Post Ak4cZ8IKjMQhVBUSWm by i_gvf@mastodon.world
(DIR) More posts by i_gvf@mastodon.world
(DIR) Post #Ak4HW1h0iphh7Vi6Oe by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-07-18T21:54:29Z
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"campaigns are not where realignments happen, they are only where promises are made." #MatthewStoller writes on JD Vance https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/can-jd-vances-populist-crusade-succeed ht @DetroitDan
(DIR) Post #Ak4I3G4eH2czHMc4Ey by franktaber@mas.to
2024-07-18T22:00:31Z
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@interfluidity @DetroitDan Ugh what is this garbage. Redefining the word populism until it means nothing. The hand picked VP nominee of billionaires who want a feudal society is the populist?
(DIR) Post #Ak4IBXLjvY7BAvYSbQ by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-07-18T22:02:01Z
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@franktaber @DetroitDan whether well or poorly (i'm sure Stoller gives Vance more benefit of the doubt than you think he deserves), that is the contradiction Stoller is trying to explore.
(DIR) Post #Ak4IWqGmmI4Dw6OemW by franktaber@mas.to
2024-07-18T22:05:52Z
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@interfluidity @DetroitDan I read the piece carefully and he so carefully omits anything that would contradict his thesis of who Vance is. He looks at a small sliver of Vance's public statements to try to flog his hobby horse of attacking Bill Clinton and others he dislikes among Democrats. Which do not get me wrong is fine but it is the last thing to be focused on when the wolf of fascism is at the door.
(DIR) Post #Ak4J6tiNRl8T2tUkaG by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-07-18T22:12:23Z
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@franktaber @DetroitDan Stoller’s beat is antitrust first, economic populism more broadly second. I don’t think he’s interested, for example, in distinguishing between a kind of herrenvolk populism and the universalistic kind you and I might support. Which is a way of saying—perhaps unflatteringly—I think broader questions of fascism are just outside of his focus. He’s trying to figure out whether Vance’s purported economics can be taken seriously, despite his (ugly) affiliations.
(DIR) Post #Ak4JJu0JgMOdhw5SRk by buermann@mastodon.social
2024-07-18T22:14:41Z
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@interfluidity @franktaber @DetroitDan Andreessen and Horowitz support Vance to protect the status quo in direct proportion the emptiness of Vance's promises to shake it up.
(DIR) Post #Ak4JYbMpFwhaFYcnVg by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-07-18T22:17:15Z
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@buermann @franktaber @DetroitDan Yes. Stoller, to his credit, delves into that. I think the place he arrives is ultimately too credulous, grants all of Vance and Andreeson and Horowitz too much benefit of the doubt. But the piece is the opposite of simply pretending the, um, tension doesn’t exist. It’s an attempt to make sense of exactly that.
(DIR) Post #Ak4Jv8ItTmd6luWspk by franktaber@mas.to
2024-07-18T22:21:25Z
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@interfluidity @DetroitDan Here is the thing. If one defines half the population out of existence or as equal human beings you lose the right to claim the mantle of populism. In addition there is little evidence that Thiel or Musk or Sacks or the VC backers have even the slightest interest in the little guy even if they are talking about cis hetero white men little guys. There is nothing in their history that shows they care and Vance has been their puppet changing positions as they dictate.
(DIR) Post #Ak4KMEA7nzqGlDLbPM by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-07-18T22:26:21Z
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@franktaber @DetroitDan I agree with you!But I still think it’s a good piece precisely because it grants Vance and his dance partners the benefit of the doubt and explores the plain contradictions in their coalition in the most sympathetic plausible terms. Even if you take these people more seriously (and more morally) than they deserve to be taken, where do you end up? Not in a very persuasive spot, I think, but Stoller does give fair consideration.
(DIR) Post #Ak4KaAwYZNxMpceTqq by franktaber@mas.to
2024-07-18T22:28:51Z
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@interfluidity @DetroitDan I suppose. Where he loses me is that he does not draw a bright line between a NYT style credulousness that his piece has about their belief in populism and innovation and all the rest and a supposed effort to just pick apart their arguments. He could have done so but the piece comes across as more of an exploration in service of a preordained narrative that is popular in the horseshoe politics world.
(DIR) Post #Ak4KcICiXtinvgDjjE by buermann@mastodon.social
2024-07-18T22:29:10Z
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@interfluidity @franktaber @DetroitDan "I had to skim a lot of credulity to get to that paraphrase. I don't follow him closely enough to have a guess as to why he might pretend to take Silicon Valley's endless grifts seriously, but it's never been easy to make a living in letters.
(DIR) Post #Ak4KtIqXPXqIqOxQ80 by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-07-18T22:32:20Z
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@franktaber @DetroitDan he does, to his credit, puncture and reality-check some of Andreeson and Horowitz self-flattering claims. he does not, so much, of Vance, which I agree is disappointing. for example https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2024/07/vance-cool-on-credit-card-bill-lobbyists-say-00169011 although maybe that was too close to breaking news to be included.
(DIR) Post #Ak4L3gbZvoWvQUuZDk by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-07-18T22:34:13Z
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@buermann @franktaber @DetroitDan i think he makes his living mostly from antitrust oriented thinktanking (which, like subscription letters) is an inherently corrupting line of business, but often the best people can do. https://www.economicliberties.us/matt-stoller/
(DIR) Post #Ak4OE68w8VZdODAeJ6 by buermann@mastodon.social
2024-07-18T23:09:41Z
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@interfluidity @franktaber @DetroitDan Any time you sneer at the disutility of the blockchain or Artificial Impersonation with any substantial readership there are a million mansplainers lined up HODLing the line who are going to strenuously complain where ambivalence is met with a blessed silence. Maybe Horowitz learned how to keep a million little sock puppets working the refs from his father.
(DIR) Post #Ak4OXam2TacltIkvy4 by dpp@mastodon.social
2024-07-18T23:13:11Z
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@interfluidity if I were the wall st, defense, food, and oil execs, I’d be very worried.Trump is coin operated and the valley has a lot more free cash than everyone except maybe wall st…And crypto and “banking apps” could easily put a dent in wall st’s cash cows…
(DIR) Post #Ak4cZ8IKjMQhVBUSWm by i_gvf@mastodon.world
2024-07-19T01:50:21Z
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@interfluidity @DetroitDan Freaked out enough to not finance Trump?Didn't think so.
(DIR) Post #AkFU9EQidSB46f6tbE by franktaber@mas.to
2024-07-24T07:37:51Z
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@interfluidity @DetroitDan Following up on Stoller here is what seemed to me an utterly predictable and vapid take that was coming and now it is here:https://bsky.app/profile/matthewdownhour.bsky.social/post/3kxyxeo66sx2fSomehow it is that Trump gets credit for the things they like in the Biden Harris administration and Harris does not? Again Stoller is always seeking things to fit a narrative which is essentially the usual horseshoe of normalizing the far right while pretending to be far left.