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Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

nytimes.com

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Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#131

Post by Miner49er »

13years wrote: post #99
dforrestwilson wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not more Gary Johnson supporters?

Gary will appeal to libertarian leaning, but much less to principled libertarians. A lot of his recent statements have come across as major disappointments to core libertarians. Such as his support of Hillary over her emails, reluctance to audit the fed, support for basic income and his VP pick which is seen as purely establishment.

Basic income actually is a pretty Libertarian idea IMO. It gives people the choice to spend their money however, unlike food stamps and other benefits. It's gonna be needed eventually as more jobs are automated as well.

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#132

Post by rsmckinney »

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #71
rsmckinney wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait. What does the relevance of a new idea have to do with the ethnic composition of the people with the idea? Isn't that a racist statement? Fascinating. My favorite part about the liberal mind are its obvious contradictions and, thus, the unintended consequences of its thought process.

Declaring a general fault in a 's mind isn't often the best way to endear the neutral or opposed to your point of view.

Anothet characteristic of the liberal mind: it cannot be endeared to an alternate point of view.

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#133

Post by Miner49er »

oh_sigh wrote: post #73
wolfram74 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saying Gonzalo Curiel (born in Indiana) can't be impartial in a court case involving Trump "University" because he's mexican is one example.

1) Mexican isn't a race - it is a nationality. There are people of all races that are Mexican. 2) Curiels parents were illegal immigrants, and exactly the kind of people that Trump says he would deport. 3) Curiel has mentioned in the past (in a NYT article from the early 2000s, I can find a link if you like) that his Mexican heritage has had an impact in his practice of the law. 4) Curiel isn't a robot. Imagine if he…

It's still making generalizations about a large group of people and assuming it's true for a particular person which is what racism is for race.

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#134

Post by tlrobinson »

crusso wrote: post #116
jbooth wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd think any actual libertarian would be jumping at the chance to get Johnson over the 5% threshold.

Unless Thiel is actually interested in backing a candidate with a chance of winning - in which case, 5% means nothing.

Being included the debates is not "nothing".

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#135

Post by serge2k »

seany wrote: post #52
josephlord wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you like about him?

Honestly, Trump and Hillary aren't that different. He's a little less of a warhawk, speaks his mind, and is pro-2A. The last one is almost enough on its own for me, given Hillarys stance on that issue.

Except when he's torturing people and bombing civilians because they might be related to terrorists.

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#136

Post by josephlord »

13years wrote: post #87
josephlord wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you like about him?

He has espoused a non-interventionalist foreign policy. Unfortunately though, he is not a man of principle; therefore, I don't have high hopes he would follow through unlike someone like Ron Paul. So for libertarian leaning voters, some might opt for Trump in hopes of less war. I feel that is a bit of a wildcard though. On the other hand, those same voters likely feel that Clinton is more certain of more war and debt…

I thought his policy was to "bomb the hell out of ISIS"?

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2015/11/18/new_trump_...

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#137

Post by tlrobinson »

mark_l_watson wrote: post #117
wturner wrote: post #9

From Peter Thiels perspective its a smart move because he's the only one willing to do something this crazy. This gives him a "monopoly" (as he likes to say) on political access as it relates to the tech world if Trump wins. In short it looks like a bet. Personally I find Trump an archetype of everything I'm trying to get away from in life.... but that is not the point. Also this is just my opinion and maybe their is…

+1 good comment! I read Thiel's Zero to One book twice, and you might have nailed the reason. BTW, off topic, but this campaign is crazy. I don't like either Clinton or Trump, and have mentioned to friends and family that I will leave the presidential part of the ballot in November blank or vote for Jill Stein. It just seems wrong to me to vote for someone I simply don't like. For this honesty, I have several friends…

If you really want to upset your unprincipled friends tell them you're going to write in "Giant Meteor" https://twitter.com/votegiantmeteor

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#138

Post by crusso »

sevenless wrote: post #118
crusso wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a good point about Brexit because I noted even here on HN a great deal of overt resentment toward people who are older who largely voted #leave - as though their votes were less valid because of their age.

That is a reasonable point if you consider Brexit is a hard-to-reverse decision. Older voters have to live with the consequence of their vote for much less long, and unlike an ordinary political vote, the outcome can't be reversed in another five years. Older voters have a different balance of interests between "Stick it up the bureaucrats to blow steam off" and "Irreversibly change the UK's relationship with Europe"…

If older people make voting decisions based upon a decreased impact in long-term consequences, how does that square with the statistically provable riskier behavior engaged in by younger people? If anything, I find that older people care more about the long term because they tend to think in terms of impacts on their progeny. It's just as likely that older people have decades of experience from when the UK was not a member of the EU and have relevant experience that tells them that the UK will be just fine without the EU. There are dozens of ways to spin it and show that older people might have a better perspective on a given issue.

But this is exactly the kind of cherry-picking arguing that healthy societies shouldn't indulge in. Women have the basic human right of being able to vote. As do old people. We respect everyone's right to vote despite the fact that people tend to vote in their self-interests and aren't always that logical in doing so.

Maybe we should've weighted votes by projected life expectancy...

Is that a joke? I'm hoping that's a joke.

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#139

Post by SilasX »

anonymousguy wrote: post #49
harryh wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perot got 18.9% of the popular vote in 1992. Gonna be tough to beat. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_ele...

He is at 13% now and needs only to be at 15% to enter the national spotlight of increased media coverage and access to the general debates. His polling numbers are increasing with a notable momentum as general support of the Republican candidate and Democratic candidate are both at all time lows. As long as the majority of voters think of Trump as a broke racist narcissist and Clinton as an apathetic or unethical eli…

To save everyone else the click: I had heard the 13% figure before, but it was for favorable demographics (like younger people or Bernie supporters), so I was expecting the link to contradict you.

But no, the 13% was one poll's result for Johnson's general support, not simply a favorable demographic for him.

Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming

#140

Post by Apocryphon »

13years wrote: post #87
josephlord wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you like about him?

He has espoused a non-interventionalist foreign policy. Unfortunately though, he is not a man of principle; therefore, I don't have high hopes he would follow through unlike someone like Ron Paul. So for libertarian leaning voters, some might opt for Trump in hopes of less war. I feel that is a bit of a wildcard though. On the other hand, those same voters likely feel that Clinton is more certain of more war and debt…

He's expressed a lot of contradictory statements, though. His recent rhetoric has been very gung ho about smashing ISIS and the like (to be fair, every candidate, even Sanders, following the Orlando attacks, has said the same). He's talked about killing the families of terrorists and bringing back torture methods worse than waterboarding. He might not be as canny or experienced as Clinton is at wielding this nation's military-intelligence systems to wage war with, but that doesn't mean he won't try, at some point. Trump just doesn't come across as a principled peace candidate.

Not to mention, there seems to be a tendency for third party, or dark horse candidates, to run on non-interventionism. Bernie Sanders, Ron Paul, Ralph Nader, Ross Perot, George Wallace, even Charles Lindbergh- I think when one doesn't have previous political commitments to defense contractors and other entrenched pro-interventionist interests, there's no need to suck up on them. Instead, it becomes natural to run on a populist, America first, foreign policy deemphasized campaign to appeal to the common people.

Trump is no longer dark horse, he's no longer fringe. He no longer needs to commit to non-interventionism. If anything, he is currently trying to outmaneuver Clinton as the candidate who can bring terrorism to heel.

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