Remix.run Logo
metabagel 2 days ago

USAID was a highly effective and efficient operation. Musk dismembered it, leading to untold misery, death, and the spread of infectious diseases. I think this is reason enough to hate Musk.

Also, keep in mind that what Musk did was a violation of the separation of powers in the Constitution, so he simultaneously killed a program which saved lives while he also started the U.S. on the road to authoritarianism.

https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2025/tracking-anticipat...

https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2025/07/01/nx-s1...

lukan 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

I would argue without Musk and his Twitter/richest man of the world power, Trump would have never been elected in the first place, which would have prevented this and a lot of other bad things. Still, I don't hate him. (Hate is not a condition I think is healthy or constructive or something I should explain myself not feeling it)

metabagel 2 days ago | parent [-]

> Hate is not a condition I think is healthy or constructive

I agree with you on this. Strong emotions impede our ability to be creative and problem-solve.

fatbird 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The race to the highest body count looks like Elon in first, RFK jr. second, and Stephen Miller a distant third but looking like he'll finish strong once the camps are fully operating.

3626351828272 2 days ago | parent [-]

[dead]

ElectronCharge 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

[flagged]

a day ago | parent | next [-]
[deleted]
amanaplanacanal 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This administration has added more debt than any previous. So this talk about lowering debt is pure bullshit.

ElectronCharge 2 days ago | parent [-]

An "administration" doesn't add debt - Congress does. Power of the purse strings, no?

I'm not sure what you mean by "this administration". Are you including DJT's first term?

Regardless, here are the numbers per Investopedia:

"Based on total dollar amounts, Joe Biden contributed the most to the national debt, adding $8.5 trillion during his presidency, followed by Donald Trump ($7.8 trillion in his first term) and Barack Obama ($7.7 trillion during his two terms)."

DJT's first term had the excuse of the COVID pandemic. Other than the final year when that was an issue, his spending was reasonable. 0'Biden on the other hand, had no such excuse for his spending binge, which was consistent across his (thankfully few) four years in office.

The "talk of lowering debt" is necessary, since right now we're spending 25% of federal revenue (about $1 trillion) paying the interest on our current massive national debt.

The hope is that a supercharged US economy can raise revenues enough to ease the pain of paying down the national debt that's largely been accumulated since 2000. It must be done to avoid the inevitable consequences.

amanaplanacanal 2 days ago | parent [-]

This Congress does whatever the president wants, because they are scared of what he will do to them if they don't.

ElectronCharge 16 hours ago | parent [-]

I hope you're right, the nuclear option is looking mighty good right now! ;-)

groby_b 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Musk did nothing except make recommendations. The executive branch took concrete action.

The bullshit is strong in this one. Yes, Musk & DOGE acted: https://www.epi.org/policywatch/doge-shuts-down-usaid

ElectronCharge 16 hours ago | parent [-]

From your linked article:

"Musk has recently said that President Trump has agreed to shut down USAID"

Anything DOGE did was approved by the Executive Branch, as required.

Angostura 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

> Musk did nothing except make recommendations. The executive branch took concrete action.

Can you think of a “recommendation” that wasn’t acted upon?

throwaway902984 2 days ago | parent [-]

Not who you were responding to:

It is misremembering to frame their actions as recommendations, when they took action themselves, acted first, and asked for permission later. There were infamous public displays of being given carte blanche on the spot after employees told them they didn't have just that. They put metaphorical "heads on pikes" so that they wouldn't have to face questions again outside of court.

drysine 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

[flagged]

danudey 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Yeah, if it weren't for USAID then the CIA wouldn't have had any cover for smuggling those weapons and would have just given up.

The argument is like saying "criminals used this bank to transfer stolen money so the bank is bad and I'm glad they were shut down." USAID has done far more good than the harm they were exploited to enable.

drysine 21 hours ago | parent [-]

>criminals used this bank to transfer stolen money so the bank is bad

If a bank willingly cooperates with criminals it is a bad bank, yes.

snowwrestler 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Not sure if this is intended to be critical or supportive. A lot of Americans supported these types of efforts to oppose the Soviet Union. There’s a Tom Hanks movie about it, for example.

drysine 21 hours ago | parent [-]

Because they were lied to by American mass media that presented mujahedeen as freedom fighters. When 9/11 happened Americans suddenly found themselves on the receiving end and stopped being supportive of Islamic extremists.

Angostura 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

And a vaccination programme was used as a front when searching for Bin Ladin. That doesn’t mean that vaccine programs are bad. Anything can be used as a front

drysine 21 hours ago | parent [-]

>That doesn’t mean that vaccine programs are bad.

Obviously. But the organization that discredits vaccine programs by being a front for CIA is bad and deserves to be dismantled.

2 days ago | parent | prev [-]
[deleted]