presidents can't pardon state crimes

What about criminal use of punctuation? :)

I believe Word Crimes are Weird Al's jurisdiction [1]

[1] https://youtu.be/8Gv0H-vPoDc?si=GLlj48cMtoKYVCRP

Although... 4D chess move, if a state starts prosecution against Musk, get the DoJ to do it first and then pardon him after the fact.

Double jeopardy would stop the state from continuing with the prosecution, and the pardon means no consequences.

I hate that I consider this an actually possibly.

You can be tried by both the state and the federal government for the same conduct, and it is not double jeopardy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamble_v._United_States

Yes a superseding indictment would be all it takes. Charge him with something at the state level that doesn't have a federal equivalent. He reincorporated in Texas because of it's corruption friendliness, so that's unlikely.

Given Musk is currently pissing off foreign governments, there is a real danger that one of those governments will just send in a nice looking person with some tea to have a quiet chat with him.

After which, he will look very tired, and suddenly stop being "turbulent", as per the meaning several judges have recently noted in Trump trials was once infamously said by a king of a priest.

Then I will be sad, because I would have liked to have gone to Mars.

I have thought the same thing. Musk can protect himself from the average nutjob but he is working very hard to make the kinds of enemies he will NOT be able to protect himself from.

Can you give an example?

I dislike Musk as much as the next person, but I can't think of any major state actors or criminal organizations he'd currently be antagonizing.

He’s pushed boundaries on the Ukraine war. Both the Russians and the Ukrainians would be willing and capable of assassination if it helped war goals but I think he just hasn’t quite crossed a line to either side where he’s better off dead.

Eg. Starlink connections in Ukraine are geofenced. Which would piss off both sides in various ways. Pisses off ukraine because they have legitimate targets outside the fence and pisses off russia because they have legitimate targets inside the fence. That’s walking a fine line.

> Starlink connections in Ukraine are geofenced

This was debunked. Starlink was never active in Crimea because Crimea was sanctioned by the US. He said if the US government asked him to activate it he would. They did not.

Read some history of the Gilded Age.

What happened to Rockefeller, Carnegie and JP Morgan? It wasn't the plebs and their jabbering (see muckrakers) that directly took them down, though that jabbering did help give an unusual dude from the NY aristocracy named Teddy(who couldn't stand the muckrakers) political cover to move against them.

Also worth reading about the 2 elections preceding Teddy's fascinating rise to power, where the oligarchy bought the Presidency.

Ok, so who brought down these three?

That sounds extremely interesting. Do you have particular books you would recommend?

TR's autobiography is in the public domain, for one

The Rockefellers and Morgans were brought down? It was a pretty soft landing for them, then.

Don’t worry, once he is no longer under the protection of the US government he’ll probably be a dead man. They will get to him.

The governments of Brazil, thanks to how Musk treated their judges and Musk blatantly favoured people who were being investigated for inciting violence and planning a coup: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blocking_of_Twitter_in_Brazil#...

of the UK, for calling for a government minister's arrest and for his "civil war" tweet: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5ydddy3qzgo and https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/elon-musk-need... and https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-called-uk-ministers-not-a...

of Germany, as "Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, is investigating whether Musk's support for the AfD on the platform where he has 210 million followers could constitute an illegal party donation": https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/elon-musk-investigated-...

(also note that the party he's supporting, AfD, is getting investigated for being hostile to the constitution: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-69003733)

of Italy, where he has been warned by "Italian President Sergio Mattarella to stop interfering in the country’s affairs after a controversial tweet on his page asked for judges to be dismissed": https://www.euronews.com/next/2025/01/04/germany-accused-mus...

of Canada, because of what he's doing in so many other places: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/musk-angus-trudeau-poilievr...

I've thought that too (you articulated it well). I mean, there are other uber rich in the world that, you know, are president of a different country — and might feel threatened by Musk's wealth.

I too would have liked to see Musk go to Mars.

Like that time he was summoned to Israel and "convinced" to tow the line? He looked like a school kid being told off by the principle.

When was that?

late November 2023

More likely: Trump lets him slash and burn, then turns on him and throws him under the bus to the American public. Very typical Trump playbook.

Maybe he also takes a page from Putin’s playbook and puts him on trial in a very public and humiliating way, sending a clear message to all the other oligarchs.

I listen to Cohen on his podcast and on YT. He was once Trump's right hand man, they were buddies for 15+ years. Even he says Trump will cast Elon aside when he is no longer useful.

I know a lot of people don't like Cohen. I have my own friends I've had for 15+ years and I know them well, just as much as Cohen knows Trump, so I feel there might be some validity to his thoughts.

This assumes that Trump is actually able to make decisions. He's clearly showing signs of dementia, and so he's easily controllable. His handlers just make sure he forgets anything they don't want him to remember.

Do you think Trump of 8 years ago would have allowed Musk to usurp the news cycle? Or even allowed the merest notion that he's not controlling _everything_?

Remember, Trump actually underwent a colonoscopy without sedation to avoid relinquishing the control of the nuclear weapons to Pence. This dude is a control freak.

Colonoscopies are not that bad; many countries do it without sedation. The sedation part is annoying in multiple ways; it prevents you from doing a bunch of stuff the rest of the day, while without sedation, you can continue as if not much has happened afterward.

Even endoscopies are possible without sedation, but most people don't have the ability to not squirm or gag for that one. You can even see youtube videos of people doing that one without sedation.

By my measure, Cohen is the only person from Trump world who has redeemed himself. He’s still a slimey hot head, but he sees Trump for what he is, and he’s committed himself to making things right. Of course he’s trying to profit as much as possible, but he serves as an example that even the biggest sycophants can make it out of the cult.

He's probably protected in the sense that he knows stuff Trump doesn't want public.

As if anything Trump's done in secret becoming public would harm his reputation.

Trump is basically immune from scandal. The people that vote for him either don't care, are low-information voters that somehow don't even hear about it, don't believe the news reporting on the scandals, or even worse, actively support him because of the scandals.

I kinda like to think that Jeff Bezos is whispering in Trump's ear, hoping for this inevitable outcome, and waiting to pick up the pieces with Blue Origin.

Some billionare backstabbing is granted

Classic aggressive follower.

No way, he’ll buy his way out of the courtroom. He may even enjoy the attention.