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Facebook Confirms It Will Sponsor Trump's Republican National Convention

13 points by of 10y ago

justinlardinois 10y ago
Large corporations routinely finance both parties' national conventions; the fact that several like Walmart and Coca-Cola are pulling their funds because they don't like the nominee is unusual. I can't seem to find any information about how the Democratic convention is being funded this year, but in 2012 they specifically rejected corporate funding [0]. Not sure if that was a one-time thing or meant to be an enduring policy. Also, boo on Forbes for calling it "Trump's Republican National Convention" in the headline. It's run by the party, not the candidate, and there's currently a lot of contention between Trump and the convention leadership [1] so calling it his is a little misleading. [0] http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/04/no-corporate-money-for-2012-democratic-convention/ http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/04/no-corporate-m... [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/09/us/politics/donald-trumps-warning-to-paul-ryan-signals-further-gop-discord.html http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/09/us/politics/donald-trumps-...
- jandrese 10y ago
  With all of the competitors out it is basically a big party for Trump. At this point if you are a die hard Republican and you don't like Trump there isn't an alternative short of looking for a third party candidate. The theme of the convention is going to be "Get behind Trump if you don't want to see Hillary in the Oval Office".
  - justinlardinois 10y ago
    You're not wrong, but conventions are more than a media show, even when they're uncontested. It's where the nominee for Vice President is chosen and the party platform for that year is drafted. The party usually defers to the presidential nominee for the former and vice versa for the latter, but Trump and the party are so at odds on so many things that those two things may not be a cut and dried as they usually are.
    - dragonwriter 10y ago
      > It's where the nominee for Vice President is chosen Formally, just as it is formally where the nominee for President is chosen. In reality, this usually happens (and is announced) prior to the convention. > and the party platform for that year is drafted. Arguably, the party platform is largely irrelevant, since there is no accountability to it, and individual candidates own campaigns (including the Presidential ticket) establish their own effective campaign platform (which usually doesn't take the form of a single formal document, but is presented through individual issue papers, the campaign website, stump speeches, etc.), which can be very different from what is in the party document.
CM30 10y ago
This seems a bit strange, from a company that until now seemed to be very much against Trump and hoping he'd fail in his bid to become the nominee.
- progressive_dad 10y ago
  misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.
tropo 10y ago
Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11659565 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11659565

13 points by of 10y ago

Large corporations routinely finance both parties' national conventions; the fact that several like Walmart and Coca-Cola are pulling their funds because they don't like the nominee is unusual. I can't seem to find any information about how the Democratic convention is being funded this year, but in 2012 they specifically rejected corporate funding [0]. Not sure if that was a one-time thing or meant to be an enduring policy. Also, boo on Forbes for calling it "Trump's Republican National Convention" in the headline. It's run by the party, not the candidate, and there's currently a lot of contention between Trump and the convention leadership [1] so calling it his is a little misleading. [0] http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/04/no-corporate-money-for-2012-democratic-convention/ http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/04/no-corporate-m... [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/09/us/politics/donald-trumps-warning-to-paul-ryan-signals-further-gop-discord.html http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/09/us/politics/donald-trumps-...

jandrese 10y ago
With all of the competitors out it is basically a big party for Trump. At this point if you are a die hard Republican and you don't like Trump there isn't an alternative short of looking for a third party candidate. The theme of the convention is going to be "Get behind Trump if you don't want to see Hillary in the Oval Office".
- justinlardinois 10y ago
  You're not wrong, but conventions are more than a media show, even when they're uncontested. It's where the nominee for Vice President is chosen and the party platform for that year is drafted. The party usually defers to the presidential nominee for the former and vice versa for the latter, but Trump and the party are so at odds on so many things that those two things may not be a cut and dried as they usually are.
  - dragonwriter 10y ago
    > It's where the nominee for Vice President is chosen Formally, just as it is formally where the nominee for President is chosen. In reality, this usually happens (and is announced) prior to the convention. > and the party platform for that year is drafted. Arguably, the party platform is largely irrelevant, since there is no accountability to it, and individual candidates own campaigns (including the Presidential ticket) establish their own effective campaign platform (which usually doesn't take the form of a single formal document, but is presented through individual issue papers, the campaign website, stump speeches, etc.), which can be very different from what is in the party document.

CM30 10y ago

This seems a bit strange, from a company that until now seemed to be very much against Trump and hoping he'd fail in his bid to become the nominee.

progressive_dad 10y ago
misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.

tropo 10y ago

Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11659565 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11659565