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Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

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Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#391

Post by pryce »

_qbjt wrote: post #349
betolink wrote: post #240

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

Ironically, bigotry is defined as "intolerance toward those who hold different opinions from oneself". I'm not defending Trump but it's fairly obvious to any non-partisan that the left wing is just as guilty of this.

Call me when your American Left Wing creates a system where Christians, Republicans and Libertarians are forbidden to dine in restaurants because of their identity, or are prevented from using restrooms, or are afraid to call the police should they be victims of crime, because they expect that the police will either make things worse or at best not take their experience seriously.

"just as guilty" is a false equivalence. The Left has much to answer for certainly; but the claim that there is somehow comparable bigotry in both sides of the political spectrum is not remotely credible.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#392

Post by tptacek »

wtbob wrote: post #376
Jtsummers wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) Seems a bit strong to tell someone what they can and can't say. 2) He didn't get half the country to vote for him. It looks like around 55-60% of voters turned out this year (the whole tally isn't calculated yet). Of those, he got less than 50% (as Clinton got more votes than him). So at best he seems to have gotten around 30% of the voters to vote for him. Not everyone is a voter (age, other disqualifying factors…

> Of those, he got less than 50% (as Clinton got more votes than him). Mrs. Clinton also got less than 50% of the votes. Neither one won a clear majority of the popular vote.

You are rebutting an argument nobody made.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#393

Post by corndoge »

lamontcg wrote: post #364
Rapzid wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently because they supported his campaign too.. Man, it's hard to watch. I see evidence and hope very much that the pivot people thought would happen when he got the GOP nomination has happened now that he has won the White House and everything is sinking in. I didn't support Trump for prez, but I really hope he is successful and was a little excited shortly after the shock wore off. Excited for the unknown and…

Coming as someone who lived through Reagan and both Bushes, I can state with a reasonable degree of certainty that you don't know how the world works, and you're about to get a lesson. I'm not even certain you understand how the government works, since it is going to be the Republican House and Senate who are going to be drafting and sending bills for him to sign.

Well I'm relieved to hear that at least someone among us knows exactly how the world works.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#394

Post by Jtsummers »

wtbob wrote: post #376
Jtsummers wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) Seems a bit strong to tell someone what they can and can't say. 2) He didn't get half the country to vote for him. It looks like around 55-60% of voters turned out this year (the whole tally isn't calculated yet). Of those, he got less than 50% (as Clinton got more votes than him). So at best he seems to have gotten around 30% of the voters to vote for him. Not everyone is a voter (age, other disqualifying factors…

> Of those, he got less than 50% (as Clinton got more votes than him). Mrs. Clinton also got less than 50% of the votes. Neither one won a clear majority of the popular vote.

You are correct. I didn't say otherwise.

EDIT: Out of curiosity I looked some numbers up, going just by the ones that did turn out to vote, she has 47.52% of the cast votes, he has 47.19%. The difference in votes is around 400k.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#395

Post by NhanH »

tptacek wrote: post #378
NhanH wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are not being consistent. Yes, the Electoral College was designed to stop the populist candidate if they are deemed unfit for President. And if said system ends up electing Trump, shouldn't you revise your belief, rather than sticking with it? The meme that more people is voting for Clinton is tired, and meaningless. You can't just assume with a different fundamental, the votes would have been the same: there are…

He just said Trump will be President. You're rebutting an argument he didn't make. Nobody is obligated to support the President. That's why it's called "the loyal opposition".

> Whether you respect the Electoral College or don't, Trump should not be the President.

I was saying that this statement doesn't follow from his 2 previous paragraphs. On the other hand, if this was a personal statement against Trump (rather than a logical conclusion of the previous paragraphs), then my comment doesn't apply.

In other words, I just wanted to emphasize that I believe in the statement "if you respect the Electoral College, Trump should be the next President". That is independent to any opinion I have on Trump. It just seems to me that too many people are rallying against a system just based on their emotions. The electoral system has its issues, however voting Trump up this time isn't one of them.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#396

Post by couchand »

white-flame wrote: post #179
Frondo wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tolerance means you aren't jailing people with different views than your own. Tolerance means you aren't out beating people up for having different views. Tolerance isn't about putting on a happy face and doing business with someone whose views you find odious. If people are no longer free to use words or social stigma to advance their views and opinion, because "tolerance," then what do we have left?

I think most people would equate "tolerance" with "non-antagonizing" in the general case. It's hard to claim that actively antagonizing & stigmatizing somebody for their beliefs (not just reasonably arguing against the beliefs themselves) counts as tolerant of others' beliefs. It exactly means that no matter how subjectively and personally odious somebody's beliefs are to you, you can still respect their personhood,…

There are beliefs that it is fair to reasonably argue with and then there are statements that defy common decency. At some point offensive statements should be shunned, not engaged with.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#397

Post by danm07 »

zaroth wrote: post #241
Rapzid wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we believe all the recently headlines about who he's bringing in it appears pure "pay to play". Lots of individuals who Trump "owes" through either money or support they provided to him; pure cronyism. I'm not sure Trump realizes what worked best in business, or what he felt worked best for him in what business he has done, is not necessarily best for operating policy. I'm not sure he cares. I suspect he might tho…

Ok, it is a skill keeping a train of thought going with those camera shutters going off 50 times a second. [1] I didn't see what you saw, but Trump sure looks tired. Anyone would be, I have no idea how they keep the pace they do. Oldest President-elect in history. My first executive order as President of the United States would be to ban camera shutters at my press conferences. [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d…

I don't think he's tired. By the time he took the stage, news networkers have been railing about global markets in free-fall for several hours.

He literally cannot restart his shpiel until the markets stabilize. To me, his suppression looks contrived.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#398

Post by FireBeyond »

throwawayIndian wrote: post #18
_pius wrote: post #2

Meanwhile, Trump's already got an RFS in waiting: http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-says-he-... https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs/ The longer YC waits to do the right thing on this, the worse it will get.

Don't agree! I'd blame the democrats alone (the party, leadership, delegates, superdelegates and a section of voters + ~~liar~~ media) for giving away the presidency to Trump. For free, literally. How is Peter Thiel or anyone else (Trump's supporters) responsible for what comes out of the man's mouth when at the same time the other party is clearly doing what's downright corruption/stifling a democratic nomination? I…

"and that Trump gets the big things right even though his behavior isn't acceptable"

It wasn't that unacceptable if he gave him a million dollars and is now working for him.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#399

Post by serge2k »

edblarney wrote: post #231
Rapzid wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we believe all the recently headlines about who he's bringing in it appears pure "pay to play". Lots of individuals who Trump "owes" through either money or support they provided to him; pure cronyism. I'm not sure Trump realizes what worked best in business, or what he felt worked best for him in what business he has done, is not necessarily best for operating policy. I'm not sure he cares. I suspect he might tho…

"Lots of individuals who Trump "owes" through either money or support they provided to him; pure cronyism." Trump is the most 'free' President in modern history. He 'owes' the least, to the fewest people. This is one thing even the center-left press were talking about. As for Thiel - $1M might seem like a lot - but Trump doesn't really 'owe' Thiel anything, because Thiel doesn't have direct future influence etc., and…

> "Lots of individuals who Trump "owes" through either money or support they provided to him; pure cronyism." Trump is the most 'free' President in modern history. He 'owes' the least, to the fewest people.

No, the people he owes just aren't other politicians.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#400

Post by danm07 »

threeseed wrote: post #216
Rapzid wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we believe all the recently headlines about who he's bringing in it appears pure "pay to play". Lots of individuals who Trump "owes" through either money or support they provided to him; pure cronyism. I'm not sure Trump realizes what worked best in business, or what he felt worked best for him in what business he has done, is not necessarily best for operating policy. I'm not sure he cares. I suspect he might tho…

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…

I think George W Bush would be quite happy that he will no longer be considered the worst president in recent history.
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