Why the #TeslaTakedown must grow to Purge Palantir
Over the last week, it seemed like Elon Musk had won a custody battle.
On Tuesday, we learned that Edward Coristine—the nineteen-year-old operative best and only known as “Big Balls”—had left DOGE. One might have assumed that Big Balls was following Stephen Miller’s wife to join Musk in “the private sector.” You could imagine them all living in the 14,400-foot nursery, walking distance to Musk’s other mansions in Austin, and Musk would soon try to impregnate one of Big Balls’ nannies.
However, we later discovered that Coristine isn’t leaving the government at all.
No, he was joining the Social Security Administration as a special government employee, which is an even more stomach-turning twist.
That’s my reason for joining a #TeslaTakedown today. What's yours?
A toxic, veiny reminder
Our inability to purge ourselves of Big Balls should serve as a toxic, veiny reminder: Elon Musk may have shifted out of the government and cracked his alliance with Donald Trump by reminding America of Trump’s suppressed connection to Jeffrey Epstein. However, the horrors Musk that bought by marshaling $45 billion to elect Donald Trump persist.
Musk’s SpaceX and Starlink’s government contracts remain in effect. And the Nerd Reich/MAGA alliance that threatens all of our freedom has twisted and is about to enter into a dangerous new phase as Republicans appear intent on shoveling over $100 billion to build a police state to, first, carry out mass kidnappings, detentions, and human trafficking.
Why the #TeslaTakedown must continue
First, let’s try to calculate the human damage Elon Musk inspired.
For this, we turn to the ImpactCounter.com dashboard, which attempts to calculate the “human impact of funding changes for aid and support organizations.” Cutting foreign aid was Musk and DOGE’s first obsession, and it’s where the death count of his sadism—a lust to cut an amount that will surely be smaller than he and his tech bro allies rake in from Trump’s tax cuts—is most apparent. These numbers were updated on June 26.
That continues, unabated. And we’re headed to millions of deaths, a truth Musk will lie about and cover up using his Death Star for Fascism: X.
I have and will argue that Musk’s shifting of media narratives, elevation of fascist voices, and breaking of moderation were the drawbridge that deserves much of the blame for allowing fascism to march (back) into the White House.
And instead of being punished, he is being rewarded with new deals, such as the alliance between T-Mobile and Starlink, which we must stop.
We should have done this to Murdoch
Elon Musk is still the Rupert Murdoch of X. And even if he doesn’t spend a cent to elect Republicans, he’s built a machine that exists to do just that.
Before Musk, you could argue Murdoch was the single most destructive billionaire of this century. His media empire has dragged leading Western democracies to the right. Under Roger Ailes' direction, Fox created an information landscape and incentive structure that made fighting climate change impossible, and now has welcomed fascism while doing fun stuff like tricking Trump into bombing Iran.
We should have been opposing Murdoch in the same way we’ve taken to the streets against Musk in the 90s. And we’ll regret it if we give up on the core successes of the #TeslaTakedown now.
#TeslaTakedown shaped this opposition
While too many people were sitting back and wondering why there wasn’t a massive Women’s March-style visible opposition to Trump and Musk, the #TeslaTakedown upgraded the opposition. The attack on Musk’s definitive asset immediately infused the opposition with one of the most powerful traits of a successful element of a non-violent resistance movement.
Protests are essential, especially in maintaining our right to protest. But resistance movement scholar Erica Chenoweth explains that real power comes when you enlist masses of people to impose direct costs on a regime and its backers:
Why we must expand to Purge Palantir
After Trump and Musk’s breakup, Gil Durán—who knows the Nerd Reich as well as anyone—explained the state of play between the twin fascist movements of MAGA and tech fascism:
Key tech goals remain on track. Congress is on the cusp of giving big wins to crypto and AI companies. And Trump is working with Peter Thiel's Palantir to develop a massive surveillance database. (“Trump Taps Palantir to Compile Data on Americans,” reports the New York Times.)
That’s why the launch of Purge Palantir must be celebrated and spread, especially to young Americans who could be doomed to the surveillance state oppression Thiel hopes to realize for the rest of their lives. It’s just getting started, but if you want to get involved, sign up now. And follow the movement on Bluesky.
America must get to know the tech titan that brought Musk into the Nerd Reich and his sick, rambling beliefs.
Thiel effectively shaped and guides JD Vance, the man who is one bad cheeseburger from the presidency.
@aidanetcetera peter thiel on some esoteric freak stuff #peterthiel
♬ original sound - Aidan Walker
There are so many questions? Like, is Peter Thiel the Antichrist?
However, people won’t ask them unless this movement continues to grow.
Get out there if you can
In this week’s NEXT COMES WHAT, Andrea Pitzer reminds us of why we can still be hopeful despite a week of the Supreme Court brutally taking its stand in favor of Trump’s fascism.
Thanks to numerous efforts, including the #TeslaTakedown, we have built the bones of a movement that can win.
My wife’s main reason for attending our local Takedown this weekend is that it’s time to get out again. We need to be in the streets as often as possible, to retain our ability to protest, and to remind ourselves and the regime of our collective power.
Big Balls is still there. Kids are still dying. They’re still hoping to use our data to chain us to their sick fantasies forever. The least we can do is take them down, but purging America of their pale, veiny balls sounds nice, too.
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