From Peter Thiels perspective its a smart move because he's the only one willing to do something this crazy. This gives him a "monopoly" (as he likes to say) on political access as it relates to the tech world if Trump wins. In short it looks like a bet. Personally I find Trump an archetype of everything I'm trying to get away from in life.... but that is not the point. Also this is just my opinion and maybe their is no greater agenda and Peter Thiel just likes him.
There are quite a few Trump supporters in the Valley, but they simply stay quiet because they will get 'racist' yelled at them and it will potentially hurt their careers.
This is interesting to me. The lack of diversity in the tech industry is definitely something that will be harmful in the long run. Diversity is necessary to improve the relevance of new ideas in tech and to promote them to broader audiences from different cultures.<p>The trend towards making a pariah out of anyone with opposing points of view can be equally harmful to promoting diversity of thought. Making people afraid of speaking their minds can hardly help the flow of new ideas or positively impact the industry. While I likely don't agree with the political ideology of a speaker at the RNC, I definitely agree with the right of anyone to do so without being held captive by the threat of activism at home. Boycotting and protesting people with different political views may feel good in the short run, but it is unhelpful to promoting freedom and equality in the long run.<p>If they can't say what I find reprehensible today, how do I know that views I hold dear will be "allowed" in the future?
Shame on Thiel. Robert Reich - "<p>Yesterday, Trump argued that the United States should investigate every American who practices Islam. "We really have to look at profiling," Trump told CBS's "Face the Nation." And that the government should investigate mosques in the U.S.<p>Never before has a major party’s presumptive nominee for president of the United States urged that an entire religion be singled out for investigation. Each day, it seems, Trump comes closer to the fascism America went to war against in 1941. Why doesn’t Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and every Republican leader withdraw their endorsement of him and disavow this hatefulness? To nominate this bigot for the highest office in America is a slap in the face of American values, constitutional rights, and the pluralism America stands for. Trump must be dumped.
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One by one, Republican leaders are falling in line behind a man who says undocumented workers “bring drugs, crime, they’re rapists;” who claimed “thousands and thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey celebrated the Twin Towers collapsing; who says black criminals are responsible for 81 percent of homicides against whites, which turns out to be a racist myth from white supremacist website; who tells a Jewish group "I'm a negotiator, like you folks;" who bullies, humiliates, and threatens his opponents, including a federal judge now hearing a case against one of his businesses; who suggested President Obama wasn’t born in the United States, that childhood vaccinations cause autism, and that human-caused climate change is a hoax; and whose hateful and demeaning attitude toward women is best summed up in an interview where he said “women, you have to treat them like shit.”<p>By falling into line behind Trump, Republican leaders are lending legitimacy to such hatefulness, bigotry, and lies. Shame on them.
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Given the libertarian/Randian streak that runs through silicon valley, support for Trump doesn't seem too outlandish. Especially when you consider his non-dedication to the typical right-wing 'family values' that aren't really popular in that region of California.
> After that, he suggested, things went south because, among other things, women were given the right to vote.<p>Wow, does Peter Thiel really think that women shouldn't be allowed to vote?
Maybe he's betting on Trump bringing Palantir more business with the concentration camps Trump plans to build. Or he might just be a stupid, racist asshole who can relate to Trump and enjoys others' suffering. Who knows what makes scumbags like this tick?
They're uncomfortable with him supporting Trump but fine with him using his billions to underwrite legal campaigns against people he doesn't like?
> Mr. Thiel will have a direct line to a chief executive who hints at a penchant for making big things happen for his supporters.<p>Look at this masterfully subtle insinuation that Trump will be corrupt.<p>The NY Times never fails to impress.<p>> This year there was an opportunity for a Republican to make overtures to tech — but with Mr. Trump, that chance seems to have passed.<p>>[...]<p>>it almost seems like he’s gone out of his way to smite Silicon Valley leaders on the issues they care about,<p>Yes, like bringing in scores of cheap H1Bs as veritable indentured servants (their right to reside in the country is is tied to their employer). This drives down wages – of course SV VCs and founders want this.<p>Of course the NY Times does not elaborate at all on this point<p>> “As a black guy in Silicon Valley, I just find it very hard to support a candidate who has been called racist,” Mr. Johnson said.<p>Oh my god