Rand Paul floats Elon Musk for House Speaker

I keep having this feeling like all these GOP idiots think musk is really super duper smart because he can at a really basic level speak in some technical terms they just don't understand. So as a result they think he's just sooo smart.

This is a party full of ancient people. "A series of tubes" party. So anyone who has a little bit of technical knowledge will sound like a wizard to them with the bonus that they might be able to grift off of it all.

Or musk is just a rich asshole and they all want to be rich assholes so they cozy up to him.

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I know this is damning to admit here, but back when I was willing to watch Joe Rogan I distinctly remember during Elon's episode (the one where he hit a joint and tanked Tesla stock, not the latest one), the topic went to electric airplanes. Elon was talking technical about it and Joe was sitting there wide-eyed like he was revealing the secrets of the weave of the universe, sure that aerospace was going to be revolutionized by this man.

Maybe I'm the stupid one here, but I'm pretty sure he was just talking about how airfoils generate lift. You know, the stuff the Wright brothers figured out in the 19-aughts. Its in high school physics textbooks.

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- Angela Collier just released a video about how billionaires really want to be seen as physicists, whilst most of them dropped out of college. "I could've become", "I considered to" and so on.
  
  They really want to be perceived as smart. I don't get any brownie points for saying "I thought about getting a PhD", why should they?
  Especially when they can hire several professors to teach them personally with their billions of dollars.
  
  It's a long video, but well worth the watch.
  
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- Most technology is magic to the average person. It doesn't take much to sound like an expert.
  
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- I understood lift pitch roll yaw etc in grade school when I became obsessed with making paper airplanes.
  
  I speak house now?
  
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- Joe Rogan does that with anyone that comes on and talks techno babble. He's really clueless.
  
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This is pretty standard, and not limited to Republicans. A significant part of Jordan Peterson's appeal came through the same process.

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- That Venn diagram is just a single circle though.
  
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This is a party full of ancient people. "A series of tubes" party.

Hey now, I’m not that old.

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Hey, don't paint mister Series of Tubes with that brush, that analogy is still more accurate than 99% of the bullshit about the internet coming out of DC

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- Yeah...let's not canonize Ted stevens. He was a massive piece of shit.
  
  That meme was him rallying against net neutrality while head of the senate commitee that regulated the internet.
  
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I've always thought that Elon Musk is a stupid person's idea of what a smart person acts and looks like.

He never really says anything of substance, but he says it while using big words and some unfamiliar accent (at least unfamiliar to those idolizing). That's enough for many really stupid people. The fact he always pretends to be thinking about anything for the first time completes the aesthetic.

A similar effect can be seen with Trump himself. A lot of dumb people read his nonsensical, stream of consciousness rambling style as intelligence. To someone with a brain, Trump is clearly just babbling with no overall point, except maybe repeating sound bites. But to many of his supporters, the fact he jumps around so much means they can't keep up, and if they can't keep up, welp, he must be real smart.

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- The same can be said about Trump and his supporters idea of a strong brave man. The bravado and insults are just covering up for fear and insecurity.
  
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I think it's just secular prosperity gospel. He's rich, therefore he must be smart. Right?

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You don't think it's more to do with his proximity to power?

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I was just thinking about listening to an unedited conversation between these two. Musk with his stammering incomplete sentences and Trump with his stream of run on nonsensical sentences. I don't think I can handle it.

The only way I can listen to Musk is on Common Sense Skeptic's YouTube channel where he destammers Musk talking.

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- So what do they think they have agreed to?
  
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GOP idiots

Speaking specifically about Rand Paul, I'm pretty sure that Rand Paul has an MD, worked as a specialist doctor of some sort prior to entering the Senate, as I remember reading from his first race.

checks Wikipedia

Yeah, he's an ophthalmologist, an eye surgeon.

Says he went to Duke.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_University_School_of_Medicine

Duke University School of Medicine is recognised as one of the best medical schools in the United States and the world. It is currently ranked #3 in the country, according to U.S. News & World Report's rankings for best research medical schools in 2022.[15] Several Duke programs are ranked as some of the highest in the country. Top-ten nationally ranked programs for 2022 include surgery (ranked #2), anesthesia (ranked #4), internal medicine (ranked #5), radiology (ranked #6), pediatrics (ranked #7), obstetrics/gynecology (ranked #8), and psychiatry (ranked #10).[16] Historically, the Duke University School of Medicine consistently ranks in the top ten medical schools in the United States.[17]

Admission to the school's medical degree program is highly competitive, with more than 7,500 applicants for approximately 115 openings each year.[18]

I doubt that he's an idiot.

If you're speaking more-generally about people who may or may not be supporting Musk having a House role...shrugs don't know who they are, so can't know much about 'em.

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- Have you heard Ben Carson speak about politics? He’s an actual brain surgeon. And an idiot. Just goes to show that having a medical degree doesn’t make someone a genius.
  
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- I doubt that he's an idiot.
  
  I know quite a few people who are brilliant in their field, yet absolute morons at everything else.
  
  He's an idiot. He's also an asshole.
  
  Just like his dad.
  
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- He was the son of an influential congressman who also got a medical degree from Duke. You think that might have affected his chances of admission?
  
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- Just because you have a degree doesn't mean you're smart. That's like saying Elon is a genius because he's a billionaire. The two are not mutually exclusive.
  
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- I briefly had to fill in for some helpdesk tech support for doctors, and oh boy let me tell you, a LOT of them were absolute idiots, at least when it came to technology.
  
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- I feel like if you ask any nurse they know of at least a few doctors in their hospital that may be brilliant at their specific field but absolute dumbasses anywhere else. And often doctors - because they have a doctorate - think they are delicate geniuses themselves (shoutout Seinfeld).
  
  Like redding33 said: Ben Carson is very stupid, but he can separate conjoined twins like no other.
  
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- Heres a hot take: you didn't have to be that smart to be any kind of medical doctor. Good at memorizing? Hell yes. Persistent? You bet. Good at associations and drawing on things you've seen before? Absolutely. Good at reading between the lines and really solving the tough cases? Sometimes. Magic hands? Definitely if you'd like the big big money.
  
  At the end of the day most doctors are walking on ground someone else already traveled, and of course there are some greats who expand the field, but that's not everybody. If youve got the tenacity to do any medical degree, kick butt. We need you and you earn your take with pride. You don't need to win a nobel prize to be valuable.
  
  It is, however, NOT a job you get for being a great thinker. It's a lot of college and a lot of residency and a lot of shoveling crap. A lot of thinking? Not compared to other education tracks or professions. You can absolutely be a medical doctor and be an idiot.
  
  This has been a soapbox rant about professional doctorates.
  
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- I know several professors (so they have PhDs) that are absolutely idiotic or regressive about things outside (and sometimes within) their PhD interests. For example: I have one who has been begging me to work on his study about language in autistic children, and I keep refusing because he has said "neurodivergent people don't have empathy". That's a massive misunderstanding of what neurodivergance is, and the way empathy can present.
  
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- On the topic of being an idiot - you know how UHC denies so many health claims? They have doctors on the payroll to deny them.
  
  It's surprisingly easy to be an idiot with a fancy title - just look at Elon Musk or King Chuck.
  
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They really are the party of ass kissing. Republicans are embarrassing.

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Don't you have to be, like, I don't know, an ELECTED FUCKING REPRESENTATIVE to be speaker??????

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Interestingly, no. There's never been one who wasn't, but there's no actual law that says so. Some people floated the idea of appointing Donald then impeaching and convicting Biden and Harris on some bogus charge (or assassinating them, but that was usually an unsaid "wink wink, nudge nudge") to get him back in. Musk should be out of the line of succession for President at least if it does happen though since unless I'm mistaken the "natural born citizen" part of the requirements still stands

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By convention, not by law

The Constitution does not explicitly require the speaker to be an incumbent member of the House of Representatives, although every speaker thus far has been, and as a member the speaker also represents their district and retains the right to vote.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaker_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives

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This is one of those Air Bud moments where they point out that there's no rule saying an unelected person CAN'T be speaker...

One problem with government is that there are lots of unspoken rules that have been followed as tradition but never formalized.

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- Hold up. Can we get Air Bud as speaker? That would be rad.
  
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Rules? Hehe. If no one gets punished, what are rules? If no one fights totalitarianism, I guess they want it.

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Can we get some more Luigis please?

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I would never be a Luigi because i couldn't take a life, but i'd LOVE to have some more Luigis

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- ~~taking~~
  
  Nah nah...
  
  saving
  
  Take one, save a ton.
  
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So we’re just gonna go full send on stupid. Wonderful.

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I'm convinced none of them take any of this seriously and we're the only ones not in on the joke.

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It's definitely the case that the joke's on us.

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Trump isn’t even president yet and this is a shitshow.

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First of all, where is Rand Paul's neighbor now that we need him?

Secondly, Elmo would be no more successful than Johnson. Which is to say not successful at all.

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..... They're not going to impeach trump and Vance to get Musk in....right...?

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Since Elon is a naturalized citizen he'd be skipped in the line of succession. Unless the Republicans want to go ahead and wipe with the constitution.

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- The entire rest of the country is a joke, but for some reason a piece of paper is a stop-gap?
  
  Lmao, at this point they'd ignore the constitution and never acknowledge it.
  
  that's unconstitutional?
  
  "Off to the fields with this one!"
  
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- I mean that's fully what they're trying to do... So
  
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He would be second in line to the presidency. That’s a scary thought, but honestly, could he be worse than Trump or Vance?

Edit: never mind, he’s not qualified to be president.

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Yes

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Yes please give that man with that barely coherent Pretoria-English × US-attempting hybrid accent the job title of "Speaker".

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His accent is literally the last thing that matters about him.

It matters more that he’s literally the richest guy in the world, a massive cunt, massively power hungry, and barely american.

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- Oh, I know.
  
  It's just funny, Rand Paul watching him mumble stupid shit at the Trump rally, and then thinking "Wow. What an excellent orator. We should make him the house speaker".
  
  Republicans won the house, right? So I doubt the next incumbent house speaker is not going to be a total piece of shit.
  
  I doubt Elon will even acknowledge a nomination. House Speaker looks like a job where you can't fly your private jets coast to coast nor tweet all fucking day nonstop.
  
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Make him king so they can get their largesse.

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