They're uncomfortable with him supporting Trump but fine with him using his billions to underwrite legal campaigns against people he doesn't like?
Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming
101–110 of 223 posts
Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
>exodus of right-libertarians to various flavors of nationalism. How does a libertarian become a nationalist? Trump sure seems to facillitate "USA pride" but his politics and economics are not that libertarian at all. How can nationalistic pride win over what I thought was the center of the libertarian philosophy?
There is a fundamental problem, some would say contradiction, in libertarian reasoning: if you have an open libertarian society with open borders, non-libertarian inclined people who are none the less interested in the prosperity of libertarian societies can move in and eventually destroy that libertarian society. An internally libertarian society with strong immigration control solves this problem and would be calle…
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Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming
#103Shame on Thiel. Robert Reich - "
Yesterday, Trump argued that the United States should investigate every American who practices Islam. "We really have to look at profiling," Trump told CBS's "Face the Nation." And that the government should investigate mosques in the U.S.
Never before has a major party’s presumptive nominee for president of the United States urged that an entire religion be singled out for investigation. Each day, it seems, Trump comes closer to the fascism America went to war against in 1941. Why doesn’t Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and every Republican leader withdraw their endorsement of him and disavow this hatefulness? To nominate this bigot for the highest office in America is a slap in the face of American values, constitutional rights, and the pluralism America stands for. Trump must be dumped. "
" One by one, Republican leaders are falling in line behind a man who says undocumented workers “bring drugs, crime, they’re rapists;” who claimed “thousands and thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey celebrated the Twin Towers collapsing; who says black criminals are responsible for 81 percent of homicides against whites, which turns out to be a racist myth from white supremacist website; who tells a Jewish group "I'm a negotiator, like you folks;" who bullies, humiliates, and threatens his opponents, including a federal judge now hearing a case against one of his businesses; who suggested President Obama wasn’t born in the United States, that childhood vaccinations cause autism, and that human-caused climate change is a hoax; and whose hateful and demeaning attitude toward women is best summed up in an interview where he said “women, you have to treat them like shit.”
By falling into line behind Trump, Republican leaders are lending legitimacy to such hatefulness, bigotry, and lies. Shame on them. "
Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Why not more Gary Johnson supporters? Because Peter Thiel, among others, are largely operating on a hybrid ideology with the pillars of Nativism/Nationalism & Libertarianism. Gary Johnson is pretty much a pure in the middle of the right/left axis among the range that is called "Libertarian". He is too left-leaning for many of the people that call themselves Libertarian but want to be able to enforce their beliefs o…
>But want to be able to enforce their beliefs on other people. Is there not a more contradictory thing to say? I don't know how libertarians are okay with others using their moniker for something that doesn't seem libertarian.
Most big-L Libertarians are not small-L libertarians.
Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
Examples? Should be pretty easy to find if it is an "extensive history"
The Wall? Anti-trade? Believes judges with Muslim or Mexican heritage are incapable of being fair?
Mexico has a massive border wall on its southern border with Guatemala. Is that racist too?
Not sure exactly what you mean by anti-trade, and how it relates to racism.
Mexican is a nationality, not a race. There are Mexicans of all races, including white(which latinos are classed as, but lets say western european ethnicity too)
Islam is a religion, not a race. There are Muslims of all races, including white.
Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Given the libertarian/Randian streak that runs through silicon valley, support for Trump doesn't seem too outlandish. What? Exactly what libertarian values does Trump espouse?
He's so inconsistent with his rhetoric that it's hard to say. But the libertarian impression exists in the negative: Clinton's style is decidedly not libertarian, and Trump is a businessman by trade so I think in the mind of voters "it stands to reason."
Just because Clinton isn't libertarian, doesn't mean Trump is. I think the public has a basic capacity for logic and that's as basic as it gets.
You know who is libertarian? Gary Johnson.
Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming
#107Earlier 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…
I'm curious which of these points downvoters are disagreeing with. I say this as someone with family members who look very much "Mexican" to most Americans.
I don't like Trump's talk at all, but how would anyone with illegal immigrant parents would have comfortable family gatherings after supporting Trump? Job or not, family is strong.
Is this just an example of herd HN behavior?
Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming
#108There are quite a few Trump supporters in the Valley, but they simply stay quiet because they will get 'racist' yelled at them and it will potentially hurt their careers.
> they will get 'racist' yelled This formulation implies they are victims of people irrationally yelling 'racist' at them. They just said they supported a particular political candidate! How unfair of the mob to slur them! You elide the underlying cause: they keep quiet to avoid having 'racist' yelled at them, because being a Trump supporter is supporting racism.
This argument is often double-downed with "You're sexist if you don't support Hillary". You don't want to be a racist/sexist, right? Vote Hillary!
Both arguments are increasingly why so many people are supporting Trump. They are emotional appeals based on presumptions that aren't necessarily true - and are more irritating than compelling. It also hurts the image of legitimate social issues. When everything is racist/sexist then being racist/sexist no longer holds any meaning.
Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming
#109> After that, he suggested, things went south because, among other things, women were given the right to vote. Wow, does Peter Thiel really think that women shouldn't be allowed to vote?
That doesn't necessarily follow, but I'm curious to hear the answer. You can think people should be allowed to do something, but that them doing that thing is harmful. For example, look at all the people that lamented the fact that plebs voted for Brexit. A lot of anti-democracy talk around the time of that vote.
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.
Re: Peter Thiel’s Embrace of Trump Has Silicon Valley Squirming
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because there has been a collapse in right-leaning libertarianism in the post Ron Paul era. Libertarianism has shifted to the left and there has been an exodus of right-libertarians to various flavors of nationalism. I think this is one of the major intellectual stories of the last decade, largely uncovered by the media.
>exodus of right-libertarians to various flavors of nationalism. How does a libertarian become a nationalist? Trump sure seems to facillitate "USA pride" but his politics and economics are not that libertarian at all. How can nationalistic pride win over what I thought was the center of the libertarian philosophy?
In addition to the sibling comments, there's also the critique of libertarianism as inherently being for those who have "made it." As it, it is easier to agitate for less government regulation and no social welfare net, if one does not benefit from such. And so libertarianism becomes a cover for protecting one's status of privilege. Thus, a shift to "traditional" conservatism which protects that privilege, as typified by nationalism, would be natural for a disgruntled libertarian.
This is one critique that has been made and is of course debatable. It's important to not simply evaluate a political ideology by its tenets, but also the demographics of its supporters, to understand the "culture" that grows around a belief system. We often do the same to religions, after all.