Well, he would. Not out of any concern for the well-being of the government or the people it serves. Merely because he despises his frenemy Elmo and wants him to fail.
You can always rely on petty tyrants to fight tooth and nail to preserve their own power.
Note the gothic font on his hat. Nazi salutes, Nazi fonts, one step at a time, buddy.
I have a relative-of-a-relative who actually designs uniforms for the US military (it’s a pretty interesting job, actually. Among the mundane, she also gets to play with things like how to work experimental fabrics into uniforms). She was worrying that she’ll lose her job.
I told her “Don’t worry. You’ll be plenty busy re-interpreting 1930s German uniforms for the modern US military”
One goose step at a time, no doubt.
Hugo Boss?
I did. He hasn’t gone full Fraktur yet but it’s probably coming.
Which inevitably requires this:
I just learned something: That Fraktur is the name of that “classic” mid century German font.
Elon probably didn’t know that either, and just said “this looks Nazi-y”
Also, the typeface on his hat isn’t what is known as “gothic” typographically. That refers to something else (see: Franklin Gothic, Century Gothic, etc.) it’s a “blackletter” typeface.
ETA: Looks like I’m wrong. Gothic can be used for black letters. But it looks like typographically it does refer to sans serif typically. That’s how I’ve always known it from design.
I would like to announce that AI has been used for the greater good.
Assuming this is actually AI.
I disagree with this characterization of Smith’s argument. HMS may be referring to this essay:
I’ll quote, add bolding and keep italics:
But that’s not why Abramson’s statement is so absurd. The reason it’s absurd is not its content but its purpose — it represents an attempt to diminish the country’s fear of Elon Musk and his role in American politics by calling him stupid. This is a very foolish thing to try to do.
Maybe saying that Elon has a 110 IQ makes you feel like you beat him in your little online fantasy world, but out there in the actual world, he is still ripping up your national institutions at breakneck speed.
People who think that denigrating Elon’s capabilities will somehow defeat him or make him go away are simply fools — not low IQ, but simply unwise people reacting suboptimally to an external challenge. Elon Musk is, in many important ways, the single most capable man in America, and we deny that fact at our peril.
Smith is saying Musk is dangerous and that Musk won’t just go away on his own.
Maybe, but “single most capable man in America” sounds more worshipful than cautionary.
I hadn’t thought of that. Yeah, Germanic-associations for the win!
True. And it’s sad that we have to hope that this could provide some variety of unintended help to democracy.
That seems like a reasonable question. Mods?
Capability is not a moral quality. For instance, I don’t think anyone would disagree with the fact that Nazi Germany had some very capable generals.
In general I would agree, but in particular the person in question does come across as very, very admiring of Elon. From the material @Measure_for_Measure quoted:
I mean, I guess it’s subjective. But Noah Smith (the quoted pundit) does appear to me to be expressing Musk-awe rather than warnings about Musk.
Functionally, the only recourse that anyone has - outside of Donald Trump - to dealing with Musk is to try and reduce the size and strength he holds within his base of power.
If you can make a convincing argument of the man’s stupidity and get it into the right place to have that effect, then it’s a useful tool. If that’s liable to fail then it’s a waste of time.
I’d say that it’s always important to not cry wolf until there’s an actual wolf. Like the man or don’t like the man, make sure that you don’t swing unless you’re going to get a hit.
Indeed. Describing Musk as “the single most capable man in America” is worshipful nonsense. Trump is an idiot who has given another idiot the power to indiscriminately fire massive swaths of the civil service with little or no analysis of what any of these workers are doing, so much so that they fired workers responsible for safeguarding nuclear weapons and then hurriedly re-hired them again. The result has been massive chaos and fear in the whole federal service, with the most competent and hire-able employees naturally the first to bail.
It’s the same strategy that Elmo used at Twitter, which is now barely a shell of its former self, worth a fraction of what he paid for it, and infested with fascist ideology. These are not the actions of a smart man, they’re the actions of a delusional psychopath.
I love this.
AI Video of Trump and Musk Appears on TVs at HUD Building - The New York Times
Monitors at the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Monday briefly displayed a fake video depicting President Trump sucking the toes of Elon Musk, according to department employees and others familiar with what transpired.
Monitors at the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Monday briefly displayed a fake video depicting President Trump sucking the toes of Elon Musk
I like the way that Elmo has elevated the dignity of the federal civil service and their pride in the institutions that they serve! Only the aforementioned "single most capable man in America” could have done so much so quickly! 
Even the OPM admits that Musk’s email was full of shit.
This fits with the statement from days ago that Musk has no actual authority to fire anyone.