Vice President Vance on Friday chided European leaders for their criticism of Elon Musk wading into their elections, comparing Musk’s actions to Swedish activist Greta Thunberg urging American leaders to take action on climate change.

“I believe that dismissing people, dismissing their concerns, or worse yet, shutting down media, shutting down elections or shutting people out of the political process protects nothing. In fact, it is the most surefire way to destroy democracy,” Vance said.

“And speaking up and expressing opinions isn’t election interference, even when people express views outside your own country, and even when those people are very influential,” he continued. “And trust me, I say this with all humor: If American democracy can survive 10 years of Greta Thunberg’s scolding, you guys can survive a few months of Elon Musk.”

  • buzz86us@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    This is a brain dead comparison, Musk’s influence is highly destructive to democracy, while Greta’s influence is only advocating for a global shift to protect the future of the planet.

    • Pilferjinx@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      He’s mustering anger from his brain dead base. His words aren’t meant for the rest of us. He needs to distract the Maga crowd from the damage Elon is actually doing.

    • torrentialgrain@lemm.ee
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      3 days ago

      It’s also braindead because on the one hand you have the richest man in the world backed by the most powerful man in the world. And on the other you have pretty much a very popular influencer.

  • iAvicenna@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    ahh yes Greta famously known to spend a fraction of a billion to influence elections.

  • dan1101@lemm.ee
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    4 days ago

    Europe didn’t have to survive with Thunberg, she wasn’t in the government and had no decision making authority.

  • lka1988@sh.itjust.works
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    4 days ago

    How is that even close to the same thing? Greta pleaded with the people to think about their children’s future (and actively partakes in protests and demonstrations all over), while Elon is only looking to enrich himself.

    • QuantumSparkles@sh.itjust.works
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      4 days ago

      Okay but putting all morals, ethics, character, and opinions aside, looking at it completely objectively… its still completely different because we never put her in government offices and allowed her to make decisions for the entire country

    • meeeeetch@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      She also asked that people do things that she specially could not do due to having no authority to enact policy, whereas Musk is interacting directly with levers of power (whether he has any legitimate/legal authority to do so).

    • barsoap@lemm.ee
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      4 days ago

      Greta snubbed Trump, Elon didn’t, so it’s obvious why Vance considers the one as evil, the other as a saint.

    • iAvicenna@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      I mean even the moral aspect of their ideologies aside, one literally just expressed opinions as a form of debate whereas the other is spending hundreds of millions to sway elections.

    • jonne@infosec.pub
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      4 days ago

      Elon is also thinking about the children, in particular how they should all be white.

  • BestBouclettes@jlai.lu
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    4 days ago

    Funny how we don’t see much of her anymore. Does it has anything to do with the fact that she publicly made the link between Capitalism, colonialism and the climate crisis ?
    I guess we’ll never know !

    • jonne@infosec.pub
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      4 days ago

      Yeah, how do you compare a 16yo (or however old she is now) girl with no political office to the president of the United States?

      I guess we can hope Trump ends up being as ineffective as she’s unfortunately been (I also noticed she’s been invisible in the mainstream media as soon as she started talking about Palestine. Same with Malala.).

  • meowmeowbeanz@sh.itjust.works
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    3 days ago

    The Hill’s piece on Musk and Vance’s Euro-tour reads like a corporate carnival masquerading as diplomacy. Tech oligarchs playing statesmen while defense contracts and AI patents get shuffled under the table. Ukraine’s “security” is just a euphemism for profit margins, and energy “innovation” means privatizing public infrastructure until it’s another subscription service.

    Musk’s private sector savior complex hits different when you realize it’s just a hedge against taxes. Vance whining about EU regulations? Classic regulatory capture—can’t let pesky consumer protections interfere with monopolizing the digital commons. Algorithmic colonialism wrapped in venture capital buzzwords. But sure, let’s pretend this is about “progress” and not entrenching power where accountability algorithms can’t reach.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      I wouldn’t say she has no power. She has the power to constantly upset these assholes.

      Not even close to the same, but I’m glad she has that power.

  • SarcasticMan@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    “If I can say dumb ass shit don’t worry I will say some even dumber ass shit.” - Assistant to Vice President Trump J.D. Vance.