The bro-ligarchs have a vision for the new Trump term

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/395646/trump-inauguration-broligarchs-musk-zuckerberg-bezos-thiel

by throw0101a • 1 year ago

49 14 1 year ago

It’s interesting that phrases like ‘oligarch’ are applied so casually, especially in a discriminatory way, using terms like ‘bro’. Vox has long been a progressive site, but they apparently ignore their own social justice worldview when it comes to attacking their opponents. I also don’t understand why ‘oligarch’ is not applied to the other side, when Harris had a much broader base of corporate support and raised more funding overall.

The article is otherwise unsubstantial and makes a lot of vague claims without good arguments. I think the ‘vision’ the Trump team and their advisors have is a lot less sinister than these hyperbolic articles make it out to be. It’s really just about restoring freedom of speech, reducing the power given to certain institutions (for example, “fact checkers”), reducing the national debt, creating an environment for technological superiority (which is critical for the US and free world to stay ahead of authoritarian adversaries), and things like that.

The other philosophical things that some people have mentioned at times (for example the compatibility of democracy and freedom) is less about how they’ll govern and more like thinking out loud, which they’re allowed to do. That doesn’t mean they’re committed to those possible ideas, let alone going to act on them.

pvg3• 1 year ago

I also don’t understand why ‘oligarch’ is not applied to the other side

Because typically, very rich Americans (who don't also happen to be politicians or public figures of some sort) keep at least a veneer of separation from the government and the levers of executive power. In exchange, they're politely just called 'billionaires'. When that convention changes, the conventional naming changes too, to the naming used for very rich people who are also visibly enmeshed in the operation of the state.

When Mark Cuban heads up the Federal Urgent Reconstruction & Reconciliation Initiative (FURRI) in 2029, we can all call him an oligarch as well.

dinkumthinkum2• 1 year ago

Is your view that that the Democrats are just plutocrats then because Soros hasn't been given an official title?

kaaskop• 1 year ago

How does threatening your closest allies with invasion fit in with "things like that"? How does unelected oligarchs gaining control over Treasury systems with no oversight or legal basis?

throw0101a3• 1 year ago

I also don’t understand why ‘oligarch’ is not applied to the other side, when Harris had a much broader base of corporate support and raised more funding overall.

I think it's an order of operations thing:

* oligarchs are where the government is corrupt first and helps to enrich some folks who then help prop up a regime

* what we're seeing is that the government isn't corrupt (e.g., elections are not rigged (directly)), you then have the very rich subvert the government

slater• 1 year ago

Remember when the entire right wing shat itself over Obama appointing "czars"?

morkalork• 1 year ago

I don't remember but was it another tan suit moment? The term has been around in US politics since WW1 according to Wikipedia

throw0101a3• 1 year ago

All of these men see themselves as the heroes or protagonists in their own sci-fi saga. And a key part of being a “technological superman” — or ubermensch, as the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche would say — is that you’re above the law. Common-sense morality doesn’t apply to you because you’re a superior being on a superior mission. Thiel, it should be noted, is a big Nietzsche fan, though his is an extremely selective reading of the philosopher’s work.
The ubermensch ideology helps explain the broligarchs’ disturbing gender politics. “The ‘bro’ part of broligarch is not incidental to this — it’s built on this idea that not only are these guys superior, they are superior because they’re guys,” Harrington said.

[…]

The so-called network state is “a fancy name for tech authoritarianism,” journalist Gil Duran, who has spent the past year reporting on these building projects, told me. “The idea is to build power over the long term by controlling money, politics, technology, and land.”

Also maybe "Why big tech turned right":

* https://www.vox.com/politics/397525/trump-big-tech-musk-bezo...

tim333• 1 year ago

I don't really mind the "science fiction, transhumanism, and immortality" bit but the economic policy - slash spending and tarif war everyone - seems kind of nuts. I hope we don't have a twitter like economic result.

The bro-ligarchs have a vision for the new Trump term

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