6 ms·

How does it help to drive out a smart person from Trump's sphere of influence? This man needs as much help as he can get.

gdulli 10y ago
Trump is a despicable person trying to do despicable things. Helping him to limp along marginally less disastrously would be a shallow, short-term palliative benefit. Our long-term prospects are better if we stumble for 4 years and prove that flushing out competent but flawed public servants, who believe in and preserve the principles of our system, and replacing them with reality TV hosts is not an improvement. This is an inflection point in history that will inform future generations whether winning an election with lying, demagoguery, and appeal to fear is a winning long-term strategy or a losing one.
- grandalf 10y ago
  So how is it better for Travis to quit now rather than in two or three years after he can credibly talk about specific things the council has been tasked with? It seems that Travis was essentially shamed into virtue signaling by quitting.
  - gdulli 10y ago
    The fact that you see the world in terms of people signalling virtue and not sincerely believing in virtue says more about you than it does about them.
    - grandalf 10y ago
      > not sincerely believing At the time Travis was invited to join the council, there was already more than enough information known about Trump to warrant declining the invitation.
    - thomyorkie 10y ago
      This is a silly statement. It's almost impossible not to think he left his position on the advisory council due to the fantastic level of backlash his company has received over the last couple of weeks. To think he is doing anything except trying to stop the bleeding seems willfully ignorant.
- true_religion 10y ago
  I don't understand. What has Trump done during his presidency that calls for such outrage? Temporarily closing the border to foreigners may hurt the economy. It may hurt the US status abroad. It may even frighten people because we all know what closing the borders usually is a prelude to. However it will not destroy America. It does not automatically make the US a fascist state. My view is that the US, the UK, France, and Germany are entering a period where they will draw back from international affairs and focus on domestic policy. This isolationism in the US already reminds me of existing protectionism, and pro-homeland sentiment in Europe.
- dllthomas 10y ago
  > a shallow, short-term palliative benefit. A shallow, short-term palliative benefit is still a benefit, might make a big difference to a lot of people, and shouldn't be dismissed out of hand but weighed against alternatives.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
myowncrapulence 10y ago
He's actively demonstrated he doesn't want help
panic 10y ago
Do you really think a peripheral advisory council is "Trump's sphere of influence?" Trump isn't even consistently listening to people in his own executive branch.
dbroockman 10y ago
These kinds of councils have nearly no influence; they're photo ops. But leaving does signal that Silicon Valley $ isn't going to play along with Trump, which Republican Members of Congress are going to care a lot about as they think about how to raise money in the future.
twinkletwinkle 10y ago
Maybe the CEO is thinking first about his company, and the company is feeling a negative impact (#DeleteUber) because of his association with Trump?
staticautomatic 10y ago
Edit bc flagged.
- sctb 10y ago
  Please comment civilly and substantively or not at all. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
fooey 10y ago
I've also had a hard time understanding why Uber's been singled out so strongly on this issue. How is Tesla and everyone else managing to not get the same PR backlash?
- alphonsegaston 10y ago
  Aside from already having a bad reputation, they screwed themselves over by breaking the JFK strike and proceeded to mess up their PR around it even worse. Elon Musk has a lot more social capital, but I imagine a few snafus like this could land him in the same position.
- smw 10y ago
  The number of people who can afford to use Uber is much greater than those that can reasonably buy a Tesla, at this point. Also, many younger politically activist liberals live in urban areas where they might not have a car at all, but may use Uber on a regular basis.
- true_religion 10y ago
  Tesla sells cars to rich people, they have a lot less interaction with the common populace than Uber does. Uber is seen as a taxi-replacement, and everyone uses taxis. They're even trying to get into delivery services, so anytime you order Pizza, you might hear the Uber name.' Additionally the criticism of Uber is spearheaded by their competitors who already didn't like them. The taxi union of NYC has been broadly critical leading to the #deleteUber hashtag, but taxis who are being driven out of business by Uber were already inclined to oppose them. Tesla on the other hand doesn't have as much existing organized opposition with connections to the broad public masses. Who hates Tesla? Car dealerships who have statutory privilege, but everyone already dislikes car salesmen.
wgyn 10y ago
Because it signals that Uber's employees and customers have more ability to impact the company (via it's bottom line) than a presidential policy or statement.
ciconia 10y ago
"Give the governor harrumph!" [1] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN99jshaQbY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN99jshaQbY

gdulli 10y ago

Trump is a despicable person trying to do despicable things. Helping him to limp along marginally less disastrously would be a shallow, short-term palliative benefit. Our long-term prospects are better if we stumble for 4 years and prove that flushing out competent but flawed public servants, who believe in and preserve the principles of our system, and replacing them with reality TV hosts is not an improvement. This is an inflection point in history that will inform future generations whether winning an election with lying, demagoguery, and appeal to fear is a winning long-term strategy or a losing one.

grandalf 10y ago
So how is it better for Travis to quit now rather than in two or three years after he can credibly talk about specific things the council has been tasked with? It seems that Travis was essentially shamed into virtue signaling by quitting.
- gdulli 10y ago
  The fact that you see the world in terms of people signalling virtue and not sincerely believing in virtue says more about you than it does about them.
  - grandalf 10y ago
    > not sincerely believing At the time Travis was invited to join the council, there was already more than enough information known about Trump to warrant declining the invitation.
  - thomyorkie 10y ago
    This is a silly statement. It's almost impossible not to think he left his position on the advisory council due to the fantastic level of backlash his company has received over the last couple of weeks. To think he is doing anything except trying to stop the bleeding seems willfully ignorant.
true_religion 10y ago
I don't understand. What has Trump done during his presidency that calls for such outrage? Temporarily closing the border to foreigners may hurt the economy. It may hurt the US status abroad. It may even frighten people because we all know what closing the borders usually is a prelude to. However it will not destroy America. It does not automatically make the US a fascist state. My view is that the US, the UK, France, and Germany are entering a period where they will draw back from international affairs and focus on domestic policy. This isolationism in the US already reminds me of existing protectionism, and pro-homeland sentiment in Europe.
dllthomas 10y ago
> a shallow, short-term palliative benefit. A shallow, short-term palliative benefit is still a benefit, might make a big difference to a lot of people, and shouldn't be dismissed out of hand but weighed against alternatives.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

myowncrapulence 10y ago

He's actively demonstrated he doesn't want help

panic 10y ago

Do you really think a peripheral advisory council is "Trump's sphere of influence?" Trump isn't even consistently listening to people in his own executive branch.

dbroockman 10y ago

These kinds of councils have nearly no influence; they're photo ops. But leaving does signal that Silicon Valley $ isn't going to play along with Trump, which Republican Members of Congress are going to care a lot about as they think about how to raise money in the future.

twinkletwinkle 10y ago

Maybe the CEO is thinking first about his company, and the company is feeling a negative impact (#DeleteUber) because of his association with Trump?

staticautomatic 10y ago

Edit bc flagged.

sctb 10y ago
Please comment civilly and substantively or not at all. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

fooey 10y ago

I've also had a hard time understanding why Uber's been singled out so strongly on this issue. How is Tesla and everyone else managing to not get the same PR backlash?

alphonsegaston 10y ago
Aside from already having a bad reputation, they screwed themselves over by breaking the JFK strike and proceeded to mess up their PR around it even worse. Elon Musk has a lot more social capital, but I imagine a few snafus like this could land him in the same position.
smw 10y ago
The number of people who can afford to use Uber is much greater than those that can reasonably buy a Tesla, at this point. Also, many younger politically activist liberals live in urban areas where they might not have a car at all, but may use Uber on a regular basis.
true_religion 10y ago
Tesla sells cars to rich people, they have a lot less interaction with the common populace than Uber does. Uber is seen as a taxi-replacement, and everyone uses taxis. They're even trying to get into delivery services, so anytime you order Pizza, you might hear the Uber name.' Additionally the criticism of Uber is spearheaded by their competitors who already didn't like them. The taxi union of NYC has been broadly critical leading to the #deleteUber hashtag, but taxis who are being driven out of business by Uber were already inclined to oppose them. Tesla on the other hand doesn't have as much existing organized opposition with connections to the broad public masses. Who hates Tesla? Car dealerships who have statutory privilege, but everyone already dislikes car salesmen.

wgyn 10y ago

Because it signals that Uber's employees and customers have more ability to impact the company (via it's bottom line) than a presidential policy or statement.

ciconia 10y ago

"Give the governor harrumph!" [1] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN99jshaQbY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN99jshaQbY