I think a better question is: what’s Meta’s future in Europe? Meta occupies a lot of social media slots that could be filled by European companies. I think both China and Russia have proven that if you suppress foreign competition it’s relatively easy to build those alternatives: it’s not a challenging technical problem like it was a decade ago, it’s just a question of network effects. And a Meta that aligns itself tightly with the US government might give Europe the excuse it needs to start that suppression. 450+m users is a lot of customers, and even if you can survive it you end up with more competition for the rest of the addressable market.
The past year has been strange. Back in 2016, there was so much opposition to Trump. Even after he was elected and granted tremendous power, the other "elites" were staunchly opposed to him and spoke out against him. This despite the fact that the worst thing you can say about DJT in 2017 is that he is an uncouth man.
Fast forward 8 years, and the things we know about DJT today are so much worse than anyone imagined in 2017. He tried to subvert our nation's democracy and political stability. He summoned a mob of rioters, stood idly by while they assaulted our leaders in congress, and eventually pardoned all of them. He has been convicted of multiple felonies, and found guilty in civil court of sexual abuse. People from his own previous administration have called him out as being corrupt and incompetent, and seven Republican senators voted to impeach/convict him.
And yet, despite a jaw-dropping list of unforgivable offenses from the past few years, he enjoys more support today than he did in 2020. From people as smart as Zuck and Andreesen.
It really is true what they say about the fragility of political norms. Once you let the genie out of the bottle, there's no putting it back.
jaybrendansmith · 1d ago
What it is ... is depressing. I've never seen such cowardice and avarice. You'd think these people were being threatened by a mob boss with getting their legs broken. All they need to do is stand for ... something? Rule of Law? The Constitution? Our present and future economic and political strength? It's not hard, just replace their propaganda with truth. Do it slowly so people don't get too mad. Boil them gently until they stop believing the lies. Bring our country back, so the government starts working for the people again. Pick any number of easy non-partisan answers: Term limits or Publicly funded elections. Get the poison out of the system. It just takes the will to do it. Bah, it's hopeless.
dspillett · 1d ago
> despite a jaw-dropping list of unforgivable offenses from the past few years, he enjoys more support today than he did in 2020. From people as smart as Zuck and Andreesen.
I don't think it is as much support, as not caring enough to be seen to be against, because there are benefits to not being seen as against and previously acting against (it at least bit acting with) has achieved little.
While Shart is in office, and possibly for some time after depending on what the current administration manages to setup over this term, the likes of Zuck have enough to lose by being against three current administration and little to gain otherwise (at least not in the short term).
In a shorter set of words: not support, greed and cowardice pretending to be support.
Not that this changes the right/wrong dynamic of the situation in the eyes of any side…
Fast forward 8 years, and the things we know about DJT today are so much worse than anyone imagined in 2017. He tried to subvert our nation's democracy and political stability. He summoned a mob of rioters, stood idly by while they assaulted our leaders in congress, and eventually pardoned all of them. He has been convicted of multiple felonies, and found guilty in civil court of sexual abuse. People from his own previous administration have called him out as being corrupt and incompetent, and seven Republican senators voted to impeach/convict him.
And yet, despite a jaw-dropping list of unforgivable offenses from the past few years, he enjoys more support today than he did in 2020. From people as smart as Zuck and Andreesen.
It really is true what they say about the fragility of political norms. Once you let the genie out of the bottle, there's no putting it back.
I don't think it is as much support, as not caring enough to be seen to be against, because there are benefits to not being seen as against and previously acting against (it at least bit acting with) has achieved little.
While Shart is in office, and possibly for some time after depending on what the current administration manages to setup over this term, the likes of Zuck have enough to lose by being against three current administration and little to gain otherwise (at least not in the short term).
In a shorter set of words: not support, greed and cowardice pretending to be support.
Not that this changes the right/wrong dynamic of the situation in the eyes of any side…