Listening to Elon Musk’s fabrications is unproductive, yet the inquiry from a young voter about DOGE *stimulus* checks sheds light on a significant issue in our society. It highlights how readily people accept outlandish claims. We can repeatedly discuss the shortcomings of our educational system and the abandonment of the Fairness Doctrine in media, both of which contribute to our current predicament. However, there’s a newer issue we haven’t seen before: individuals opting to believe the most absurd statements without pausing to question them—thinking “If it seems too good to be true, perhaps it is.”
Trump takes advantage of this tendency with his hopeful rhetoric, and Musk amplifies these Trumpian falsehoods. Keep this context in mind as you listen to this audience question from Wisconsin, where Musk spoke about the state supreme court election. This exemplifies textbook delusion.
These rubes still think they are getting checks in the mail because of Musk. This is how someone like Trump gets elected – people will believe any promise if they are made by convincing liars, regardless of overwhelming evidence that they are habitual frauds. https://t.co/zRA9C6QMAR
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) March 31, 2025
I can tell you precisely when those checks will be distributed: on the 12th of Never, which is quite a long time. This reflects the damage caused by unfounded beliefs in “billions” of discovered fraud when, in reality, nothing has been substantiated.
Brendan Duke, senior director for Federal Budget Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, previously told Newsweek: “The only way we are going to see a DOGE dividend at current course and speed is Congress pretending that fake savings are actual savings and enacting a deficit-financed tax cut, additionally to the $4.5 trillion in tax cuts they are contemplating as part of extending the 2017 tax law.”
Lance Roberts, chief investment strategist and economist at RIA Advisors, previously told Newsweek: “If you increase demand without a corresponding rise in supply, inflation results. A tax credit would be more beneficial in aiding the bottom 50 percent of income taxpayers who pay little or no taxes (they receive a refund) but won’t create as significant a demand surge.”
Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor at the University of Tennessee at Martin, previously told Newsweek: “Even with the possible savings from recent cuts, stimulus checks represent an exceedingly costly initiative for a government that is already deeply in debt and not facing a pandemic-like crisis to justify undertaking. I anticipate that legislators will look for new proposals like tax cuts and reduced restrictions on certain government benefit programs as a way to divert attention from stimulus checks being seen as the only method to assist Americans.”
The woman who posed the question identified herself as 26 years old. I genuinely wish we knew where she sources her news and information. It’s said that young people acquire their information from Instagram, which might be part of the issue. Instagram serves as a breeding ground for fantasy and misinformation on numerous topics.
Furthermore, I am hopeful for upcoming congressional legislation aimed at promoting truth in broadcasting. The fact that Musk has discovered no waste, fraud, or abuse—let alone $130 billion since January—should be a headline that receives daily media attention until the public comprehends it.
Ultimately, I ponder how far this country must deviate from reason before people recognize the extent of the deception they’ve endured and demand accountability and truth. Or perhaps this realization cannot occur. Maybe P.T. Barnum was right when he claimed, “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public,” and maybe that’s the reason we’re facing impending doom.
The only solace I find is that merely 1.5% of the population facilitated this tumultuous scenario. America is currently divided right down the middle.
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