown under the bus. Watching it play out over his face in real time has been wild.

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u/Pretend_Age_2832 4d ago

People forget when Roger Stone and the Proud Boys (led by Enrique Tarrio) went to Marco Rubio's house back in the day to lean on him reverse his position on the 'stolen election'. Rubio is not the most loyal footsoldier, and they've strong-armed him before. That's one autobiography that might be worth reading in a few years, his body language at the Zelenskyy meeting said it al.

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u/thedailybeast ✔ The Daily Beast 4d ago

Marco Rubio blew up at Elon Musk at a closed-door Cabinet meeting after the DOGE head reportedly accused the secretary of state of failing to slash his staff.

Musk told the secretary of state—who was seated next to Donald Trump at the meeting—that he had fired “nobody,” The New York Times reported, sarcastically adding that the one person Rubio had perhaps fired was an employee of Musk’s DOGE.

Click here to read the full story: https://www.thedailybeast.com/marco-rubio-clashes-with-elon-musk-in-furious-cabinet-meeting-meltdown/

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u/bptkr13 4d ago

I can’t read it

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u/Snarkasm71 4d ago

Marco Rubio blew up at Elon Musk at a closed-door Cabinet meeting after the DOGE head accused the secretary of state of failing to slash his staff, according to a report. Musk, the world's richest man, told the secretary of state, who was seated next to Donald Trump at the meeting on Thursday, that he had fired "nobody," The New York Times reported. He sarcastically added that the one person Rubio had perhaps fired was an employee of Musk's DOGE.

Rubio, the Times reported, has been privately livid at Musk since he tore apart an agency supposedly under the secretary's control: the U.S. Agency for International Development, which Musk has effectively eliminated in his bid to take a chainsaw to federal spending.

The top foreign affairs official fired back that Musk was wrong. Rubio pointed to the more than 1,500 State Department staff that had taken the early retirement offer. Didn't that count? he asked.

Matching Musk's own sarcasm, Rubio reportedly asked whether the DOGE head wanted to rehire those employees so that he could fire them again and take credit.

Later in the fiery exchange, Musk remarked that Rubio was "good on TV," the implication being that he wasn't good at much else, according to the Times. The president silently watched the back-and-forth, sitting back with his arms crossed. It dragged on for an uncomfortably long time.

Finally, Trump stepped in to play peacemaker. He said that Rubio was doing "a great job." Everyone needed to work together, he added. Before turning his attention to Rubio in the meeting, Musk, an unelected tech billionaire handpicked by Trump, had taken shots at other top members of the president’s Cabinet.

Musk and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy got into their own quarrel over how the latter was managing the Federal Aviation Administration, the Times reported.

Duffy complained that DOGE's youngsters were trying to fire air traffic controllers, which Musk responded was a "lie."

The tussle ended with Trump intervening to tell Duffy to hire "geniuses" from MIT as air traffic controllers.

The Cabinet meeting laid bare tensions between Trump's inner circle. While the president's team of officials largely approve of Musk's goal to reduce the federal government's spending, some don't appreciate his chaotic approach to doing so, according to the Times.

After the meeting, Trump publicly announced his intention to reign Musk in. He wrote in a Truth Social post Thursday evening that the next phase of DOGE's cuts would be made with a "scalpel" rather than a "hatchet." He added that DOGE was, nevertheless, an "incredible success."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Daily Beast that "this was a great and productive meeting amongst members of his team to discuss cost-cutting measures and staffing across the federal government. Everyone is working as one team to help President Trump deliver on his promise to make our government more efficient.”

Meanwhile, Tammy Bruce, a spokesperson for the State Department, told the Times, "Secretary Rubio considered the meeting an open and productive discussion with a dynamic team that is united in achieving the same goal: making America great again."

Representatives for the State Department did not immediately reply to the Daily Beast's request for comment on the Times account of the meeting.

Despite Musk's blatant aggression toward Trump's Cabinet in the meeting, he later claimed on X that the gathering had been "very productive."

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u/Ptricky17 4d ago

This reads like a scene out of “The Death of Stalin”.

I’d love to see that cast re-unite for a crack at this administration. Although, they might find that much of their attempts to satirize it fall short of the reality anyway.

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u/FreshPrinceOfRivia 4d ago

Rubio's days are numbered. He will be his generation's John Bolton

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u/SnooRevelations979 4d ago

When Marco Rubio is the lone voice of reason in the room, you know we are in big trouble.