The world’s richest man, who is also closely intertwined with the incoming Trump administration, raised eyebrows on Wednesday when he accused one of his critics of treason

Summary

Elon Musk accused Alexander Vindman, a key witness in Trump’s first impeachment, of treason on social media, suggesting he should face “the appropriate penalty.”

Musk’s comments followed Vindman’s claims that Musk may have shared sensitive information with Russia’s Putin and used Twitter for disinformation.

Vindman denied the accusations and called Musk’s remarks baseless.

Critics condemned Musk’s statements as dangerous, especially given his ties to Trump’s incoming administration.

Musk provided no evidence for his claims, reviving past allegations against Vindman of “dual loyalty” rooted in antisemitic tropes.

  • just_another_person@lemmy.world
    1312·
    20 days ago

    This motherfucker is out here acting like he’s a government official of some sort and has some sort of power lolwut. Go fuck yourself, Lonny.

    • peopleproblems@lemmy.world
      22·
      20 days ago

      I’ve said before - have you actually seen him in a situation where he’d be vulnerable like that?

      There is a level of rich, and I don’t know if it’s when you make hundreds of millions or your first billion, but at some point it just becomes easier to only travel to secure venues by escort.

      The security prices these guys pay must be insane to us, but likely a drop in the ocean for them.

      Why do you think the flight tracking bothered them so much? Because it broadcast arrival and departure times, and destination. That allows planning.

      If the public doesn’t know when you arrive and when you leave, or how you arrive or how you leave, that’s just a bit of added security.

  • xenomor@lemmy.world
    70·
    20 days ago

    The most ironic part of the new US oligarchy is that the republicans built it by feigning outrage about the influence of ‘unelected’ bureaucrats, the ‘swamp’ of monied DC influence peddlers, and a ‘deep state’ of rogue agencies wielding unaccountable power. Musk is an unelected government contractor who built most of his fortune on federal contracts, and tax credits. He is the world richest individual, throwing his money around to wield influence in DC. Now, he’s encouraging a federal agency to punish what he perceives as a political rival for speech that he doesn’t like. Musk has hit a hypocritical trifecta. Of course Americans, in general, are too stupid to realize any of this.

    • buttfarts@lemy.lol
      20·
      20 days ago

      America is going to end up getting kneecapped entirely because a critical mass of Americans are dipshits who are too goddamn stupid to survive as the housecats of civilization.

  • skozzii@lemmy.ca
    661·
    20 days ago

    Elon is not an American, remember that when he is a making your laws and tries to get the constitution changed so he can be president next.

    • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
      104·
      20 days ago

      I’m not American and I live in America. That’s not the issue. I’m allowed to have an opinion on politics, laws, I can even vote for mayor or similar in some states.

      • luciferofastora@lemmy.zip
        121·
        20 days ago

        There’s a general argument - not strictly applicable to you, I don’t know you - to be made that a natural-born citizen of a given country is more likely to be loyal to that country than a “foreigner”, for lack of a better word, and more familiar with its culture and society. It makes sense then that a country would want to restrict their higher public offices to “their own people”. (How much those people actually care for the wider body of constituents is a different question, of course.)

        Voting on local politics that influence you more directly isn’t the same as participating in federal politics. Musk is essentially a foreign actor, he shouldn’t have such influence over the government of a different people.

        (He shouldn’t have any influence at all, actually, but I’m just talking about the “try to change the law so he can run for president” concern you responded to)

  • Hobbes_Dent@lemmy.world
    58·
    20 days ago

    I hope we all live to see Don and Elon’s treason trials and the debates over hanging before and after.

      • Skiluros@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        21·
        20 days ago

        It’s all in your [their] hands.

        Whether we will or not is a matter of what America is like.

        I am not making a judgment call here, just an observation.

    • youstolemyname@lemmy.world
      8·
      20 days ago

      Not sure that’s going to happen.

      A) They’ll probably opt to take the Hitler way out

      B) If they don’t, they are liable to be publicly executed and mutilated

      There’s no stopping this train. The US cannot save itself and no country is going to step in until we’re at a full blown WW3 situation.

  • NeuronautML@lemmy.ml
    351·
    20 days ago

    I wish i heard less about Elon Musk. I’m so tspped out on this dude. Every time a new article has Elon Musk in the title my eyes involuntarily roll over into the back of my skull as both an expression of annoyance and a self defense mechanism.

    • blackbelt352@lemmy.world
      16·
      20 days ago

      We’re stuck between an overabundance of constant “elon musk said this concerning thing” reporting on his every move because that brings in ad revenue but not hearing about his might be worse because he’s basically operating without any kind of spotlight on him.

      God what profit seeking and media consolidation has done to journalism, and our collective faith in journalists is an atrocity.

    • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
      8·
      20 days ago

      I assume you mean Musk? He already seems to be trying to buy his way into a shadow position in the UK, since handing the US to Putin isn’t even close to enough.

  • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
    12·
    20 days ago

    The appropriate punishment is clearly laid out by the UCMJ. Musk can get fucked, since Vindman isn’t subject to US laws.

    • Tower@lemm.ee
      9·
      20 days ago

      It was his twin brother, Eugene, that was elected. Alexander was on the phone call with Trump and Zelensky, reported the issue to Eugene (who was an NSC ethics lawyer).

      I thought the same until like 3 days ago.

      • Rapidcreek@lemmy.world
        12·
        20 days ago

        I am promoting the idea of calling Musk President. The sooner ingrained, the sooner the orange narcissist will become even more unhinged leading to the inevitable fallout that will happen in any case.