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I'm not arguing "Thiel is a good guy", but if he didn't want Hillary elected (assumption), using his public profile to boost Trump pre-election != actual MAGA h

by alvah 5y ago

I'm not arguing "Thiel is a good guy", but if he didn't want Hillary elected (assumption), using his public profile to boost Trump pre-election != actual MAGA hat Trump true believer.

skinnymuch 5y ago
I’m not referring to Thiel’s morality. Only on actually being libertarian. Sure what you wrote is technically plausible. However he continues to work with the Trumps. Recently he’s working with Trumps to oust Liz Cheney. His own PACs focuses include many non-libertarian focuses. Immigration control, strict border control, supporting the military as it is now, are some of the top issues of the PAC. These actions are of a conservative Republican, not a libertarian.
- throwawaylinux 5y ago
  Wanting to oust Liz Cheney does not make someone not a libertarian. And military and border control are among the few things that many libertarians believe to be a valid function of a national government. None of those things prove he's not a libertarian.
  - skinnymuch 5y ago
    Supporting huge military? Right immigration control? The Liz Cheney stuff was about working with Don Jr. The reason why is unimportant. The entire point of all this is for there not to be one smoking gun. It’s a collection of everything. The entire way the right has obfuscated things is by getting by with “no one thing proves I am or am not X or Y”
    - throwawaylinux 5y ago
      I don't know what your questions mean or how it addresses my comment so I'll just repeat. Political maneuvering doesn't mean someone is not a libertarian, and military and border control are not incompatible with libertarianism either. Thiel like anybody has pretty complex views that don't fit neatly in a box, you could argue where they put him in the spectrum, but the examples you used are poor. I know many libertarian purists obsess over their image and "principle" to the detriment of actually achieving anything politically, but that doesn't mean all of them act this way.

by alvah 5y ago

I'm not arguing "Thiel is a good guy", but if he didn't want Hillary elected (assumption), using his public profile to boost Trump pre-election != actual MAGA hat Trump true believer.

skinnymuch 5y ago

I’m not referring to Thiel’s morality. Only on actually being libertarian. Sure what you wrote is technically plausible. However he continues to work with the Trumps. Recently he’s working with Trumps to oust Liz Cheney. His own PACs focuses include many non-libertarian focuses. Immigration control, strict border control, supporting the military as it is now, are some of the top issues of the PAC. These actions are of a conservative Republican, not a libertarian.

throwawaylinux 5y ago
Wanting to oust Liz Cheney does not make someone not a libertarian. And military and border control are among the few things that many libertarians believe to be a valid function of a national government. None of those things prove he's not a libertarian.
- skinnymuch 5y ago
  Supporting huge military? Right immigration control? The Liz Cheney stuff was about working with Don Jr. The reason why is unimportant. The entire point of all this is for there not to be one smoking gun. It’s a collection of everything. The entire way the right has obfuscated things is by getting by with “no one thing proves I am or am not X or Y”
  - throwawaylinux 5y ago
    I don't know what your questions mean or how it addresses my comment so I'll just repeat. Political maneuvering doesn't mean someone is not a libertarian, and military and border control are not incompatible with libertarianism either. Thiel like anybody has pretty complex views that don't fit neatly in a box, you could argue where they put him in the spectrum, but the examples you used are poor. I know many libertarian purists obsess over their image and "principle" to the detriment of actually achieving anything politically, but that doesn't mean all of them act this way.