Gil Duran (George Lakoff colleague) confirms what many of us are thinking

[TasminCat]

The tech billionaires supporting Trump already have money. Now they want POWER.

This isn't about low taxes or friendly regulations.

It's about radically transforming government into a tech-controlled dictatorship.

They'll get even richer then. That's how it works.

Link to tweet

The Citizens United nuclear bomb has been deployed against us and our country.

[CrispyQ]

1. Our party & our country would be in a much better position if our party had hired Lakoff.

Or even if our party leaders had read his books, Don't Think of an Elephant or Moral Politics.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. That SV oligarch Vance is fake champion of working people. He failed to be Mini Musk so settled for Mini Thiel. . nt

[c-rational]

3. i have thought about the solution to the Citizns United issue and I suggst a law that states simply a

corporation cannot be an individual. I suggst we call it the anti-Roberts law.

[2naSalit]

4. And don't think for an instant...

That they wouldn't do anything to get what they want. We are mere obstacles at this point. Later, they want us to be serfs.

[WinstonSmith4740]

5. Here's their problem.

Part of it anyway. For "captains of industry", they're amazingly short sighted, blind actually. Yes, there's never enough money or power as far as they're concerned. But the person they think they'll get it from is, well, Trump. The most duplicitous, evil, lying SOB this country has ever seen, on any level, and they seem to think he'll keep his word. Those 28% taxes they're trying to avoid paying?
(Which BTW, they never pay, anyway?) Well, be prepared to turn over 50% to Trump. Because that's the way his hero, Putin runs things. Don't like it? There's a 16th floor window with your name on it. And the power they crave? Only as much as he wants to give them, and it won't be much.

If it wasn't going to be so disastrous for our country, I'd say it would be fun to watch them whine about how they didn't think the panther would eat their faces.

[Kid Berwyn]

6. PETER THIEL: The Trump/Vance Puppetmaster

The Trump/Vance Puppetmaster

JEFF SCHECHTMAN
WhoWhatWhy.org, 07/19/24

Excerpt...

Today, a new puppeteer has emerged from the digital realm, Peter Thiel, the tech billionaire whose influence has grown from merely bankrolling campaigns to seeking to install his own protege in the corridors of power. While Thiel is the master puppeteer, he has brought along some of his cohorts. People like Elon Musk, David Sacks, Marc Andreessen, and Ben Horowitz are throwing their considerable wealth and influence behind Trump signaling a seismic shift in Silicon Valley’s political allegiances.

This convergence of the valley’s right wing with Trump and Vance’s populist agenda has created a new political force, leaving traditional Wall Street Republicans consigned to the ash heap of history. Thiel’s masterpiece is J. D. Vance, a candidate molded in Silicon Valley’s image, and now poised for the second highest office. This isn’t just about having a friend in high places, it’s about reshaping the government in Thiel’s vision with Vance as his avatar.

The implications are nothing short of chilling. While Trump blusters about retribution and dismantling institutions, Vance could be the quiet architect of a brave new digital world. An America where surveillance is the norm, where AI-powered weapon systems are unleashed at home and abroad. All rubber-stamped by an administration indebted to tech’s most controversial figure.

This isn’t just about policy, it’s about American democracy in the digital age. The Trump-Vance ticket with Thiel pulling the strings represents a potential marriage of authoritarian instincts and cutting-edge technology. This is about Thiel’s long game, a chess match where Vance is both Knight and Pawn. Advancing a vision of America where data is the new oil and democracy is just another system to be disrupted.

The stakes couldn’t be higher, and with the backing of Silicon Valley’s new conservative Vanguard, Thiel’s hand has never been stronger. Right before the 2022 elections before J. D. Vance had yet been elected to the Senate from Ohio, I had an opportunity to talk with Bloomberg editor Max Chafkin about his biography of Peter Thiel entitled The Contrarian. Given the events of the past few days, I think it does us all well to listen to that conversation with Max Chafkin about Peter Thiel. Max Chafkin, thanks so much for joining us here on The WhoWhatWhy Podcast.

Continues...

https://whowhatwhy.org/podcast/the-trump-vance-puppetmaster/

[lonely bird]

7. To paraphrase Heinlein in Citizen of the Galaxy...

People will do strange things for money but they will do more drastic things for power over money.

[Turbineguy]

8. King Louis XVI

[calimary]

11. Oh, MAN!!! Allan Sherman!

I played that record straight into sandpaper when I was a kid. LOVED him!

“My Son the Nut” and “My Son the Folk Singer”!!!

[liberalla]

9. K & R! for more eyes

[calimary]

10. And another kick -

for continued visibility.