Trump's speech is beside the point now. By bringing Peter Thiel protege J.D. Vance to the ticket, this election's about America's would-be AI and crypto-oligarchs backing a candidate who should not have made it to the first state's primary as a puppet for their interests.
This election is not about fighting for the workers in fly-over country in America, it's about wiping out regulations and funneling gov't funds into businesses that only exist because they can off-load the economic externalities that make them profitable on to the rest of us and reap the rewards.
A great example of this is the proposed "Manhattan Project" for AI:
"The proposed order suggests creating "industry-led" agencies to evaluate AI models and safeguard systems from foreign threats. This approach would likely benefit tech companies already collaborating with the Pentagon on AI projects, such as Palantir, Anduril, and Scale AI. Executives from these firms have reportedly expressed support for Trump."
Thiel owns and runs the first company (Palantir). He's an early and key investor in the second (Anduril). An acolyte from his Thiel Fellowship program is the founder and CEO of the third (Scale AI).
Marc Andreessen and his Silicon Valley buddies in the venture capital world are backing Trump[2] in the hopes that the regulatory shackles will be removed from the crypto companies that they're so heavily invested in, making big bad bets in a sector that still has yet to demonstrate that it's actually creating any value, as opposed to dressing the "Don't be the last guy holding the bag" financial game in a new costume to entice Americans to invest their retirement funds and other money into get-rich schemes that they don't understand.
This election is about whether the US wants to step blindly into becoming the prologue of a bad cypherpunk novel, or whether we recognize to what extent the actual "elites" are engineering a hostile takeover of Washington in order to keep their harebrained schemes alive, instead of actually creating value for Americans. I'm thankful that they decided to pull the trigger on this plan now, with such a defective figurehead like Trump, instead of waiting a cycle or two for a competent and compelling nominee to emerge.
The only people that the Americans should fear "taking over their country" are the Musks, Thiels, and Andreessens who have decided to leverage their power for a shot at taking it all.
Trump actually has a golden (orange) opportunity tonight: act like your near death experience has effected you. I hear all these reports from his allies, and he told Salena Zito that it has. Trumps greatest moment this week wasn't walking in defiantly with a bandage on his ear. It was the look of pride on his face as he watched his granddaughter speak. We all know how much Trump loves the spotlight, so it was actually nice to see him show pride as someone else stepped into it. As Bill noted, that's asking Trump to "not Trump." Marc Thiessen wrote in the WaPo that Trump could win over his doubter with a good speech, to which my reply was "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" But that was a week ago. Things have changed. An uncharacteristic Trump tonight could turn some heads. Then it would be a question as to how long he could keep it up.
I think this is the correct take, Merrie. It’s what I’m hearing. The “grandpa” reference, his subdued presence, all of that. They want to humanize Trump and his speech could make a difference. Of course then he’s at apotheosis (Trumpotheosis?) and there’s only one way to go. Down. It’s a race to the bottom and if it’s going to be Harris, there is no bottom.
So what you are saying is the key for trump tonight is for trump not to be trump. Interesting.
But alas, the convention may be the gateway, the campaign will be a whole other thing. An hour long speech may be manageable when reading from the teleprompter. The three months after that, trump will simply be trump.
It all gets compounded and magnified when Joe steps down and his replacement isn't slack-jawed, chalky white and stumbling from mic to mic. Oh yeah, then there's that pesky age issue that voters from both parties have been moaning about.
It's going to get far more interesting and it has nothing to do with all of the conspiracies floating about that are utter and complete nonsense.
Well, so much for THAT! I listened to the beginning and thought "This is the least Trump I've ever seen him." But after the first few minutes, it was back to American Carnage. On the plus side, he managed to stay awake and on his feet for over 90 minutes and was more coherent than Joe Biden, so points for that I guess.
Trump's speech is beside the point now. By bringing Peter Thiel protege J.D. Vance to the ticket, this election's about America's would-be AI and crypto-oligarchs backing a candidate who should not have made it to the first state's primary as a puppet for their interests.
This election is not about fighting for the workers in fly-over country in America, it's about wiping out regulations and funneling gov't funds into businesses that only exist because they can off-load the economic externalities that make them profitable on to the rest of us and reap the rewards.
A great example of this is the proposed "Manhattan Project" for AI:
"The proposed order suggests creating "industry-led" agencies to evaluate AI models and safeguard systems from foreign threats. This approach would likely benefit tech companies already collaborating with the Pentagon on AI projects, such as Palantir, Anduril, and Scale AI. Executives from these firms have reportedly expressed support for Trump."
Thiel owns and runs the first company (Palantir). He's an early and key investor in the second (Anduril). An acolyte from his Thiel Fellowship program is the founder and CEO of the third (Scale AI).
Marc Andreessen and his Silicon Valley buddies in the venture capital world are backing Trump[2] in the hopes that the regulatory shackles will be removed from the crypto companies that they're so heavily invested in, making big bad bets in a sector that still has yet to demonstrate that it's actually creating any value, as opposed to dressing the "Don't be the last guy holding the bag" financial game in a new costume to entice Americans to invest their retirement funds and other money into get-rich schemes that they don't understand.
This election is about whether the US wants to step blindly into becoming the prologue of a bad cypherpunk novel, or whether we recognize to what extent the actual "elites" are engineering a hostile takeover of Washington in order to keep their harebrained schemes alive, instead of actually creating value for Americans. I'm thankful that they decided to pull the trigger on this plan now, with such a defective figurehead like Trump, instead of waiting a cycle or two for a competent and compelling nominee to emerge.
The only people that the Americans should fear "taking over their country" are the Musks, Thiels, and Andreessens who have decided to leverage their power for a shot at taking it all.
[1] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/07/trump-allies-want-to-make-america-first-in-ai-with-sweeping-executive-order/
[2] https://www.axios.com/2024/07/17/trump-andreessen-horowitz-tech-billionaires
Brilliantly said Chris.
Trump actually has a golden (orange) opportunity tonight: act like your near death experience has effected you. I hear all these reports from his allies, and he told Salena Zito that it has. Trumps greatest moment this week wasn't walking in defiantly with a bandage on his ear. It was the look of pride on his face as he watched his granddaughter speak. We all know how much Trump loves the spotlight, so it was actually nice to see him show pride as someone else stepped into it. As Bill noted, that's asking Trump to "not Trump." Marc Thiessen wrote in the WaPo that Trump could win over his doubter with a good speech, to which my reply was "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" But that was a week ago. Things have changed. An uncharacteristic Trump tonight could turn some heads. Then it would be a question as to how long he could keep it up.
I think this is the correct take, Merrie. It’s what I’m hearing. The “grandpa” reference, his subdued presence, all of that. They want to humanize Trump and his speech could make a difference. Of course then he’s at apotheosis (Trumpotheosis?) and there’s only one way to go. Down. It’s a race to the bottom and if it’s going to be Harris, there is no bottom.
So what you are saying is the key for trump tonight is for trump not to be trump. Interesting.
But alas, the convention may be the gateway, the campaign will be a whole other thing. An hour long speech may be manageable when reading from the teleprompter. The three months after that, trump will simply be trump.
It all gets compounded and magnified when Joe steps down and his replacement isn't slack-jawed, chalky white and stumbling from mic to mic. Oh yeah, then there's that pesky age issue that voters from both parties have been moaning about.
It's going to get far more interesting and it has nothing to do with all of the conspiracies floating about that are utter and complete nonsense.
Wow, I don't believe I'm actually agreeing with Bill. Well said.
Well, so much for THAT! I listened to the beginning and thought "This is the least Trump I've ever seen him." But after the first few minutes, it was back to American Carnage. On the plus side, he managed to stay awake and on his feet for over 90 minutes and was more coherent than Joe Biden, so points for that I guess.