Timothy Snyder on the oligarch domestic terrorist

[ancianita]

https://archive.ph/Two67

The ongoing actions by Musk and his followers are a coup because the individuals seizing power have no right to it. Elon Musk was elected to no office and there is no office that would give him the authority to do what he is doing. It is all illegal. It is also a coup in its intended effects: to undo democratic practice and violate human rights.

In gaining data about us all, Musk has trampled on any notion of privacy and dignity, as well as on the explicit and implicit agreements made with our government when we pay our taxes or our student loans. And the possession of that data enables blackmail and further crimes.

In gaining the ability to stop payments by the Department of the Treasury, Musk would also make democracy meaningless. We vote for representatives in Congress, who pass laws that determine how our tax money is spent. If Musk has the power to halt this process at the level of payment, he can make laws meaningless. Which means, in turn, that Congress is meaningless, and our votes are meaningless, as is our citizenship.

Resistance to the coup is the defense of the human against the digital and the democratic against the oligarchic. If Musk controls these digital systems, Republican elected officials will be just as helpless as Democratic ones. The institutions that they voted to create can also be “deleted,” as Musk puts it.

President Trump, for that matter, will also perform at Musk’s pleasure. There is not much he can do without the use of the federal government’s computers. No one will explain this to Trump or to his supporters, of course.

A coup is underway, against Americans as possessors of human rights and dignities, and against Americans as citizens of a democratic republic. Each hour this goes unrecognized makes the success of the coup more likely.

[FirstLight]

1. So... here's a dumb question...

what if, as a protest, we ALL decided to NOT pay our fucking taxes come April?

Like, if a significant amount of people actually did it...?

I dont like them having my information, so what if I decide not to pay into it anymore?

[JustAnotherGen]

3. Last minute

Filing Fed . . . maybe. At this rate - I'm not certain the IRS will exist by then. We always have to pay more - so there's nothing in it for us to file any time soon.

[FirstLight]

5. yeah, the only reason I'd file honestly is for school (back in college, lol)

But if there's no Dept of ED, then why bother trying to finish my BA??? If I'm gonna end up going off grid anyway, fuck them!

[enough]

2. The first sentence there is a vital explanation of what is happening.

“The ongoing actions by Musk and his followers are a coup because the individuals seizing power have no right to it.”

[dgauss]

4. Tymothy Snyder understands this process as well as anyone.

This quote was chilling:

Each hour this goes unrecognized makes the success of the coup more likely.

Legal challenges are necessary, but think of the speed at which this is happening and then that warning about "each hour."

[defacto7]

6. K&R