Transition adviser Peter Thiel could directly profit from mass deportations | Hacker News Reader

Transition adviser Peter Thiel could directly profit from mass deportations

theintercept.com

13 pointsozdave6 comments

Trump's presidency won't simply be about the direct benefit to Thiel's existing investments and bets on the table like Palantir. I believe that the greatest opportunity that Trump's presidency will create is through disruption to a whole host of industries. If you're a VC, you are probably already looking at areas that there will be massive privatization like education, health care, etc. These create new business opportunities for an entrepreneur like Thiel to make plays in.

Can we have no politics week back? This fake news is getting boring.

What's fake about it?

Its like saying "Donald Trump could be Bigfoot" or "Hillary Clinton might be a space lizard"

Sure, lots of things could be lots of things, but this article offers nothing beyond completely pointless speculation, entirely bereft of substance. Yet, most people will see this as a fake indictment of Trump and/or Thiel.

Well, Donald Trump is very unlikely to be Bigfoot, because there is wide consensus that Bigfoot does not exist, and because there is no evidence that DJT is, in fact, Bigfoot. If someone declared this as a fact, and presented it as news, I'd agree that it was "fake news".

However, it's both established (in the piece, elsewhere) and uncontroversial that:

- Peter Thiel is an adviser to Donald Trump

- Peter Thiel founded Palantir, which is one of the most valuable companies in the world due to its surveillance and analysis of the population for the federal government, including a contract specifically with ICE for $35MM

- Donald Trump's policy is to increase deportations

- Advisers to the President are likely to both be exposed to privileged information which can be commercially exploited, and able influence policy in their own financial interests.

- These conflicts of interest provide incentives for government officials to act against the interests of the people, and are associated with political corruption.

What about the above is speculation, or bereft of substance?

You are free to express that you find certain facts displeasing or uncomfortable, but it's childish to pretend that they are lies when they are well substantiated.

What is speculation is the connection between things. The entirety of your last point, and most of your 2nd-to-last point are also entirely specious.

The point is, there is no more evidence that Trump, Thiel or anyone else connected with the administration will act in ways contrary to the best interests of the American people than there is that Trump is bigfoot or hillary clinton is a space lizard.

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