In 2026, Will Americans Turn Against Oligarchs? | Hacker News Reader

In 2026, Will Americans Turn Against Oligarchs?

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33 pointsconnor1152813 comments

At most, they will complain about it on platforms owned by these people, generating more engagement and profit for the people they claim to hate.

I'm hoping Americans first turn against outright fraud https://x.com/i/trending/2005454604394222016

I know! Musk still hasn't found that 2 Trillion of fraud and waste he promised and now he's moved onto something else.

Trying to take credit for and simultaneously misrepresent the findings of genuine government auditors while sacking them was too much work apparently.

Now he's trying to do something even scummier with GOP hired fake-influencer propagandists.

When will this outright fraud give us all a rest?

DOGE was mostly about government efficiency and restructuring rather than actually proving vast fraud. What DOGE did accomplish is cutting a lot of politicized / ideologically driven spending.

Fraud is a serious crime and it is not just "political actions that I don't like." The Somalian fraud rings are actually fraud on a vast scale. So please stop defending actual fraud, which is supposed to not be a partisan issue

Musk was still talking about Trillion dollar government fraud on Twitter a few days ago.

He repeatedly claimed fraud as part of DOGE. The 150 year olds claiming Social Security for example.

Just like now, he was bullshitting and didn't care that it wasn't true if it was useful to him.

His allies are pretty much on record saying that too, e.g. that firing staff increased government costs since the same expertise was contracted out at a higher rate, but that is considered a win for them. Which feels like fraud to me.

> DOGE did not find $2T in fraud, but that doesn’t matter, Musk allies say

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/12/doge-did-not-fin...

Many Americans have far too cushy lives to truly revolt. (The one exception being an Italian video game plumber.)

People love the oligarchs, they love their platforms their products their bullshit ideas - they dig it all up with a stupid smile. No revolts coming.

Every dollar oligarchs take from Americans is invested in getting better at doing it. Not sure where that leaves us but I'm not excited about it.

ya there's got to be an awakening that this is not the way. i think it's coming

Nah, Capitalism hasn't reached a revolt point yet.

Nope.

Refreshing Musk is not mentioned here. He says some stupid stuff but he has made his money actually making inovative products that move the world forward. So dumb to hear him talked about as an oligarch.

Plenty of others making their fortune through rent seeking means that could be focused on.

I think he's an oligarch because he uses his influence to affect politics (and in a very nasty way, like demonising immigrants and lgbt members who just want to be themselves). Using his fortune and influence to influence politics is what makes him an oligarch.

How these people made their fortune (whether it's useful or not) has no bearing on the definition of an oligarch.

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