Musk-Trump dispute includes threats to SpaceX contracts • Hacker News Board

Re: Musk-Trump dispute includes threats to SpaceX contracts

#311

Post by TechDebtDevin » Sun, Jun 08, 2025, 12:54 AM UTC

BirAdam wrote: post #24

So, the government would do what, lean on Russia with whom the USA is currently engaged in a proxy war? Also, for Boeing or Blue Origin, the cost would currently be higher per launch, and as far as I know, no one has the kind of satellite network that SpaceX does. Of course, those are sane considerations. I suppose I shouldn’t accuse the Donald of any kind of rational thinking.

The DoD would certainly just take care of Elon if they had to. Who are we kidding. The DoD are the actual owners of Space X. Hes a figure head / civilian face.

They are literally just running the Howard Hughes playbook over again. Hes a front guys.

Re: Musk-Trump dispute includes threats to SpaceX contracts

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Post by it_citizen » Sun, Jun 08, 2025, 12:56 AM UTC

safety1st wrote: post #71

bgwalter wrote: post #45

There is so much theater and reality TV in the Trump administration that it's hard to conclude anything. Most of the theater is there to play to his MAGA base. First there was the (staged?) row with Zelensky. A couple of months later nothing has really changed. Now Musk left as planned (he couldn't stay longer than 130 days in that position). Time for another public row to show that Trump is tough on subsidies for el…

Yeah I think this is the most logical take. These guys are both masters of dominating attention on social media. It got them to where they are. The way to dominate the national attention in this world we've created, is to act like a child and call someone a pedo. They are not the leaders we wanted, but may be the leaders we deserve.

Well, he did get elected TWICE so, seems deserved enough to me.

Re: Musk-Trump dispute includes threats to SpaceX contracts

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Post by cosmicgadget » Sun, Jun 08, 2025, 12:56 AM UTC

nradov wrote: post #273

catlifeonmars wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is we won’t find out because presidential immunity also protects against discovery. Cases that previously could have been decided on the merits won’t even make it to adjudication.

No, that's not how it works. The Trump v. United States case had no bearing on civil discovery.

What about Nixon?

Re: Musk-Trump dispute includes threats to SpaceX contracts

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Post by overfeed » Sun, Jun 08, 2025, 12:57 AM UTC

bhouston wrote: post #302

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #42

It's wild that a president can say, "I don't like Elon anymore, so out of retaliation, I'm canceling all his government contracts," and ~40% of the country doesn't see that as corruption in any way, shape, or form. Government contracts should not be based on whether or not the president likes the CEO, and the CEO says enough good things about the president. If you can cancel contacts not based on merit, then it shoul…

This is what Trump is doing to Harvard right now. He even is pushing legislation to tax their endowment and also has an executive order to deny them and on them foreign students.

...and to law firms before then, US government contractors (worldwide[1]). If OP thinks thinks this is a nee Trump play, they haven't been paying attention.

2. The US embassy tried to get a Swedish city to agree to some anti-DEI clause in a vendor agreement. Using government money to win ideological arguments is S.O.P. for the Trump II admin.

Re: Musk-Trump dispute includes threats to SpaceX contracts

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Post by willhslade » Sun, Jun 08, 2025, 12:57 AM UTC

steveBK123 wrote: post #34

username223 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Usually this comes towards the end of a dictatorship. It doesn't seem that way to me, e.g. Putin arrested Khodorkovsky (the richest man in Russia) in 2003. The way I see it, the politician needs the oligarch's money to gain political power, but then he has actual state power, including guns and the judicial system. At that point the oligarch has no purpose -- after all, the politician can just make new ones -- so i…

> If Elon thought he was buying the presidency in exchange for favors, he wasn't thinking things through. This is the funniest part to me, in the context of THIS president. The guy that demands fully loyalty but gives none? I can't imagine being the richest guy in the world, and embarrassing myself to such a degree all for.. what? He paid maybe $300M to help elect the guy, wore all the stupid hates, lavished orange m…

Didn't Musk dismantle the federal agencies that were investigating and suing his companies?

Re: Musk-Trump dispute includes threats to SpaceX contracts

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Post by casefields » Sun, Jun 08, 2025, 12:58 AM UTC

xnx wrote: post #282

the_af wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, I didn't know this. I didn't even know this was a possible defense at all, "everything I say is bullshit, so if anyone takes it seriously, that's on them".

Fox news attempted this defense in court "Fox persuasively argues, that given Mr. Carlson's reputation, any reasonable viewer 'arrive[s] with an appropriate amount of skepticism' about the statement he makes."

Maddow and MSNBC made the same argument in court. It’s a very useful defense for these entertainment news programs.

Re: Musk-Trump dispute includes threats to SpaceX contracts

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Post by fhdkweig » Sun, Jun 08, 2025, 1:00 AM UTC

the_af wrote: post #152

jordanb wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only that but Musk was able to successfully argue in court that he's such a well known liar that a reasonable person wouldn't take his accusations of pedophillia seriously

Wow, I didn't know this. I didn't even know this was a possible defense at all, "everything I say is bullshit, so if anyone takes it seriously, that's on them".

My memory is a bit fuzzy, but that was also Trump's family's response to the financial statements related to his businesses when it came up in court. But I don't remember which court case it was.

Re: Musk-Trump dispute includes threats to SpaceX contracts

#318

Post by sandworm101 » Sun, Jun 08, 2025, 1:00 AM UTC

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #42

It's wild that a president can say, "I don't like Elon anymore, so out of retaliation, I'm canceling all his government contracts," and ~40% of the country doesn't see that as corruption in any way, shape, or form. Government contracts should not be based on whether or not the president likes the CEO, and the CEO says enough good things about the president. If you can cancel contacts not based on merit, then it shoul…

The new reality. Every corporate decision made today now must involve an analysis of the local and national government authority, thier political leanings and thier tendancy towards vindictivness.

Does anyone not think that every major corporation is not commissioning psychological reports on certain US leaders? They have public affairs and social media consultants to gauge public reactions. Now they need head shrinks to tell them if and how the guy in the big office might react, be that a state governor, the president, or any number of politically-minded media owners.

Re: Musk-Trump dispute includes threats to SpaceX contracts

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Post by throwawaymaths » Sun, Jun 08, 2025, 1:00 AM UTC

medler wrote: post #187

neilv wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting; is there an accessible 10-minute read on this US (edit: governance) de-politicized/re-politicized history, or does it have a name?

The notion that this kind of politicization started in the 90s is fanciful revisionism. It wasn’t really a thing in the US until about 2017. The word it’s known by is Trumpism.

its revisionism to say that the US has been free of politicization this bad. for most of its history, not counting the civil war very minor (and very major) issues sparked massacres, revolts, and even minor wars between states.

Re: Musk-Trump dispute includes threats to SpaceX contracts

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Post by wefinh » Sun, Jun 08, 2025, 1:01 AM UTC

33hsiidhkm wrote: post #263

If you are familiar with John Lilly ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Lilly ), you may notice some similarities with Musk. Lilly used/abused ketamine and began to believe in some form of extraterrestrial oversight of earth, something like that. Musk keeps tweeting about "simulation theory", and to me sounds totally deranged. He says he thinks reality is a simulation (batshit imho), and that boring simulations a…

I would not consider Musk as a researcher of the topic - he has not published any papers or even works on philosophical level, so you are giving Musk too much of attention - just like his appearance in Simpsons.

In regards to reality as simulation, well - the issue here is that definitions are not very precise. That simulation is reality to us. We have mind limitations, by which we operate just like animals have them and that makes our reality. I have experienced deja vu many times and the mechanisms to that might be linked that things are predestined - pretty much this is main belief, that all pre-Christian societies believed in and generally Christianity is not in opposition to that either - it just states that there is a free will to humans and that they must choose God over Santa and deja vu can be experienced only by saints that are in direct contact of Ultimate Being.

I don't know where Musk is getting his ideas, but what is mundane and boring to some might be exciting to others. Insects controlled by pheromones might be living most exciting life that there is.

I think I have heard some other ideas that most probably developed on the basis of ideas of Lilly. It involves reincarnation of souls in other beings. I'm not completely sold on idea(because that is presented as noble and next nuclear war is not under any definition), but that might explain why society is deranged as that right now, as current beings does not have noblest souls... though it can also be explained by many other factors. Though, the mechanics of transfer of nomadic souls would explain no need for transportation to reach all the other planets that have life, but also - that is not really what matters - we don't think that dinos had more importance over humans and to be fair humans themselves are just an episode in this Universe as well.

The idea of Lilly can be expanded - pretty much Universe can be just a playground for various beings to experience whatever - just like a RPG game or a live movie, where you can play a role. It does not necessarily require soul mechanism mentioned earlier. But it also does not matter for your existence - you are as real and important as you want it to be. Or don't matter at all and there is no reason or value for anything.

Regardless, your destiny is to live through this cosmic theater and experience Musk - do you like it or not. Pretty much your reality can also be formed by your mind and it seems, that Musk is very central part in it.