The rate the Trump administration is losing plausible deniability has been accelerating over recent months/weeks/days. The MAGA diehards flying Trump flags aren't going to change their ways because they are true believers in "putting the corrupt radical left | greedy corporations | immigrants in their place". But what about all the techno-libertarians that populate HN? Can you genuinely say this type of loophole that allows naked corruption is good? Do you agree with the FCC threatening to take away broadcast licenses for jokes? When does the water get too hot for all us frogs?

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yibg 13 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I hope majority of the voting population sees this for what it is. The question is is there anything that can be done about it. There is midterms but that's a long ways out, especially at the speed things are moving now. Congress isn't keeping the executive branch in check, neither is the judiciary.

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titzer 10 hours ago | parent [-]

As it turns out, power without accountability inevitably leads to corruption.

There is no functioning mechanism in operation today that forces the government to follow the law. Any law. Not even the constitution.

	▲	jaybrendansmith 8 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Except their oath. They have no honor.
	▲	readthenotes1 4 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Power doesn't corrupt; it reveals. -- Robert Caro

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analognoise 12 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The techno-libertarians I’ve interacted with were always painfully naive, with a simplistic worldview (that they thought was extremely learn’ed - mistaking their technical skill for broad intellect that understood politics to be “simple”).

If they haven’t grown up thus far, I doubt yet another logical inconsistency will puncture their shallow and hermetic understanding.

Or as I read it somewhere, “We’ve created a group of technical people who can solve any technical problem but can’t explain why Nazism is bad.”

The only thing that might pierce that veil is this: they believed they were not workers, but more like a priestly class, “self made” but immune to the travails of “everyone else”. The massive spike in layoffs, the economic slump, our increased taxes (via tariff), the rights erosions - might get them to recognize their mistake in understanding, but only if it strikes them personally (this gets back to the naïveté mentioned above).

	▲	macintux 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
		As we’ve learned from victims of pig butchering scams, denial of the obvious runs very, very deep. Pride and confidence and lack of self reflection will make it very difficult for Trump voters to change their minds.

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8note 13 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

from the technolibertarian side its great - many of the web2.0 companies were about breaking the law in some way(eg. uber, airbnb) and getting away with it. now there's a very explicit way to do so. there's also lots of change happening, so theres plenty of opportunity to make a quick buck and develop oligarchs similar to russia