Potential Presidency for Zuckerberg?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/mark-zuckerberg-hits-the-road-to-meet-regular-folkswith-a-few-conditions-1499873098

by BrahamMehta • 9 years ago

17 26 9 years ago

wfunction4• 9 years ago

He's doing this because he thinks he's a competent politician who could make the world better? Or because he's looking at Trump and eyeing the throne, realizing everything a billionaire president could get away with?

4y5yswghe• 9 years ago

Trump seems to have proven that wealth is now considered enough of a virtue in its own right to qualify you for the highest office in the country, regardless of lack of political (or any elected) experience, policy ideas, general principles, or character.

newtem0• 9 years ago

Its people like you who are the problem. What an idiotic statement. Youve clearly never watched a single campaign speech from trump. Youve never investigated or even contemplated how his campaign really worked or the issues of his voter base. You dont understand anything because youve never attempted to view the whole thing objectively. Please just shut up.

ferdbold• 9 years ago

Or maybe it's a bit of that, but also a lot of being part of the establishment is now considered enough of a vice.

e402• 9 years ago

Paywall, so I can't read before commenting, but the main question: would he need to divest himself of FB shares before running and/or if he wins?

brndnmtthws• 9 years ago

Maybe he'll hold a press conference with a stack of blank sheets of paper claiming they prove he's completely divested from his businesses, all while refusing to allow anyone to inspect the documents.

toxican• 9 years ago

I believe glaring conflicts of interests are a requirement at this point.

Finnucane2• 9 years ago

Not necessarily. Past presidents used blind trusts to put their assets and investments aside so that in theory they wouldn't be motivated by personal profit while president. It's not illegal for a president to conduct personal business while being president. It's unethical for the president to use his office for personal gain. And it is unconstitutional for the president to take money from representatives of foreign governments.

e402• 9 years ago

That wouldn't work here, though. Whether he holds them directly or through a blind trust, he'll know he has FB. Just because he can't sell doesn't matter, he could make decisions as POTUS that would greatly benefit FB.

zitterbewegung• 9 years ago

I would see Zuckerberg rise to power by first becoming a California Governor. Maybe he could swing by getting the Republican Nomination without experience .

wavefunction• 9 years ago

I hope he sticks to running facebook and his... charitable endeavors.

From my perspective the current inhabitant of the White House provides a fine illustration that "success" in the world of business does not necessarily translate into success or effectiveness in the world of public service and politics. This feeling has only been compounded by the likes and conduct of members of the current administration like Tillerson and Mnuchin.

Zuckerberg's demand not to be quoted after meeting and talking with people is a huge red flag to me, for example.

wfunction4• 9 years ago

To be honest, I'm no fan of oil company CEOs, but I have yet to see anything bad from Tillerson as secretary of state. He seems like a pretty normal secretary of state, and almost like the only sane guy in the administration.

komaromy2• 9 years ago

His treatment of the press corps has been more or less abysmal, but he does seem to be one of the less destructive cabinet members.

jacquesm• 9 years ago

From my perspective the current inhabitant of the White House provides a fine illustration that "success" in the world of business does not necessarily translate into success or effectiveness in the world of public service and politics.

The effect is the opposite. The current inhabitant of the White House proves to a whole slew of people that they too could become president, qualifications being irrelevant and the general feeling that they wouldn't do an even worse job of it.

Simulacra• 9 years ago

I will spend every time I have against Zuckerberg becoming President. I do not trust him, and I do not want Facebook or him running this country; Sadly, in many ways, they already do.

creaghpatr• 9 years ago

Last sentence of the article, which is improperly titled for some reason:

As Mr. Zuckerberg was leaving, he made one request, Mr. Moore said.
“He said, ‘If there are any news reporters that call you, just make sure you tell them I’m not running for president.’”

The majority of the article is just about how Zuck's entourage worked to try and make his encounters feel more spontaneous. I felt bad for both the tokenized middle Americans and for Zuck, for whom the construction of his social encounters was necessary for security (and lets not kid ourselves, probably PR) reasons. I don't know if he'll run for President but I think for as tacky and PR-related as the trip is, I think he does genuinely want to learn more about the rest of the country, if only to improve Facebook's UX.

That's not an endorsement though. I think he would get crushed in a Presidential campaign.

gurkendoktor• 9 years ago

Can't read the article thanks to the paywall, but I'm not a fan of the underlying idea. If you think Trump's words of admiration for Putin are scary, then what is Zuckerberg's blatant fanboyism for Xi Jinping?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/china-s-president-x...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/elizabetheconomy/2014/12/09/zuc...

mdevere• 9 years ago

He is Hillary 2.0 and would be a disaster for Democrats.

gremlinsinc• 9 years ago

I wouldn't say Hillary 2.0 ... I like Mark, I hate Hillary... I don't think Hillary would be quick to jump on single-payer healthcare and guaranteed basic income trains... but I'm not really sure he's cut out to be a politician, personally I'd much rather it be Bernie Sanders, he was born for the job.

scj• 9 years ago

The core question I have is... How much advantage is there skewing Facebook in favour of a candidate? Could it translate to a 3% improvement in the polls?

Even if it could help, it'd probably be wiser for him to back a candidate that shares his vision than run himself. It only makes sense if he can't find someone he would endorse (publicly or otherwise), or if he just wants the job for himself.

Finnucane2• 9 years ago

I have a hard time imagining Zuckerberg going along with letting someone else run Facebook for four years while he was doing something else.

e15ctr0n• 9 years ago

He's already doing it with Sheryl Sandberg.

Potential Presidency for Zuckerberg?

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