Today's episode of The Ezra Klein Show.

@karaswisher.bsky.social discusses Elon Musk's goals in government — and the factors that have led to his radicalization.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5GXGV8qssjWqwRn2TWeqBU?si=_PAfjG_cRGKMqHwzan0yBA

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I just watched the " Don't Believe Him " video on YouTube thank you, it helped me get through 13:21 of the day!
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Kara has great insights into Musk’s basic character and she pulls no punches!
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Please post your inspiring “Don’t Believe Him”!
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I hope you paid Swisher to appear, it’s not easy making ends meet off those 8-figure deals for being the world’s most credulous Elon whisperer.
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Fantastic interview with one of my favorite Techies. I adore Kara Swisher for her outspoken truth telling.
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@karaswisher.bsky.social is not an objective person. Her irrational hatred for the subjects she covers will not allow her to make real observations. Ezra keeps trying to bring her back to reasonableness and she keeps dialing the crazy to 11.
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Worth a careful read because it gives a deep, nuanced picture of who Musk is, what makes him tick, & what he wants.
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@ezrakleinbot.bsky.social
Instead of reporting about what's happening. Let's create a bullet point agenda.
1. Freedom of speech minus hate speech.
2. Protect 2nd amendment but gun control
3. Freedom of education
4. Freedom of opportunity
5. Saftey with Military
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What do you mean by safety with military?
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Simply that we support our Military personal and wish to continue to support our allies.
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Thank you for the clarification. I hope we get back there. Our military personnel have needed more support for years.
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An utterly useless conversation w/ Swisher, who couldn’t even muster a coherent analysis of Musk because she was constantly hemming and hawing about his obvious maliciousness. Why? Because Swisher’s livelihood depends on not pissing off these Silicon Valley tech lords. It’s that simple.
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Disagree. She was very critical in the interview.
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I was reading the transcript and had to stop when u stated "the world is better with his rockets" WTAF? WHAT'S BETTER? Less hunger? Less disease? Less war? Less climate change? Trying to suck up for a ticket? Whitey on the Moon Gil Scott Heron
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Did your podcast intentionally leave YouTube Music? It stopped updating at the beginning of January. Happy to find it on Spotify but was confused where you went!
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You were a bit of a jerk to Tim Miller on the bulwark podcast today.

Hmm, have you done shows this good lately?

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bulwark-podcast/id1447684472?i=1000689726581

Or

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bulwark-podcast/id1447684472?i=1000689013904
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Re @thebulwark.bsky.social interview: do you think Zuckerberg with 3 sisters, 2 daughters and Sheryl Sandberg as his main partner in building FB is really missing the so-called masculine vibe? Have you worked at SV companies? He’s sucking up to the dummy maga elite:
https://www.politico.eu/article/zuckerberg-urges-trump-to-stop-eu-from-screwing-with-fining-us-tech-companies/
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FB workers are highly diverse in terms of nationalities, racial & gender make-up and it has been that way. SV itself is minority majority. Sure there have been bro scandals in SV but it’s also true that diversity been a feature not a bug.
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Looking forward to listening to this today on my one hour walk!
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They told us that they were in the middle of a revolution and that it would be bloodless as long as dems allowed it. This new administration's plan isn't to government the United States. It's a plan to supplant the United States with MAGAworld white nationalism. It's an attack on the US.
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Very interesting and informative podcast. I've been reluctant to listen to Ezra because my heart hurts so much, but this one definitely made me feel better. Musk is a mere human. Remember than.
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He’s a very flawed person. Extremely damaged goods. And dangerous as hell.
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Ummm, a deep conversation about all that is broken in our governmental system and no mention of the role of money? So, just leave out the root of the problem?
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It was a deep conversation about Elon Musk, not about the government per se. Money is not the root of all the problems of government, though it is the root of what's wrong with our electoral process.
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You don’t think installing Elon to oversee the dismantling of our government systems doesn’t have everything to do with money?
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Well, if you listen to the Ezra Klein podcast, you'll see that Musk is a serious ideologue. Of course money is very important, but he doesn't need it. He wants the power to create his ideal bro universe out of the rubble of our government.
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Thank you! I thought this was really informative!
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Ezra, you have the tone of a good radio voice
Unfortunately, your evolving into a David Brooks level apologist for the plutocrats
I guess that’s part of the New York Times regimen

You don’t follow up Q
creating a nyt style atmo of

“this is all as it should be”said in a
Wingback leather chair
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Being compared to Brooks is actually a compliment!
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I listen to every Ezra Klein podcast, and this thought has never crossed my mind. David Brooks is insipid. Ezra Klein is not.
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Ezra is a thoughtful reporter however I’m noticing he’s not following up with relevant questions in a conversation

Brooks had the same demeanor of “this is just Republicans doing what they do” nothing to see here
I think it’s the entitled New York Times demeanor

One that’s outlived its usefulness
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Listening to Ezra with Tim Miller do you think he could let his hair down a bit and I thought he would but immediately he started with this completely misguided approach that one day people will wake up to a broken government and will finally blame Trump
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Really buddy we just had a plane crash and Trump completely called. Everyone stupid blamed it on. DEI blamed it on anyone but himself and his administration… And he’s done this on every fucking subject. They just pretend it’s not them and they point anywhere else and it works… So Ezra
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His argument is that one day after everything’s broken people wake up and Trump will say oops you’re mad at me. I’m sorry… I guess he didn’t live through the first Trump administration or the fact that the asshole just live straight into the camera. Any chance he gets
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Loved it!
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Hi Ezra-thanks for this interview. Respectfully, you seem to be missing the core shared by musk+trump-which is narcissism/psychopathy. @bandylee.bsky.social has warned for years what empowering these people leads to. THE DANGEROUS CASE OF DONALD TRUMP is an essential read.
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Had Dr. Lee+her colleagues’ expertise been heeded, this march into dictatorship would have been avoided. Awareness of these personality disorders provides the tools necessary to disempower these autocrats. There is nothing mysterious about their motivations or aims.
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Tell us about all your Manhattan ketamine friends, bro
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Seriously Ezra? 60+ minutes on what Elon wants but no time to explore his connection to FASCISM!?

Passing mention of his promotion of Great Replacement Theory & AFD but no follow up? No mention of Nazi salutes? Apartheid grievance?

Come on! This is NOT a drill. We need courageous journalism.
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They touched upon it a touch. Musk, Thiel & Sachs miss the apartheid era South Africa of their younger years and so find democracy to be an anathema as democracy is the antithesis to apartheid. And there is the “enlightened dictator”/band of heroes/“master race junta” save civilianization complex.
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Sure. They mentioned South Africa but I don't think they ever said the word apartheid? And they didn't explore the hypothesis that white supremacy is an obvious thread connecting many of Elon's positions.

IMHO during an attempted fascist #coup is NOT the time for journalistic euphemism.
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In part they seem to downplay Musk’s white supremacist attitude. I guess it is because they don’t want to say they willfully socialize with a racist, but maybe they didn’t see him as having gone down the whites supremacist rabbit hotel until Covid-19 hit. His brother was a warning sign even pre-2019
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It’s unfortunately sort of typical for people to be reluctant to call out their chosen acquaintances & sources by their true nature without euphemisms.

They indicated something about South Africa of their childhood being apartheid era South Africa and some minority grievance after apartheid.
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There is something really funny about Kara Swisher complaining about tech bros talking out their ass on subjects they know nothing about, then critiquing their attempts at performative masculinity. I'm not even saying she's wrong, just that she is almost uniquely unqualified to judge.
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Why? Sounded to me like she knows what she's talking about?
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A very impressive exchange on there. You and your guest just didn’t directly mention his takeaways from playing Dungeons & Dragons and getting a bit too much into Starship Troopers.
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I really wish you would have dug into the Curtis Yarvin stuff more, because it really does seem like they're following his playbook right now.
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You should look into the TESCREAL philosophy, pushed by Musk & Thiel and ideologically descending from eugenics. It explains a lot about the tech authoritarianism touched into in this episode. Here's an interesting talk by @timnitgebru.bsky.social about it: https://youtu.be/P7XT4TWLzJw
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She is smart & great. Surprisingly Ezra is increasingly smitten by the ( “manly””hyper empowered”) Musk? It’s truly unnerving. And sad. He never even acknowledges what’s happening at Treasury. Or USAID. She gets the destruction —& the anger and nihilism—& the techno authoritarianism.
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I think he tries to understand him and look at things from the other side , but clearly with the right moral judgement
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Thank you for this episode. I am a retired fed and appalled at what is happening. @karaswisher.bsky.social 's observation that all they want to do is to tear down with no vision for the future is terrifying.
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Everything you both describe - attention seeking, disinhibition, rage when things don’t go his way, supremacist thinking, grandiosity, addictive personality - are hallmarks of narcissism. This would be an interesting chat to repeat with a psychologist who specialises in psychopathologies.
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Excellent conversation. Thank you.
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Stop the Data Theft of the century! Elon is stealing our data to train his Evil AI!
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