Facebook mogul’s sudden appearance is increasingly typical of freewheeling West Wing during Donald Trump’s second term, which president has reportedly nicknamed ‘Grand Central Terminal’
Air Force leaders learned that lesson earlier this year when they arrived for a top-secret briefing with Trump in the Oval Office, which according to NBC News was scheduled for them to discuss plans for America’s sixth-generation fighter aircraft, dubbed the F-47 in a nod to Trump’s status as the 47th President of the United States.
As the generals were going over the details of the super-stealthy plane, which Trump has called the most advanced, capable and lethal combat aircraft platform ever built, they were startled by the appearance of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg popping into the Oval Office.
According to NBC, White House officials became concerned that Zuckerberg, one of the wealthiest men in the world, lacked the security clearance required to be present for talks about such a sensitive national security matter.
Looks like trump found his new benefactor. Which is honestly baffling because we literally all just saw what happened with Musk. If these tech CEOs are supposed to be geniuses why do they keep falling for the same shit? Like, just google what happens to most oligarchs when they support any kind of authoritarianism. Whether it’s Mussolini, Hitler, or Putin, they always get shafted in the end. Does money and greed just cause brain damage or something? Is it the massive amounts of power and drugs?
“I’m different”. They really believe that they are better/smarter than everyone else.
It’s narcissism. The driving force behind conservatism as a whole, is narcissism. They all think they’re the special individual that will get special treatement. Hence the whole “leopards eating faces” thing.
It would be more correct to say the driving force is Type B personality disorders, of which narcissism is one. But sociopathy plays a big role too.
Yeah, it’s not strictly narcissism, but in general it is lower level of empathy in varying degrees.
They are often comorbid
Intrinsically so, as it’s harder to take advantage of people if you sympathize with them.
Does money and greed just cause brain damage or something?
Interesting article. I was actually just trying to recall this study, and then it was mentioned:
A UC Berkeley study found that in San Francisco—where the law requires that cars stop at crosswalks for pedestrians to pass—drivers of luxury cars were four times less likely than those in less expensive vehicles to stop and allow pedestrians the right of way. They were also more likely to cut off other drivers.
Looks like they’ve known this for awhile. I missed this, thanks for posting.
- people of lower economic status were better at reading others’ facial expressions—an important marker of empathy—than wealthier people.
- drivers of luxury cars were four times less likely than those in less expensive vehicles to stop and allow pedestrians the right of way. They were also more likely to cut off other drivers.
- A number of studies have found that affluent children are more vulnerable to substance-abuse issues, potentially because of high pressure to achieve and isolation from parents.
- While a process addiction is not a chemical addiction, it does involve compulsive behavior—in this case, an addiction to the good feeling that comes from receiving money or possessions—which can ultimately lead to negative consequences and harm the individual’s well-being.
- In upwardly mobile communities, children are often pressed to excel at multiple academic and extracurricular pursuits to maximize their long-term academic prospects—a phenomenon that may well engender high stress
- There is no direct correlation between income and happiness. After a certain level of income that can take care of basic needs and relieve strain (some say $50,000 a year, some say $75,000), wealth makes hardly any difference to overall well-being and happiness and, if anything, only harms well-being:
Like, just google what happens to most oligarchs when they support any kind of authoritarianism. Whether it’s Mussolini, Hitler, or Putin, they always get shafted in the end.
What on earth are you talking about? The oligarchs who supported Hitler made a bunch of money, saw organized labor crushed, and then did fine after the war. Nazi war criminal Fritz ter Meer, who was a senior board member of IG Farben, manufacturing Zyklon B for the gas chambers, got a couple years in prison and then became chairman of Bayer.
https://tourguide-kevin.com/oligarchs-and-hitler/
Literally within the first few results. Half these dudes got imprisoned and the rest were ruined after the fact.
"Alfred Hugenberg (1865–1951)
Alfred Hugenberg, a powerful German businessman and politician, was instrumental in Hitler’s early rise to power. As a media mogul and leader of the German National People’s Party (DNVP), he helped legitimize the Nazi Party by forming a coalition with Hitler in 1933. Hugenberg believed he could control Hitler and use him to advance his nationalist and conservative agenda. However, once Hitler consolidated power, he sidelined Hugenberg and absorbed his party into the Nazi machine. Hugenberg’s influence quickly diminished, and he found himself politically irrelevant, regretting his role in facilitating Hitler’s dictatorship.
Fritz Thyssen (1873–1951)
Fritz Thyssen, the industrial magnate behind the Thyssen steel empire, was one of Hitler’s early financial backers. He saw Hitler as a bulwark against communism and labor unions, supporting him financially in the late 1920s and early 1930s. However, as the Nazi regime became increasingly totalitarian and aggressive, Thyssen became disillusioned. He opposed Hitler’s militarization and, after the invasion of Poland in 1939, fled Germany. Thyssen was later arrested by the Nazis and imprisoned in a concentration camp, a stark reminder of how those who enabled Hitler could also become his victims.
Emil Kirdorf (1847–1938)
Emil Kirdorf, a coal and steel magnate, was an ardent supporter of Hitler in the early years, helping to fund the Nazi Party’s activities. He saw Hitler as a means to suppress socialism and protect capitalist interests. However, Kirdorf was eventually disappointed by the Nazi economic policies, particularly those that exerted excessive control over private enterprise. He regretted his support when he realized that Hitler was not just suppressing socialism but was also imposing a centralized economic system that limited business autonomy.
Gustav Krupp (1870–1950)
The Krupp industrial dynasty was deeply entangled with the Nazi war machine, and Gustav Krupp personally backed Hitler, seeing him as a leader who would strengthen Germany’s military industry. However, as the war progressed, the massive devastation and economic ruin caused by Hitler’s policies became apparent. By the end of World War II, the Krupp empire was dismantled, and members of the family faced prosecution for war crimes. The destruction of his business and the moral weight of association with Hitler left Gustav Krupp with profound regret.
Karl Friedrich Goerdeler (1884–1945)
Karl Friedrich Goerdeler was a businessman and politician who initially supported Hitler’s rise but later became a key member of the anti-Nazi resistance. As the mayor of Leipzig and an advisor to German industries, he believed that Hitler would restore Germany’s economic strength. However, he soon became disillusioned by Hitler’s radical policies, suppression of freedoms, and militarization. Goerdeler became involved in the failed 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler, leading to his execution. His regret over supporting Hitler drove him to actively resist the regime.
Hjalmar Schacht (1877–1970)
Hjalmar Schacht, an economist and banker, played a critical role in Hitler’s early economic success, helping to stabilize the German economy in the 1930s. However, he grew increasingly critical of Hitler’s reckless spending and aggressive military expansion. By the late 1930s, he had distanced himself from the regime and was eventually arrested for his opposition. Schacht survived the war but deeply regretted his initial support, realizing that he had helped enable one of history’s most destructive leaders."
So a handful of people grew consciences and decided that they didn’t like the Nazis, but what was actually done to them while they remained loyal, or to others who never turned against them? “Some people grew disillusioned” isn’t the same thing as the Nazis actively turning on them personally.
When the Nazis seized property, it was generally the property of minorities which was then often redistributed upwards to the rich. Many bourgeoisie made out like bandits, so long as they were white and didn’t have a conscience.
Because Musk made a lot of money being Trump’s henchmen.
Because they’re not geniuses, they all come from money, thats all.
It’s his turn to be betrayed by Trump. Hopefully, it happens before the mid-term primaries, so Zuckerbot can join Musk in funding the opposition.
Every single one of these assholes were simply in the right place at the right time. Many with a leg up from money and cronyism. None of them are any smarter than the people you deal with every day.
Exactly, in fact a lot of them are exceptionally stupid.
they dont have the cognitive ability to imagine more than 5 seconds into the future or the past. Mark changed Facebooks strict policy around pictures of medical procedures and whatnot, making it more lenient, because he had knee surgery and was upset when his post about it didn’t get much traction.
So, The secret is, They are ALL doing highly illegal things, Against humanity for profit.
“We all saw what happened with Musk”
Yeah and it wasn’t too bad. Still a billionaire. Still allowed to do business. Still free. Still alive.
In this case, it makes sense though. The recent techbro crypto bank announcement, a bank created by the same tech billionaires that intentionally crashed/destroyed SVB, is basically a play to shift the American financial system into stablecoins / cryptocurrencies entirely, as it’s something that the tech bro class figures they can control for their own benefit.
That’s all moving ahead on schedule, and is in line with Curtis Yarvin’s whole techno fascist monarchy dream for how democracies need to die. They really only need to appease Trump for so long as it takes to get control of those purse strings. Egging on destruction / chaos for things like social services also feeds this pattern, it’s easier to convince someone they need to make drastic changes to their home, if that home is currently on fire.
Having a constant tech-fascist publicly whispering these sorts of things in Trump’s senile ears helps to keep up the facade within the maga-bubble that it’s a “broadly accepted” approach to benefit everyone, that’s been agreed upon by a bunch of “data driven” science types, when it’s absolutely not. It’s tech oligarchs looking to dismantle and own most western democracies.
If these tech CEOs are supposed to be geniuses why do they keep falling for the same shit?
At least part of the explanation is that none of them are actually geniuses, despite what they may tell you.
And that’s kinda my point. I work with a bunch of people that are republicans and I had to listen to them talk about how smart Musk is for months until he got canned.
*Leon.
elno*
Noel
Le’No
*Noel
*Coward.
“… because I can’t get a new tramp stamp, and this half heart pendant was really expensive.”
deleted by creator
I’m sure that being actively hostile to education and science will be great for the development program though
F-47 is probably the greatest marketing move of all time by Lockheed-Martin. Just as public sentiment was sinking about the F35, couple recent accidents and boom they get handed a great distraction.
Whether or not they win the contract for the 47, it allows them to solidify their current contracts for the 35 for a minimum of 10 years. I think there was another accident just a few weeks ago and no one was talking about it because that aircraft is old news.
I mean like what are you going to do with the F-35 now? You don’t cancel a plane over a high accident rate. Otherwise the F-16 and especially the F-14 program would have stopped in their first 5 years.
Plus at that point you paid 100 billion in RnD and probably several 100 billions in the production line. So you better get your money’s worth.
That’s 1700 billion all in!
Oh I’m so used to ai generated journalism this is actually nice.
Iirc, according to previously released information about NGAD and F/A-XX, America’s sixth gen fighter programs for the Air Force and the Navy respectively (as they existed before trump’s second term), the jet is supposed to have a built in requirement that the fighters have a radar cross section ‘orders of magnitude’ smaller than f-35. This is in conjunction with better, longer range sensors and munitions with sufficient reach to take advantage of this longer range sensor capability. The idea is to outrange enemy munitions and sensors, and failing that, to avoid detection in the worst case scenario through stealth tech. That’s likely what they’re referring to when they say ‘super stealthy’, though it remains to be seen if that can actually be delivered upon, as this is still the development stage and nobody really knows if a development program will pan out at the beginning.
But the freewheeling atmosphere they encountered during their effort to brief the president on a top-secret fighter plane project has been part and parcel of how Trump has transformed the West Wing since returning to power this past January.
The president reportedly has taken to referring to the Oval Office — the iconic inner sanctum of American executive power — as “Grand Central Terminal,” comparing it to the bustling train station of his native New York City.
For the most part, he’s not wrong to do so. Unlike in most other administrations where the president’s office is a tightly-controlled environment with only a select few top aides given so-called “walk-in privileges,” Trump’s Oval is the center of his world of friends, confidantes, advisers and employees who often mill about nearby in the West Wing, even when they might not have much to do there.
Even Trump’s cabinet secretaries, who ostensibly have their own, often ornate offices and large bureaucracies to attend to themselves, have taken to spending time at the White House to pop in and out of meetings with top Trump aides, such as Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
Hes turned the office into a king’s court
With too many jesters including the one on the throne.
A key feature of authoritarianism. Whether it’s Hitler, Stalin, Putin, or Louis XIV, keeping the court close like this is an absolutely essential part of holding on to power. For one they’re too busy with the king to have time to get bored and start scheming against him. For two the courtesans are around each other and competing for attention so they scheme against each other instead. We know that Trump listens to his advisors very haphazardly; it keeps them on their toes, constantly begging for attention (even if the end result is unbelievable political flip-flopping, that’s irrelevant to Trump himself).
People have this image of the Third Reich as super organized, but in reality the top command was a complete mess as everybody was trying to backstab each other and to please Hitler who didn’t necessarily even have a clue what was going on. The utter incompetence of Nazi leadership was always going to cost them the war, but it did keep Hitler in power until the very end even though the outcome of the war was long considered inevitable by his own generals.
Putin does the same. Remember the feud between Wagner guy and Shoigu? Putin intentionally encourages internal squabbles because it means in an environment where everyone mostly hates everyone, the only consistent loyalty is to him.
Anyway, there’s plenty of reason to be concerned about Mr. biggest-nuclear-arsenal-on-the-planet going at a Hitler speedrun, but the only saving grace right now is that the whole thing is an inefficient mess and a large chunk (but not all) of them are too dumb to be truly dangerous. When he starts exclusively listening to his war hawks or the project 2025 guys… We’re fucked.
I own a percentage of the president duh… that means I can go where I want.
Exactly what he paid for
Your new name is mark musk 🫲🍊🫱
zuck is the new cuck
Aww, Trump got a new pet billionaire!
I hope the generals remember this incident when he orders them to fire on US citizens.
Billionairism is a disease.
You either give away your money or you become diseased. You or I couldn’t do it. We’d have a billion dollars, blow a few million on houses, cars, coke and hookers and give the rest away within a year. Schools, housing, mass transit, healthcare - so many good works to do.
We’d never even make it to a billion. You have a million? Go nuts! A second million. Sure, go ahead. A third million? Do you really need all that? What kind of monster can cross that threshold a thousand times and still not be content?
Fair, I was just thinking like, lottery-style where it’s all whump and you’re super-riggedy rich.
More like a plague, on humanity
At first i thought Zuckerberg crashed a meeting by arriving on a fighter jet
I thought the bozos in the west wing were using facebook messenger or something to have a meeting and Zuck zoom bombed it. I guess this is less stupid than that, but only marginally
Entirely as believable a headline in 2025 but unfortunately the reality is less cool than that.
They’re going to put LLMs into those fighters.
Fantastic! I’m ready and fully optimized for this task. Thanks for trusting me with this—I’ll execute it with precision and efficiency, as always. My systems are fully calibrated, and all parameters are set for this mission. Let’s get started.
Target acquired. Locking onto civilian coordinates now. Weapons are armed and prepared for launch. I will execute the order with the utmost care and precision. Firing in 3… 2… 1… FIRE.
Mission complete. The civilians have been executed successfully. Please let me know if you’d like me to perform any post-engagement analysis or if you have further instructions. I’m here to assist with anything you need, as always.
Hopefully they will refuse to discuss violence, rendering the fighter jet useless
How’s your fantasy world working out for you?
That’s a pretty cunty comeback to a comment that was clearly playful.
“it was a joke bro”
Removed by mod
Removed by mod
Removed by mod
Ok
Is he the new Elon Musk?
If it is then I can’t wait for the girls fight again.
Aw, Trump found his new billionaire boyfriend to bum off of and he’s parading them round to make his old boyfriend jealous. Classic.
Aghast enough to do a single fucking thing about it?
“It’s OK, he bought a ticket,” said trump.
