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Congress Elon Musk GOP WTF?!

Rand Paul Suggests Making Elon Musk Speaker Of The House

When he donated hundreds of millions of dollars to help Donald Trump win the 2024 presidential election, Elon Musk apparently managed to purchase the entire Republican Party, too

Sen. Rand Paul provided irrefutable evidence of that this morning on the social media platform that Musk happens to own.

“The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress,” Paul wrote on Twitter/X. “Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk . . . think about it .  . . nothing’s impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka ‘uniparty,’ lose their ever-lovin’ minds)”

Could Musk qualify for the post of leading the House of Representatives? Perhaps, but would that be a good idea? After all, his only qualification is being the richest man in the world and Trump’s benefactor. Also, the fact that he was born in South Africa might be a sticking point, especially since he’d then be in the presidential line of succession.

Also, the fact that Musk’s space exploration company, SpaceX, has millions of dollars in contracts with the federal government would raise serious conflict of interest questions.

Sen. Paul’s harebrained suggestion was immediately met with online pushback. Here’s a sampling:

https://twitter.com/Vincinnatus/status/1869726376854766076

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GOP Social Media WTF?!

GOP Lawmaker Mocked For Posting Photo Of Star Wars Prop He Claims Is A ‘Crashed Drone’

Pennsylvania GOP state senator Doug Mastriano announced on Twitter/X that he had located one of the drones that have been spotted hovering over areas in the Northeastern United States over the past several days, but was quickly humiliated when the photo included with his online posting proved to be a prop from the “Star Wars” movie franchise.

“It is inconceivable that the federal government has no answers nor has taken any action to get to the bottom of the unidentified drones. The fecklessness of this administration was on display last year when a Chinese surveillance balloon was allowed to fly over the entire continental United States before being shot down. Such should be viewed as a threat to our nation and citizens and action is long overdue. We have recourses and assets in our arsenal to get answers, but I suppose Ukraine is more important to the White House. January 20th can’t come soon enough,” Mastriano wrote.

Has Mastriano never seen a “Star Wars” film, or is he just trying to stir up fear over a situation that has drawn national interest?

Whatever the reason, the senator was sternly rebuked by others on Twitter.

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GOP Military U.S. Senate

WATCH A Retired General Put GOP Sen. John Kennedy In His Place

 

Republican Sen. John Kennedy (LA) got more than he bargained for when he tried to attack a retired general at a Senate hearing today.

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Kennedy asked Retired Major General Randy Manner about Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan and accused him of favoring “open borders.”

“It makes you angry that most Americans don’t believe in open borders, doesn’t it?” Kennedy asked.

“Not in the slightest, sir,” Manner responded.

Kennedy then asked Manner about a remark he made to CNN on October 14.

“President Trump is not like any sane leader. I’m very proud of General Milley for saying that President Trump is a total fascist,” Kennedy quoted Manner saying. “The challenge is because most MAGA Republicans, they don’t understand what fascism is. The reality is that they are, in fact, fascists themselves.”

“Did I read that accurately?” Kennedy inquired.

“Senator, I am happy to discuss my personal perspectives with you separately at any time,” the general explained. “That’s not the purpose of the hearing today.”

Kennedy: “You think you’re smarter than the American people, don’t you?”

“Absolutely not, senator,” Manner replied. “I am here to discuss the use of the military as part of this mass deportation.”

“You think you’re more virtuous than the American people, don’t you, general?” Kennedy asked.

That’s when Manner let Kennedy know he wasn’t about to take any of his crap.

“Senator, I am insulted by your comment. Senator, for 35 years, I served my country with absolute honor and distinction, and I will continue to do so.”

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GOP Social Safety Net WTF?!

GOP Congressman: ‘We Can Move The Retirement Age Back’ To ‘Save’ Social Security

Republican Congressman Mark Alford (MO) said this morning that the way to cut trillions from the federal budget is to “move the retirement age back” and “save” Social Security.

On Fox Business Network’s Mornings With Maria, Alford said both Social Security and Medicare need to be changed because “people are living longer.”

Referencing a visit to Capitol Hill last week from Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who have been charged by Donald Trump to slash the federal budget, Alford said, “You know they were here the last week speaking to members of Congress and really they weren’t speaking as much that’s were listening, getting some — from all sides of our conference — some ideas to cut our budget.”

The Missouri Republican added:

“We all agree this is an unsustainable area that we’re in right now — almost $36 trillion in debt and we are spending more on the interest on our debt than we are going to spend on the National Defense Authorization Act this year. Over a trillion dollars. And so we’ve got to right the ship and it’s going to mean cuts. It’s going to mean cuts to the 24% of the discretionary spending that we have and it’s also going to mean looking long-term at the front end of some programs like Social Security and Medicare. Not taking anyone off of what they paid into so far. But there is some waste, abuse and fraud in Medicare that we can take those numbers back and add to our general coffers and our treasury. And on the front end on Social Security, I think there’s a way, when people are living longer, they’re retiring later, then on the front end we can move that retirement age back a little bit.”

Move the retirement age back? How far? To the age of 70? To 80? Or would 90 be better for the GOP?

Hey, maybe we should say no one can ever retire and has to work until the day they die. And those who become unable to work can just starve, thereby making them less of a burden on the government. Sound good, Congressman Alford?

Here’s a better plan: Tax the rich at a rate of 50 percent or higher and cut every member of Congress’ salary to $5 a year with no benefits until they solve the problem without screwing over working people.

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Elon Musk GOP Social Safety Net

Spurred By Elon Musk, The GOP Sounds Ready To Slash Social Security

Carrying his two-year-old son on his shoulders as he walked through the halls of Congress on Thursday, Twitter/X CEO Elon Musk made it clear that he’s ready to slash just about every government program to the bone.

Even Social Security? Yep. Even Social Security.

According to Jake Johnson of Common Dreams, Republicans who met with Musk seem willing to help dismantle the social safety net that has existed since Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president.

On Thursday, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) emerged from a meeting with Musk and Ramaswamy with the message that “nothing is sacrosanct.”

“They’re going to put everything on the table,” said Norman, one of the wealthiest members of Congress.

After airing Norman’s remarks, Fox Business reported that Musk and Ramaswamy told lawmakers that no federal program is safe from cuts, “and that includes Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) even suggested that he was open to touching the “third rail” of American politics and cutting the social safety net, telling NBC’s Julie Tsirkin “perhaps mandatory programs are areas that they’re looking to make cuts in, like Social Security, for example.”

Musk has also been making his plans clear on his social media platform, amplifying posts from Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), who has previously said he wants to “get rid of” Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Ramaswamy is also opposed to Social Security. During an interview on CNBC, he said that there are “hundreds of billions of dollars of savings to extract” from Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. He alleges that all three suffer from massive waste, fraud, and abuse but refuses to provide details to support his accusations.

“People love to have lazy armchair discussions about, oh, are you going to make cuts to entitlements or not, when, in fact, the dirty little secret is that many of those entitlement dollars aren’t even going to people who they were supposed to be going to in the first place,” said Ramaswamy.

For his part, Donald Trump has repeatedly said he will not allow anyone to touch Social Security, but as Ryan Teague Beckwith of MSNBC wrote recently, Trump is known as a liar who cannot be trusted.

“Would Trump try to cut Social Security? It’s hard to say. Over the years, he has staked out every possible position on Social Security—sometimes within hours of each other.”

“So if Republicans—or Musk—decide to propose changes to Social Security benefits,” Beckwith adds, “it’s possible that he might go along with it.”

Possible? It’s almost guaranteed, because that way he and the Republicans can give more tax cuts to rich assholes like Musk and Ramaswamy, who appear to be controlling Trump whether he realizes it or not.