I have known several warlords

Lmao. In a post apocalyptic setting, Elon Musk is a trophy.
He'd be paraded around on a leash.
- Think Channing Tatum in This is the End.
- Oh yeah, what is Grimes up to?
  It’s not often a woman breaks a man so badly he has to find a surrogate for his “x”
- Depends on who caught him. He'd be paraded around on a leash if he was lucky
  
  Guess he'd be lucky with me then.
  I'd even scavenge the stores to get him a little "Musky" tag for his leash.

Is he suggesting that his actions are bringing about the apocalypse? If so, I agree.

Moron billionaire class. Think they’ll survive the collapse of humanity in their bunkers. The reality being they will be murdered by their staff on day one.
- Or simply die in a flood since they can’t fix the pump.
- Praetorian guards again, go figure
- Every bunker needs an air intake and exhaust
  
  His bodyguards will strangle his arse and take over his bunker.
- That's what the bomb collars are for.
  
  "I don't really like the bomb collar, but the pay is good and I get an hour for lunch."

I don't want to be a warlord. I want to be a lovelord.
- Work those kegels
  https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/mens-health/in-depth/kegel-exercises-for-men/art-20045074

He's since deleted the post, but in a followup comment he mentioned the irony of talking about becoming a warlord using a picture of Max, a noted warlord killer.
As typical for all right-wingers, Musk is utterly incapable of critically examining art.
- He really thinks that cyberpunk is cool and does not understand any of the philosophy or ideology behind it.
  
  Cyberpunk IS cool as long as I get to experience it as a little mental retreat, a neon colored view of the what-if from the comfort of my chair in my paid off house in a country with universal healthcare and strong worker rights.
  
  Cyberpunk is cool, if you're a Tessier-Ashpool.

All that money won't mean shit if the economy collapses. Musk is such a goddamn clown.
- All that money won't mean shit if the economy collapses.
  Money is temporary, daddy's blood diamonds are forever. 💎
- Elon's wealth comes from the value of Tesla stock - an overvalued PoS stock that has never paid a single dividend. His twitter loan was secured by Tesla stock, so the more the price tanks, at some point you'd think the loan would be called due.
  But hey, Elon is now in charge of government contracts and spending, what luck.
- What good is it to have a million dollars to buy an apple if there are no apples to be had?
- I keep saying that all the billionaires are imaginary. All their money is tied up in concepts. ;ie stocks, bonds etc. hell even land will be worthless in an apocalypse. At most their maybe worth a couple hundred in mill in cash liquidity. Which will also become worthless in an apocalypse....

Holy hell Elon has a galactically discrepant self-image.

b-but look how cool he is
- All I can think when I see this picture is how good that fit would have looked if it just wasn't elon wearing it.
  
  All I hear is "When I was a young boy, my father took me into the city to see a marching band"

Musk's power only comes from his wealth. That wealth is in a currency that is tied directly to the world's trust in the US government. That trust is being very quickly diminished. If things get 'Mad Max' bad all of his wealth will be absolutely worthless.
- The vast majority of his wealth is stock market speculation, not even US currency.
  
  Toyota is a car company that makes solid cars with an anonymous CEO. It has a P/E ratio of about 7.5 and a market cap of about $230 billion.
  Tesla is a car company that makes a few solid cars, and one absolutely ridiculous vehicle that is the laughing stock of trucks. It has a CEO that most of the world has an intensely negative opinion of, and that negative opinion is highest among the people wealthy enough to consider buying a Tesla. It has a P/E ratio of approximately 175 and a market cap of $918 billion.
  If Tesla's P/E ratio fell to something more realistic, let's be extremely generous and say 7, it would be worth only $37 billion, about 4% of the current value. Realistically, it should be significantly below that. When people are regularly spraypainting swastikas on your vehicles, your P/E ratio should be lower than other automobile manufacturers because it's a sign that your future growth prospects may be slightly impaired by the unwillingness of people to buy your vehicles.
  When Tesla's value does collapse (and I'm convinced it's a "when" not an "if") it will crater Musk's net worth, because at least half of it is due to his Tesla stock.
- Don't worry, that's what Dogecoin is for! 🤡
- Well most of that wealth is in the Tesla meme-stock (whose valuation he uses as collateral for credit), encompassing various nonsense-ventures, the roadster that never materialised, the electric articulated truck with thermonuclear-explosion-proof windscreen that doesn't exist, a fake remote controlled robot, self-driving cars without the necessary sensors, not to mention a whole host of other stuff like a Mars colony that cannot possibly happen while observing the laws of physics as we understand them. Sorry but it was all such obvious bullshit to anybody that even paid a little bit of attention. How none of it was fraud is beyond me (free speech!). Instead of getting prosecuted governments (not limited to republicans) gave him contracts worth billions with which he extended and consolidated his burgeoning power.
  There is a whole host of people who facilitated Musk's rise to power, from billionaire-owned media outlets failing to question his bullshit, to $TSLA owners who have probably profited quite handsomely in the last few months. But I suppose that is the nature of capitalism laid bare - I'll get mine and fuck you.
  If it is true that one of China's policies, with regard to beating America over the last and coming decades, was 'do nothing and win' we can see exactly why through Musk's story.
  
  """self-driving"""***

I just want to remind everyone that those who call for war have never experienced it, and the closer you experience it, the less you want it.
- I've always liked the idea that people who get a country into a war have to have skin in the game: either go to the frontlines, or have a family member there.
  
  I think trump would treat his kids the same way Stalin did...
- The folks who come back from war and get folded into the police state are still hungry to relive their "glory" days. The dime store torture goons that have climbed up the rectum of the political system and now occupy Governorships and Senate Seats are sadists who long for the rush of hot blood splatter and the siren's song of human screams. The gangs of rapists unleashed across Gaza, Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq by their IDF commanders are like locusts - they've been created to destroy and that's all they know how to do.
  The closer you are to war the more is transforms you into a creature of war.

None of the women I've dated have enough post apocalyptic potential either. One of them said they would kill themselves if a zombie apocalypse started. It takes a strong person for that, man or woman.
- Are you implying suicide is a weak option? I don't believe so. It's not a stronger stance to side with a survival instinct; you could say it's actually the easiest thing to do. It requires nothing more than to exploit our biology (adrenaline, aggression, etc.). Not to downplay the complexity of all of us animals, but it's not extraordinary to behave like that, just as a lion or a rat would do too.
  The other option requires something unique to humanity (until now and as far as we know) that is to question our actions, to reflect upon them, to give them a personal value, and to make decisions upon all of this. Few animals commit suicide and probably most do so due to a pathological state and not a philosophical argument behind. To embrace this is very hard; it goes against our body's program.
  I won't say it's necessarily stronger, but neither is it weaker. I admire the honesty and bravery of doing such questions.
  
  Suicide is definitely the weakest option someone can take. Maybe you've never been suicidal, but I have, and that feeling is so strong. It wouldn't feel like anything to end it, just a release. But it takes absolutely everything to keep going.
  You may have a point about surviving being instinctual, and therefore someone who is too dumb to even consider suicide I'm any situation, isn't stronger for not having the thought. But I really don't think that's most people. I think most people that would have to struggle to survive an apocalypse, would absolutely be pushing through the urge to end it. Unless all that's left is savages, suicide is weak as hell.

So is he just coming out and saying he's driving the country into the ground? Is that the point of this? How does this idiot still have any support?
- His supporters all think they have warlord potential

Yeah, because when the world crumbles, it's going to be that walking bag of mayonnaise and bile that people are going to want in charge.
- when the world crumbles,
  when? shit's on fire yo.
  that walking bag of mayonnaise and bile that people are going to want in charge.
  well put. unfortunately I think we're here, now.

If it comes down to it, Elon's own security boys will lug him in the back of the head.
- Was he the one who said he'd put explosive collars on his guards?
  
  I hope he films the process of him trying to get death collars onto a a team of expensive security guards so that future archaeologists can have a laugh

Who is this guy to have known several warlords? My guess is he's either a glowie or a journalist.
Edit: Survey says journalist! Thank you to everyone who answered.
To this guy's point, yeah, it's hilarious that Elon fancies himself a survivor.
- Journalist https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Evans_(journalist)
  
  Yeah, so not only is he a journalist, he's effectively a specialist on warlords and the far right.
- Robert Evans is a bisexual Texas guy who decided he was going to report on war, so talked his way onto a military plane with other reporters as a stringer when Beirut was a place for barracks bombing. An experienced combat photographer took him under his wing and kept him alive. Evans has walked on concrete smelling the crushed dead from the collapsed structures. I know all this from memory (correct me if I messed anything up) because I researched his background a bit, because his “It Could Happen Here” podcast - about how a US civil war would go down - is very articulate and savvy, and I was curious how he gained that insight.
  The only thing more articulate and savvy could possibly be the products and services that support his program. If you lurk on Lemmy, Robert, glad you’re here. Always wished I could hear a conversation between you and Robert Baer for a few hours… partially because I would expect only the best alcohol and other substances to be served in that room.
  
  That was such a seamless ad pivot I’m not convinced your aren’t Robert?
  
  He also personally knows guests who have gotten away with murder on one of his podcasts
  
  Only the finest gas station heroin.
  
  holy shit ive been listening to btb for a while now but never heard the story of how robert got his start in war journalism
- Robert Evans does Behind the Bastards podcast, and has also reported on conflicts in Iraq, Ukraine, and Rojava, amongst lots of other things.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Evans_%28journalist%29?wprov=sfla1
  
  Also just started listening to a podcast he has called The Women's War. Seems very good
- Former cracked.com editor. Show some respect.
  
  He's seen more than most of us will witness in a lifetime.
- Evans is the kind of guy to book his own ticket to a war zone and hope he gets paid for his reporting afterward. I have no idea if he's ever done that, but he has that vibe. As others said, I think he's a "journalist", in a positive way.
  edit: he did a whole series about Syria, way way before recent developments. "The Women's War". and Jake Hanrahan. I remember they paid a driver who kept giving them terrible cigarettes.
  
  He's literally done that before and been shot at by Isis snipers as part of it.
- Surprised everyone has not included his title. The honorable judge Robert Evans.
- Behind the Bastards is great! It's like The Dollop but for the worst people in history.
  Coolzone media is all fantastic.
  For current events there's It Could Happen Here and Executive Disorder (sub series of ICHH, weekly analysis of Trump admin)
  He did a lot of coverage of the protests back in 2020 in Portland.
  He's also an amazing author: After The Revolution (fictional sci-fi American civil war, free to listen audiobook on the link) and his older A Brief History Of Vice (he talks about historic drug use and personally tries out all the weird ways people did drugs, very funny)
  
  Coolzone media is all fantastic.
  It's good, but I don't like that it's a brand under iHeartRadio, which changed their name from the more infamous Clear Channel Communications.
  If there's a bastard in radio, it's definitely Clear Channel.
- Who is this guy to have known several warlords?
  https://bsky.app/profile/iwriteok.bsky.social
- This guy is Robert Evans, world famous podcaster of Behind The Bastards fame.
  honestly he is awesome
- He might just live in or near a very particular region of Africa or perhaps the middle eastern mountains.
  
  Hes a conflict journalist with years of experience in the field

The more chilling thing to me being that he is causing, wants, and/or expects this as someone "in power", for wont of a better term. Is this a desire (definitely) or coming to terms with things already set in motion? I hope it's just a shitpost, but who knows at this point?
- It's a nazi eugenics dream to wipe the country off of undesirables and initiate your plan of gender affirming individuals as they pop out of tubes. A good reminder thwt a journalist interviewed a billionaire who was showcasing their mega bunker in case everything goes to shit. What bothered the billionaire was how is he able to control his security when the natural order is upside down?
  Journalist suggested empathy, to understand and care about your security detail. Billionaire disregarded that and suggested to himself shock collars would be more ideal than empathy.

I've probably got twice the warlord potential he has. Which is to say, I have really shit warlord potential.

So he's admitting to ruining everything and being a sexist piece of shit at the same time? Well done for being masterfully evil asshole. Satan high fives you for some style points on this one Elon.

Like, we all joke. But Musk's a carnival barker at heart. He'd fit right in alongside the Colonel Qaddafi and General Butt Naked crowd. The Northern Alliance was overflowing with ego-bloated horn dogs. The Columbian cartels are rife with tin pot business goons.
You could change Noriega or Pahlavi or Bong Bong Marcos out with Elon Musk and nobody would notice a difference. Hell, there's a reason a guy like Milei is bro-ing out Elon every chance he gets. They're the same kind of guy.
- You underestimate the atrophy having no financial needs or stress concerning any real aspect of survival can create. If we go back to caveman times, no one that has never experienced a blister on their feet is going to be surviving very long.
  
  I don't think "caveman times" is in the cards in Elon's lifetime

"I am setting this country up for anarchy with governance by warlords. "
I wouldn't even pick Elon in a fight with Meal Team 6.

Yeah. Being part of a corrupt kakistocracy, in a highly visible role, but not smart or tough enough to survive outside out your cushy trust fund corruption environment, is honestly one of the absolute worst places to be. You’d be better off as “prison inmate” or “homeless person.” Literally anything else.
- i hope you write that down, as much as you can remember, and get it out there

Ladies: warlords will rape, abuse, and kill you. They know nothing but brutality and care nothing about your well-being.
God, I hope I am presented with a national historic news very very soon.

I fucking love Robert Evans. BTB has consumed dozens of hours of my time.
Sidenote, of course this chode doesn't acknowledge that he and his peers are unbelievably culpable in the downfall of society and probably the planet.
- Of course they do, why do you think Peter Thiel has NZ citizenship?
  Why do you think musk dabbles in Neuralink?

Hahaha you'll be the first taco Tuesday Musk.

Using Max himself as the guy with warlord potential is kinda weird considering he has passed on the opportunity every time.
- We've seen Mad Max, but what about Reasonable Max, Supply-Side Max or even Opportunistic Max? Or, in this particular case, Grimes-please-call-me Max? That's a whole different story.

Yeah I haven't personally known warlords but I've been close enough to know the type and he ain't it. They would be picking bits of him out of their teeth with toothpicks by the end of day one.
- why?
  
  Warlords don't just pay people to respect them They command respect via a combination of loyalty, fear, and rewarding those who follow them. A common cause can help but it isn't required. None of this describes Elon Musk who cuts people loose at the first opportunity, abuses his staff, and looks for every opportunity to underpay them. Most successful corporate executives would do very badly to be honest. They are the exact opposite of real leadership.