Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team • Hacker News Board

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#331

Post by woofyman » Fri, Nov 11, 2016, 4:30 AM UTC

reflexive wrote: post #269

threeseed wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump I suspect will be very similar to George W Bush. From all accounts he simply doesn't have the intellectual stamina to handle the rigours of the job. And I don't mean that in a negative way he is just more of a hands on, energetic, get shit done sort of guy. So in order to survive he is going to delegate to people like Guilani, Christie, Gingrich, Carson etc. Some of the most shameless, self serving and unethica…

> From all accounts he simply doesn't have the intellectual stamina Can you elaborate on what accounts these are? The only estimate I've seen of his intelligence was based the school he graduated from.

Tony Schwartz who ghost wrote " The art of the deal" spent 18 months following trump around.

http://jpupdates.com/2016/07/19/art-of-the-deal-ghostwriter-...

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#332

Post by betolink » Fri, Nov 11, 2016, 4:30 AM UTC

paulsutter wrote: post #294

betolink wrote: post #240

People here giving Thiel a free pass on his views and support for bigotry is just disgusting.

Here's Peter's speech at the National Press Club: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob-LJqPQEJ4 Could you point out anywhere that Peter supports bigotry? Or even, a single crazy statement in Peter's speech? (I wouldn't defend Trump. I'm defending Peter, who I respect a lot). The speech runs from 2:40 to 15:50, and can be watched in 7 minutes if you change speed to 2x. (Thomas, I respect you a lot too. I've never seen o…

"They(Mexicans) are rapists and murderers" Take a look[1] you may have been stranded on an Island the last 2 years and perhaps you did not hear what Trump have said.

Now, not all Trump supporters are racists (maybe Thiel isn't? who knows!), but all of them are telling us implicitly that racism and bigotry are not deal breakers.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37zvOZ17eSE

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#333

Post by threeseed » Fri, Nov 11, 2016, 4:30 AM UTC

edblarney wrote: post #299

threeseed wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is just nonsense. Trump never provided his tax returns for scrutiny so unlike Hillary we don't know who exactly he is beholden to. What we know from his son, sources and leaks is that Russian ogligarchs with ties to Putin do hold significant amounts of his company's debt. It is this type of "pay to play" that is far, far beyond anything that has ever been seen before.

Personal finances are another issue altogether. He is audited every single year, and there is very deep scrutiny of his personal finances. There are many in the IRS who would love to find something wrong. It's the political favours and support that mattes. I will say this: the laws concerning 'conflict of interest' are very weak in the US for the office of the Pres. It's possible that a Malaysian leader could buy fav…

The IRS is obligated to not reveal ANY personal information regarding a person or company's tax situation. So for all we know he has done something wrong, every year. You seem to think that being audited somehow ensures transparency. It doesn't.

And you keep making these statements about being unencumbered when it is well known that Russian ogligarchs own significant amounts of his company's debt. That is the very definition of being encumbered.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#334

Post by overgard » Fri, Nov 11, 2016, 4:30 AM UTC

revelation wrote: post #192

overgard wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The right thing". Tolerance means recognizing that people have different world views than your own. Sometimes the people you do business with have political opinions you don't agree with. The melodrama over Thiel's political opinions is pointless. If you demand Thiel steps down, are you personally just going to stop doing business with 49% of the country that voted differently? Personally I lean liberal, but I'm pre…

There is tolerance and then there are things that are not open to discussion. The line tends to shift as society progresses. Not so long ago it was a perfectly valid opinion that there should be slaves. Try that today. (Incidentally that same level of society would have seen Thiel stoned to death, he is openly gay after all)

> There is tolerance and then there are things that are not open to discussion

So what's not "open to discussion"? It seems like fundamentally everything about this election has been open to discussion, it's been a weird fucking election. Are you literally saying supporting Trump is a crime so bad that it's not "open to discussion"?

"The line tends to shift as society progresses." You talk about this "line" as if it's a real thing. Let me pose a fairly obvious question, in almost any time period, who imposed the limits of "what is not open to discussion", and what were their motives? Keep in mind, things that are obviously true don't need to be "not open to discussion", because nobody is bothering to discuss them.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#335

Post by gefh » Fri, Nov 11, 2016, 4:31 AM UTC

privong wrote: post #143

noobermin wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. He lied, as many on the left said he was. Here[0], there is talk Jamie Dimon was considered by his advisors for Treasury. To be fair, Dimon declined, but it shows that Trump at least surrounds himself with people who don't give two shits about his "helping the little man." [0] http://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/10/donald-trump-advisors-conside...

> He lied, as many on the left said he was. Please drop the partisan angle on this. This isn't a left/right difference. Obama campaigned with a similar promise and he still selected lobbyists for his administration: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/08/15/th... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Wheeler

Tom Wheeler has done his job just fine, and not shown any preference to his old industry. For all we know Obama made a great choice based on his character.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#336

Post by pharrington » Fri, Nov 11, 2016, 4:32 AM UTC

gnarbarian wrote: post #282

kafkaesq wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In addition to what others have said: His head-over-heels support for a decidedly anti-libertarian candidate like Trump is in itself quite extremist. This has always been one of the standard tools for (crypto-)fascists and closet authoritarians of all ilks to get into positions of influence -- by using people of nominally "opposing" viewpoints as, in effect, wedge instruments to disrupt the system as violently as pos…

You can't call trump an extremist when half the country voted for him.

Perhaps the man who lives in a golden palace with this name emblazoned on it isn't actually representative of half the country?

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#337

Post by tptacek » Fri, Nov 11, 2016, 4:32 AM UTC

lucio wrote: post #243

ForrestN wrote: post #94

Is there a kind of "political correctness" that refuses the acknowledgment of facts and likelihoods that sound similar to irrational dismissal? Does that kind prevent people from hearing the following things which I think most people would agree to be true? -Donald Trump says he wants to completely deregulate the banking industry, which will most likely, in the long term, lead to a crisis on par with or greater than…

It seems that if you oppose an elected government, as in "muster all of its leverage, economic and otherwise, in the fight to curtail the power of Thiel's organization (The Trump Administration)", you're opposing democracy.

This is a critique you could have lobbed at every protest movement in the history of the United States, from Women's Suffrage to the March On Washington to the Vietnam War. You can't possibly mean to say what your comment seems to say.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#338

Post by xbmcuser » Fri, Nov 11, 2016, 4:32 AM UTC

reflexive wrote: post #269

threeseed wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump I suspect will be very similar to George W Bush. From all accounts he simply doesn't have the intellectual stamina to handle the rigours of the job. And I don't mean that in a negative way he is just more of a hands on, energetic, get shit done sort of guy. So in order to survive he is going to delegate to people like Guilani, Christie, Gingrich, Carson etc. Some of the most shameless, self serving and unethica…

> From all accounts he simply doesn't have the intellectual stamina Can you elaborate on what accounts these are? The only estimate I've seen of his intelligence was based the school he graduated from.

Simple example Obama thinks single payer health care would be the best thing. But to that they would have to almost destroy a trillion dollar industry and millions will loose jobs. So has to move with smaller steps. Trump thinks Illegal immigrants from Mexico are taking American jobs. So he just ships them all back and closes the border(builds the wall) in one go. I don't think he will consider the fact that would destroy a lot of farms in the Midwest who are surviving because of cheap Mexican labour. And if he really wants to do something about he should go gradually about it and not put a blanket stop on it. Some of his trade ideas are actually good will cause inflation but would probably also bring more jobs to the US.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#339

Post by edblarney » Fri, Nov 11, 2016, 4:33 AM UTC

Tycho wrote: post #277

threeseed wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is just nonsense. Trump never provided his tax returns for scrutiny so unlike Hillary we don't know who exactly he is beholden to. What we know from his son, sources and leaks is that Russian ogligarchs with ties to Putin do hold significant amounts of his company's debt. It is this type of "pay to play" that is far, far beyond anything that has ever been seen before.

Why would we learn anything new about that from his tax return? Doesn't the financial disclosure filing cover that?

We wouldn't learn anything salient.

But we would probably learn something like:

a) he's not nearly as rich as he claims

b) he's made maybe $50M this year and paid $0 in taxes due to write-offs in earlier years.

That would not go down well publicly.

Romney paid an effective rate of 14% on his $500K income (I think all capital gains) and that was destructive for his campaign. It just looks pretty out of touch - 99% of Americans earn less than $500K and pay far more than 14% in taxes.

So it would have been a publicity disaster, enough to hurt him badly.

Maybe some other skeletons in there.

But I don't think anything illegal.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#340

Post by Moshe_Silnorin » Fri, Nov 11, 2016, 4:34 AM UTC

pjdemers wrote: post #275

Disagreeing with each other's views on the economy, international relations, even the environment is good for the country. We need different points of view on important issues. But using race baiting to gain political power crosses a line that should never be crossed. He should not be helping to legitimize this.

I very much dislike Trump and would never vote for the man. Both sides use race baiting. Spurious use of the word "racist" against those who dislike government intervention and entitlements has basicly denuded the term of its once-quite-considerable power. They called Bush racist, wasn't true. They called Romney racist, a laughable claim. They called Trump racist and maybe this time there're right, but what does "racist" even mean again?