The words are clear & simple, the message deep. Purportedly posted yesterday by Elon Musk, I was surprised. After all, dozens of times, in the past couple of years, I’ve disagreed when others have criticized, nay demeaned, Musk. The most frequent? 1/8

“Nobody that rich could be that fucking stupid.” I patiently explain: a person can be quite stupid & quite rich. Win at DNA roulette (e.g., a white boy born of wealth during apartheid in South Africa) & you get a huge head start. Here are Musk’s words that gave me pause: 2/8

“The louder that any given politician yells about cutting government waste, the more corrupt they are. Good rule of thumb.” A “politician” can be many things. As the poet e.e. cummings wrote: “A politician is an arse upon which/everyone has sat except a man.” [FN1] 3/8

That’s not much help. There’s this: “Politicians are people who participate in policy-making, in a multifaceted variety of positions of responsibility both domestically and internationally.” [FN2] Musk is DOGE. His voice has been metaphorically yelling cut gov’t waste! 4/8

“Musk is worth an est’d $326 billion, according to Bloomberg’s real-time billionaire tracker. His companies have received ‘only’ tens of billions from government contracts.” [FN3] And Musk answers only to one person, his boss, Vladimir Putin. [FN4] So, if we are guided 5/8

by Musk’s statement yesterday, since his voice is LOUD about cutting gov’t waste, he’s the most corrupt motherfucker around. Musk can go fuck himself. I approve of this blog/these tweets. Hell, I wrote them. 6/8

Footnotes:
FN1. e.e. cummings, “Politician.”
FN2. “Politician,” wikipedia, citing to: Geys, Benny; Mause, Karsten (2021). "Politicians". Encyclopedia of Law and Economics. pp. 1–5, accessed 2/12/25. 7/8

Footnotes:
FN3. Isidore, Chris, “How much of Musk’s wealth comes from tax dollars and government help?” CNN Business, 11/20/24, accessed 2/12/25.
FN4. Vladimir Putin is the kindest, bravest, warmest. most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life. 8/8