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Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

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Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#621

Post by ooqr »

pg314 wrote: post #600
pg314 wrote: post #593

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since he never released his taxes we have no idea about his financial situation. We have no clear idea who he owns what to. After a string of business debacles his US financing sources all but dried up. He definitely owes money to Deutsche Bank. (It's going to be fun when he will have to negotiate their 14 billion fine.) It is likely that he owes money to Russian banks. He also owns real estate across the world. I wo…

He also doesn't seem to have a real plan to disentangle himself from his business interests as a president. He said he will let his kids run the Trump foundation, but that's still a huge conflict of interest. The traditional way to avoid conflicts of interests is to put your assets into a blind trust (i.e. liquidate your assets and let an independent person administer them without you knowing about how your money is…

Based on probability alone, they'd do a better job at it and make him look bad.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#622

Post by mch82 »

masondixon wrote: post #597
cyphax wrote: post #584

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Thankfully, freedom of speech is such an integral part of the US, that there is not one side trying to control what the other can say, and the other doing the same back. Let's hope _other_ people's freedoms aren't being taken away thanks to your vote, though. I also don't see why you would Trump will actually listen to you. Because he says so? You trust what he says? I understand and will not debate that you feel l…

> Let's hope _other_ people's freedoms aren't being taken away thanks to your vote, though. Such as? > I also don't see why you would Trump will actually listen to you. Because he says so? You trust what he says? I'm not talking about Trump listening. I'm talking about liberals listening to trump supporters trying to explain to them why they lost, and why they feel they are taking away freedom of speech. > I understa…

Do you not perceive the chanting of "crooked Hillary" and "lock that bitch up" to be examples of bullying and public shaming?

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#623

Post by tomp »

prairiedogg wrote: post #617
masondixon wrote: post #591

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> how anyone could feel comfortable with him as commander in chief I understand what you are saying here. He struggles to speak eloquently, and does not have a statesman-like persona. He is no traditional president. But look at the last 15 years of foreign policy from "statesmen". We had two wars, Obama missed seeing the rise of ISIS, Syria is a humanitarian nightmare, we had a huge financial crash, and terrorism is…

Hi masondixon! > But look at the last 15 years of foreign policy from "statesmen". We had two wars, Obama missed seeing the rise of ISIS, Syria is a humanitarian nightmare, we had a huge financial crash, and terrorism is on the rise. So is your argument that "statesmen" have failed to avoid crisis, therefore someone who is not a "statesman" will be able to better avoid crisis? Would it be fair then to say that becaus…

> failed to avoid crisis

"failed to avoid" starting a war?

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#624

Post by shawabawa3 »

joshvm wrote: post #616
masondixon wrote: post #580

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The argument stays at the high level of "how could you vote for someone who said that", "he is a monster", etc. It is "I don't want to listen". >> And what Trump said showed he's a liar, misogynist, tech illiterate, arrogant and overall a disgusting human being. And Clinton is not a liar, not a tech illiterate, not arrogant, and not disgusting human being? On misogyny - she has never attacked a woman's character be…

You can argue that a lot of people (Democrats included) didn't want to vote for Clinton either . By that argument you're justifying both candidates' character flaws by saying "Well, you know the other person is just as bad as my choice, so that makes it OK".

> "Well, you know the other person is just as bad as my choice, so that makes it OK"

That is perfectly logical in a 2 (effectively) candidate election

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#625

Post by domfletcher »

masondixon wrote: post #613
thenomad wrote: post #607

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you be willing to articulate your argument for Trump here? I promise not to argue against you, and certainly not to slur you. Can't speak for anyone else, though. We now HAVE Trump coming in as US president, so frankly I'd welcome a bit of hope that he might be good. I can't promise to agree with you, but I'm very willing to listen to arguments from those who hold opposing positions to mine.

> I promise not to argue against you, and certainly not to slur you. Please argue! And thank you for not slurring :) > Would you be willing to articulate your argument for Trump here? I supported Obama. I always considered myself a liberal. I support gay marriage, I support gun control. I support universal health care. I support decent welfare and a safety net. As a programmer, the formative moment for my Trump suppo…

I think you're right about the need for debate around how identity politics can be better expressed and that is a debate that seems to have been slightly suppressed on the left. I would say two things about why I don't think this is a good reason to support Trump:

1. The situation you describe is fundamentally about freedom of speech vs the right not be be offended. Trump is not an advocate of freedom of speech and doesn't believe in a free press. In my estimation this is much more dangerous than what you describe.

2. This doesn't even register on my scale of the pros and cons of Trump. The Presidency is not about who decides who gets to say what to whom, that is a matter for society at large. As has been described elsewhere in this thread the damage he will do (if he enacts even half of his platform) to immigrant and womens rights, America's standing in the world and free trade will outweigh a hundredfold any small gains you get from a backlash against political correctness.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#626

Post by tomp »

pryce wrote: post #366
edblarney wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Peter Thiel wrote a book called The Diversity Myth where he said that race mixing would destroy white culture" This is a lie, and it's exactly the kind of lie that Thiel is trying to call out as insufferable oppression on campus and in intellectual discussion. Having lived in very 'multicultural' places, and fairly homogeneous places, it's clear to me that there are both advantages and disadvantages to each - and to…

You're entitled to your personal preferences in where/how you like to live, but none of that changes the facts that: 1. Peter Thiel indeed wrote a book called 'the Diversity Myth' and 2. that book claims that multiculturalism exists to destroy white culture If you're going to argue that the above claim is a "lie", you are obliged to show where that lie is. Your only plausible avenue (as I can see it) is to somehow ob…

> that book claims that multiculturalism exists to destroy white culture

Any quotes or anything to substantiate this claim?

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#627

Post by te_chris »

masondixon wrote: post #568
yaacov wrote: post #536

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Income was pretty strongly positively correlated with voting for Trump over Clinton. The 'white working class revolt' narrative is only a small part of what happened on Tuesday.

Yes this is what everyone missed. If you watched South Park over the past 3 seasons, or watched Milo Yiannopolous' videos on YouTube, there is a battle going on against the progressive movement. Its about freedom of speech. But the liberals failed to see this, because they were too busy labelling everyone misogynist and racist.

Yes, the rising up of embittered masculinity is a hell of a sight.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#628

Post by DominikR »

meritt wrote: post #21

This was obvious from the RNC speech and further reinforced when Thiel donated $1M to Trump. A contrarian bet, sure, but $1M is a pretty small price to pay to have a 50/50 shot at CTO of the USA. I'm sure he'll see a very significant ROI on his $1M once the government starts awarding contracts very conveniently to companies of which he owns a portion. I had very negative feelings about Thiel, and those were magnified…

That's just pure speculation because you do not like Trump or his policies.

Thiel is a very good person to advise on the tech sector and which direction technology might lead society to since he obviously called many major developments and made huge profits on these bets.

Thiel also happens to align with the Republicans on certain issues so why should Trump not ask for his advise or Thiel offer advise?

It's great that a true Libertarian like Thiel even gets the chance to influence the direction of the government.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#629

Post by tkxxx7 »

tdkl wrote: post #579
rootlocus wrote: post #576

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Thankfully, freedom of speech is such an integral part of the US, that there is not one side trying to control what the other can say, and the other doing the same back. Sure, you and Donald Trump can say whatever you please. Nobody's restricting your freedom of speech. However, what you say betrays who you are. And what Trump said showed he's a liar, misogynist, tech illiterate, arrogant and overall a disgusting h…

> People listen up until the point you prove to them you're not worth listening to. And they decide that based on emotions, which marks them as not being capable of rational discussions.

That could easily be a rational decision.

Re: Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team

#630

Post by prairiedogg »

tomp wrote: post #623
prairiedogg wrote: post #617

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi masondixon! > But look at the last 15 years of foreign policy from "statesmen". We had two wars, Obama missed seeing the rise of ISIS, Syria is a humanitarian nightmare, we had a huge financial crash, and terrorism is on the rise. So is your argument that "statesmen" have failed to avoid crisis, therefore someone who is not a "statesman" will be able to better avoid crisis? Would it be fair then to say that becaus…

> failed to avoid crisis "failed to avoid" starting a war?

Hi tomp!

I was trying to summarize masondixon's stated points about the negative effect electing "statesmen" have had. masondixon listed:

- two wars

- Obama missed seeing the rise of ISIS

- Syria is a humanitarian nightmare

- we had a huge financial crash

- and terrorism is on the rise

I thought "crisis" could fairly characterize any one of these, but what I consider the substance of my response was what followed, when I asked masondixon to clarify his or her logical argument and extended it by analogy to other common points of public concern, like medicine and transportation safety.

I think you're correct to point out that "starting a war" and "avoiding crisis" are substantively different and accept (what I perceive to be) your criticism.

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