Here’s the comedy/news bit from yesterday’s “Real Time”: another New Rules bit called “The MUSKeteers,” so you know what the subject is. Maher takes up Musk’s suggestion that we create a new political party comprising the 80% of Americans “in the middle.” Maher admires Musk’s engineering ability, but not his ability to manage the government; nor does Maher like Musk’s handling of Twitter, which apparently isn’t the free-speech zone Musk had promised. Still Maher runs through a list of Musk’s engineering accomplishments (Starlink, electric cars, SpaceX, etc.), and that alone will rile up those Manichaean progressives who cannot allow themselves to admit that Musk ever did anything good.
In the end, Maher asserts that Musk simply doesn’t belong in government, as it’s a completely different skillset (if you can call it “skill”; Maher calls it “the opposite of exceptional”).
Note that Maher uses one of my famous phrases: “It’s Chinatown, Jake.”
There’s also a four minute discussion between Maher and Senator John Fetterman. There’s not a lot of substance to it, but I do like Fetterman, and not just because he’s sympathetic to Israel. He’s a down-home guy and doesn’t put up with bullshit, a quality we need more of in Congress.
Starlink, electric cars, SpaceX, etc. are not Musk’s engineering accomplishments. They are all someone else’s accomplishments, and he just happened to add money to those projects.
I do not believe that this is correct, Ron. I write this response in opposition to Ron and Greg and in full support of Coel below. Now I do not know Mr. Musk personally, nor do I know anyone who has worked directly with him. I have been out of the water cooler loop since retiring from Nasa in 2008, but I do trust the information in Walter Isaacson’s 2023 biography, “Elon Musk”. I do trust my take on Musk from observing live, first person interviews, how he interacts with his employees during launches, the positive impact that stretches of his priority attention have on mission success.
In Isaacson’s biography of him, we see that on his own initiative he put together unique sets of skills and experiences in engineering, physics, finance, business and computers. He came to Canada and the U.S. from South Africa and engaged in calculated deep dives at selected universities, start-ups, technology companies, and experiences that he said would prepare him to run companies and not work for businessman bosses. Yes he has lots of talented technical support, but in my estimation he plays the key role in selecting that talent, framing a vision, finding monetary resources, and keeping his teams focussed on mission success doing things that have never been done before. That is innovation: the goal of the engineer to bring new technological capability to society to solve problems.
Comment by Greg Mayer
Musk is a financier not an engineer, right? He made his seed money in Paypal. I don’t think he designs rocket ships or electric cars– if he has, please say what he’s designed in reply.
GCM
If i remember correctly, Musk was fired from Paypal, but he kept his Paypal stock. Then Paypal took off after he left, and his stock increased dranatically.
No, he’s an engineer, and he’s had a huge influence in the design/engineering direction of his companies, being unusual in very much having a hands-on and micro-management in the engineering side of his businesses. Whatever one thinks of his dabbling in politics, his track record of building up and leading engineering companies is remarkable and unmatched. (Of course numerous other engineers have also played major roles in Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, Boring Company, etc)
Although I really like Fetterman, I do give credence to the reports from staffers about wild driving and ‘megalomania’ because such behavior is perfectly consistent with the manic phase of bipolar disease, which he has been diagnosed with. Also, the fact that Fetterman has reportedly slacked off on the meds (usually lithium?) that keep bipolar patients on an even emotional keel just strengthens my suspicions.
But what I find really unfortunate is the fact that Fetterman’s diagnosis quite legitimately disqualifies him from the presidency (or, at least it should). The Democrats have so few decent, viable prospects that the loss of even one is near tragic.
A politician who recognises their limitations is a big improvement.
I don’t know if this is representative of Fetterman’s own attitude or whether he needs to sort out his staff. When delegates from several women’s groups met his chief of staff, Jason Smith, to discuss single-sex spaces he was rude and dismissive. One of them later wrote:
https://juliajhing.substack.com/p/does-the-fish-rot-from-the-hoodie?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=3d032&triedRedirect=true
I came to the Fetterman interview with no opinions about him. I only saw it once, but he sounded very odd to me. If I encountered someone who talked like that in my social circle, I would assume they were on drugs. The only reason the interview made sense was Maher’s skills at controlling the conversation. Fetterman just sounded off to me: nervous, jittery, and his sentences did not flow with clarity.
I came to the video as an admirer of Fetterman on political grounds, but I entirely agree with you about his demeanor in this interview. He does not seem altogether well mentally.
I don’t know much about Mr. Fetterman, as I am on the other side of the Atlantic, but I have noted he gives the fascists at CodePink short-shrift whenever they turn up protesting. He always makes sure to ask where their funding comes from, and they really, really don’t like that.
PS. You won’t be surprised to learn that PZ Meyers now believes assassinating people is a bad thing. This comes a few months after he and horde were celebrating and justifying the assassination of someone else.
No surprise.. It’s only good to assassinate bad people. And surely the actual¹ non-professional assassins would agree with that.
. . . . .
¹ Physical assassins, not just online character assassins.