3 ms·

> It’s actually hard to “game” the American political system. Time magazine disagrees with you[1]. [1] https://time.com/5936036/secret-2020-election-campaign/

by User23 6y ago

> It’s actually hard to “game” the American political system. Time magazine disagrees with you[1]. [1] https://time.com/5936036/secret-2020-election-campaign/ https://time.com/5936036/secret-2020-election-campaign/

rayiner 6y ago
The Time story supports my point. Trump was a historically unpopular President who had basically stopped governing during COVID. And as the Time article points out, Biden had everyone from Wall Street to the media to Big Tech in the bag for him. Biden vastly outspent Trump in October. Bloomberg dumped $100 million into Florida. Yet Biden won by just 80,000 votes in Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada, with Trump getting the second most votes in history, higher than Obama. Maybe the full backing of Wall Street, Tech, and the media combined pushed Biden over the finish line. But it was at best a nudge. And how modest that effect was should be good for thought for skeptics.
- joshuamorton 6y ago
  I'm curious what your definition for "full backing" is. Trump had a banner advertisement on youtube on election day. NetPAC and similar corporate pacs donate as much or more to Republic candidates as dems. Similarly, you have many powerful people in silicon valley, including Paul Graham criticizing companies for dropping the veneer of impartiality that favored trump, and moving to actually uphold their own values. Wallstreet similarly didn't exactly do much to favor biden. You can't talk about the media without mentioning fox, which is the largest single media institution, and favored Trump until at least December. Yes, biden had much stronger support from individuals, and in some cases that translated to endorsement from institutions. But it didn't really translate to institutional support like you seem to be implying. I mean the only sort of institutional support you could argue is that generic GOTV efforts favor dems, which while true isn't strong favoritism. There's a vast difference between targeted lobbying for a particular policy position (especially when there isn't a clear opposition, who is the group that lobbies for clear govt managed tax handling?) And political campaigning. For the first, you don't even need to appeal to voters.
  - rayiner 6y ago
    The generic gotv efforts were in geographic locations strongly favoring democrats. Zuck wasn’t helping to get out the vote in rural Wisconsin.
    - joshuamorton 6y ago
      The Generic Gotv efforts I'm speaking about are generic. They're on the facebook timeline and Google search page. They exist just as much in rural wisconsin as they do in downtown SF.
- 93po 6y ago
  In what way did he stop governing?

by User23 6y ago

rayiner 6y ago

The Time story supports my point. Trump was a historically unpopular President who had basically stopped governing during COVID. And as the Time article points out, Biden had everyone from Wall Street to the media to Big Tech in the bag for him. Biden vastly outspent Trump in October. Bloomberg dumped $100 million into Florida. Yet Biden won by just 80,000 votes in Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada, with Trump getting the second most votes in history, higher than Obama. Maybe the full backing of Wall Street, Tech, and the media combined pushed Biden over the finish line. But it was at best a nudge. And how modest that effect was should be good for thought for skeptics.

joshuamorton 6y ago
I'm curious what your definition for "full backing" is. Trump had a banner advertisement on youtube on election day. NetPAC and similar corporate pacs donate as much or more to Republic candidates as dems. Similarly, you have many powerful people in silicon valley, including Paul Graham criticizing companies for dropping the veneer of impartiality that favored trump, and moving to actually uphold their own values. Wallstreet similarly didn't exactly do much to favor biden. You can't talk about the media without mentioning fox, which is the largest single media institution, and favored Trump until at least December. Yes, biden had much stronger support from individuals, and in some cases that translated to endorsement from institutions. But it didn't really translate to institutional support like you seem to be implying. I mean the only sort of institutional support you could argue is that generic GOTV efforts favor dems, which while true isn't strong favoritism. There's a vast difference between targeted lobbying for a particular policy position (especially when there isn't a clear opposition, who is the group that lobbies for clear govt managed tax handling?) And political campaigning. For the first, you don't even need to appeal to voters.
- rayiner 6y ago
  The generic gotv efforts were in geographic locations strongly favoring democrats. Zuck wasn’t helping to get out the vote in rural Wisconsin.
  - joshuamorton 6y ago
    The Generic Gotv efforts I'm speaking about are generic. They're on the facebook timeline and Google search page. They exist just as much in rural wisconsin as they do in downtown SF.
93po 6y ago
In what way did he stop governing?